How many changes can you make to a thing before it ceases to be that thing?

[mathew101281]

I’m referring mostly to adopting stories from one medium to another.

[Kirby101]

I think we must look at each individual occurrence.

To quote Justice Potter Stewart in the famous pornography case;

"But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that"

[DrNewGod]

I’m referring mostly to adopting stories from one medium to another.

To offer a concrete example, I consider the Captain America film franchise to be a live action representation of the comic character. I consider the Thor franchise to present something other than the comic character.

[godisawesome]

My “blind taste-test” measure of this is whether or not a description of it is just one move away from the point where literally no one could tell what it was originally.

For instance, if you removed the words “Cassandra Cain” from the Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie, no one would have any idea who Ella Jay Basco was playing at all. In contrast, The Lion King is recognizably still Hamlet because almost the entirety of the plot is derived from it, even if the names are changed.

[Tendrin]

My “blind taste-test” measure of this is whether or not a description of it is just one move away from the point where literally no one could tell what it was originally.

For instance, if you removed the words “Cassandra Cain” from the Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie, no one would have any idea who Ella Jay Basco was playing at all. In contrast, The Lion King is recognizably still Hamlet because almost the entirety of the plot is derived from it, even if the names are changed.

Wait, when did I wind up on ship reddit?

[DrNewGod]

My “blind taste-test” measure of this is whether or not a description of it is just one move away from the point where literally no one could tell what it was originally.

For instance, if you removed the words “Cassandra Cain” from the Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie, no one would have any idea who Ella Jay Basco was playing at all. In contrast, The Lion King is recognizably still Hamlet because almost the entirety of the plot is derived from it, even if the names are changed.

Your answer sounds a good deal smarter than mine.

[Gotham citizen]

I’m referring mostly to adopting stories from one medium to another.

This is a good question, but I fear it doesn't has a succinct answer. Anyway I think those changes can be both no one than infinites, because every story is based on a series of concepts and tropes that are the backbone of the story, so if the authors start to change those concepts and tropes, then the story will become immediately unrecognizable, but if the authors are able to understand what are those concept or tropes and preserve them, then the story will be recognizable no matters how many changes are made; same thing if we are talking about a character or a franchise. A good example of that is Star Trek: how many changes are been made with the various series and the various medium? Still all those variant are Star Trek, but a series set in a fantasy world, where the Enterprise is a galleon, where Spock is an elf, the klingon are orks and the United Federation of Planets become an United Federation of Islands, wouldn't be Star Trek, even if every episode of this new series would be the adaptation of an episode of the Original one.