FIFTY YEARS LATER: THE ADAPTATION OF JUDY BLUME'S NOVEL ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET

Abstract

Judy Blume's young adult novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (1970) was adapted into a movie fifty-three years after its initial publication. This research focuses on analyzing the transposition of two key themes from the novel: religion and menstruation. The film's narrative was not modernized, turning the adaptation into a double act: converting the work to a new medium while also highlighting societal shifts over five decades. In contrast, the film's portrayal of religion and Margaret's idea of God resulted in certain shifts in meaning due to the specifics of translating a literary narrative into a cinematic one. The main aim of this paper is to critically examine these key elements of adaptation, as well as to explore the public impact of the film.