Aging, adaptation, and the Curious Cases of Benjamin Button

If words and images do not and cannot translate, and if form does not and cannot separate from content (whether because of their mandated insoluble bond or because content is simply an illusion), then what remains to pass between a novel and a film in adaptation? (3) The adaptation of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" presents a useful case study for consideration of the critical conundrum Elliott poses, because it is an example of adaptation in terms of form (from short story to film) and content (in both texts, Benjamin's story is about whether and how he adapts to his society-more precisely, to its conventions regarding the experiences and narratives of human development and aging). Referring to the gap created as a result of a spectator's work of recall when viewing an adaptation, Christine Geraghty suggests that ... this awareness of a gap, between what is being referred to in the work of recall involved in the adaptation and what we see on screen, can also, as we shall see, be discussed in relation to other elements-in the rendering of landscape, for instance, or the use of costumes.