Sleepy Hollow (FOX, 2013- ), une adaptation ?

• Main Author: Julie Richard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Groupe de Recherche Identités et Cultures 2017-09-01
• Series: TV Series
• Subjects: adaptation; Sleepy Hollow; Irving Washington; American Revolution; fantastic genre; intertextuality
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/2182

Washington Irving’s short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1819) is part of the American literary legacy. It was adapted many times into various media: operas, musicals, films, TV series episodes, songs, and even video games. Sleepy Hollow (FOX, 2013-2017) adapts once again this story but only keeps seemingly the original location, names of some characters, and... the famous headless horseman. In the TV show, the main character, Ichabod Crane, has been sleeping since the American revolutionary war when he wakes up nowadays to find out that he has to fight the headless horseman and the demon Moloch in order to prevent the Apocalypse.So, the series is very different from the original short story and uses various materials and inspirations. Yet we cannot deny that Sleepy Hollow is an adaptation. Going back to Irving’s most popular works is enlightening: choices made by the screenwriters seem more grounded, especially the connection between the history of the foundation of the United States and the fantastic genre. Moreover, the show presents itself to the viewer as an adaptation and uses many references playfully, modifying and re-interpretating them with irony and humour.