What is the narrative represented in the most media?

August 10, 2007 12:14 PM

What is the narrative represented in the most media?

I want to be pretty strict about it being the "same" story, i.e. I'm not going to count Romeo and Juliet as the same narrative as West Side Story. It should have the same characters, etc. I'm not concerned about popularity, how widespread the story is, or how many versions there are in any particular medium--just how many media. So I'd rather see something that is a film, television show, and book than a thing that's a film and has 5 different book versions. I know that 'media' can be a fishy word but I am thinking things like film, television, literature, painting, photography, videogames, hypertext, radio, non-radio audio re-enactment, comics, etc. I'm also interested in fiction/non-fiction versions of the same story.

Bonus for a story with media available to view, buy, or borrow.

posted by underwater to media & arts (21 comments total)

The life of Jesus.
posted by turaho at 12:20 PM on August 10, 2007

I'm sure you're right--but in retrospect I guess I'm more interested in a fictional narrative. I'm also particularly interested in narratives that are represented in "new media." Thanks!
posted by underwater at 12:26 PM on August 10, 2007

Homer's Odyssey?

I can think of metanarratives that fit (love story, spy story etc), but no specific stories that are covered in each of the medias you list.
posted by long haired lover from liverpool at 12:27 PM on August 10, 2007

World War II? Vietnam?
posted by long haired lover from liverpool at 12:29 PM on August 10, 2007

The Lord of The Rings comes to mind: there were the books, an earlier animated version, a radio-drama and of course the films and their associated games. This is a fun question...I'll probably be mulling it for a little while.
posted by jquinby at 12:35 PM on August 10, 2007

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is famous for all the different ways it's been presented. I know of a TV show, a radio show, a book, a movie, and a computer game. I suspect there are others. (Graphic novel? Live stage play?)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:40 PM on August 10, 2007

Don't forget musical theatre as a media. LOTR also is being done on the West End.
posted by happyturtle at 12:40 PM on August 10, 2007

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
Book
Radio
Game
Movie
TV Series
Audiobook
Comic
Play
posted by MsMolly at 12:43 PM on August 10, 2007

Don't forget musical theatre as a media. LOTR also is being done on the West End.

Just saw that. Also didn't know that there'd been 2 separate radio adaptations (one in the 50's, another in the 80's).
posted by jquinby at 12:43 PM on August 10, 2007

adam and eve.
posted by bruce at 12:46 PM on August 10, 2007

How many times has "A Christmas Carol" been played out/parodied/co-opted? I'm getting kind of dizzy just thinking of the examples popping into my head, like WKRP and the Simpsons and Bugs Bunny and and and . . .
posted by Skot at 12:48 PM on August 10, 2007

What about Cinderella? Are the myriad versions similar enough?
posted by SuperNova at 1:23 PM on August 10, 2007

Sherlock Holmes.

I'll see Hitchhiker's

Book
Radio
Game
Movie
TV Series
Audiobook
Comic
Play

and raise you:

PC Game
Live Game
Musical
Interactive CD
Animated TV series

and finally, the mighty Wikipedia's

Sherlock Holmes in Other Media
                                                                                      .
posted by ScarletPumpernickel at 1:53 PM on August 10, 2007

The Producers and Hairspray were movies, then plays based on the movies, then movies based on the plays, and Eric Idle's working on a movie version of Spamalot.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:36 PM on August 10, 2007

The Count of Monte Christo is up there:

Novel
Plays
Several movies
At least one radio adaptation (by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre).
two TV series
A comic book
A cartoon series (in a Sci Fi setting, but with most of the same characters)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:04 PM on August 10, 2007

Faust!

I'll let you chase the links from the Wikipedia article. Of note(to me anyway) are the series of waltzes by Franz Liszt: the "Mephisto Waltzes," and the oratorio by Hector Berlioz: "The Damnation of Faust."
posted by Zach! at 3:51 PM on August 10, 2007

...and you call yourselves geeks!

Star Wars, Star Trek:
Movies, Books, Games, Merch, Dolls, Halloween costumes, audiobooks, radio shows, soundtracks, etc...
posted by softlord at 5:15 PM on August 10, 2007

Also, most of the Marvel and DC comics universe-related stuff has appeared in many, many, many forms over its 70-odd-year lifetime. Think about the Superman radio shows, comic strips, comic books, movie shorts, movies, television shows, novelizations, spinoffs, tie-ins, and so on.
posted by cgc373 at 5:42 PM on August 10, 2007

Tarzan? Edgar Rice Burroughs was certainly a forerunner of the all-around licensed character. OK, not exactly one narrative, but interesting: at the time people thought that having Tarzan books and a Tarzan comics and Tarzan movies would all hurt each other because they would compete; in fact, the opposite was the true.

Conan would be up there too: books, comics, movies, upcoming MMORPG...
posted by dagnyscott at 6:05 PM on August 10, 2007

Don Juan.

On every media plus an opera by Mozart.
posted by bru at 7:19 PM on August 10, 2007

The life of Jesus.
posted by turaho at 12:20 PM on August 10 [+] [!]

I'm sure you're right--but in retrospect I guess I'm more interested in a fictional narrative

That's not fiction?
posted by nax at 3:39 PM on August 11, 2007