The Cross - Media Re - Writing Of "White Snake"

The Legend of the White Snake, one of China’s four ancient folk legends, is still greatly appreciated and circulated after thousands of years. Initially spread from mouth to mouth, this legend underwent long and complex changes before it became the written version we are familiar with today. In modern times, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the1970s, there appeared a fad of adaptation of the "White Snake". This paper captures the activeness and uniqueness of the adaptation of The Legend of the White Snake during that period and focuses on the three major forms of adaptation:book, stage play and digital media. Approaching this issue from a cross-art and cross-media view of comparative literature, this paper, on one hand, analyzes the text by close reading, research of the writers’works and studying the historical background; on the other hand, probes into how the content is disciplined by the media forms by applying the communication theory, art communication theory and theory of art, thereby seeking the dual causes of the adaptation fad by combining the content and form.