A narrative study of the cross-media adaptation of the musical The Red and the Black

Abstract

Stendhal's The Red and the Black is a representative work of 19th-century French realist literature. In its cross-media adaptation into a French rock musical of the same name, plots involving the church and aristocratic politics are substantially cut, and the love narrative is elevated to the structural backbone. Existing studies mostly focus on the appreciation of stage style, lacking systematic analysis from the perspectives of narratology and adaptation theory. Taking Genette's narrative theory and Linda Hutcheon's theory of cross-media adaptation as the theoretical framework, this paper compares the original novel with the musical text to examine the shift of narrative focus and the reconstruction of narrative authority in the adaptation. The study finds that although the musical does not change the ambition-driven nature of Julien, it enables the love narrative to acquire an expression system independent of the main political storyline by reducing political narratives, splitting independent female perspectives, and adding the trans-level narrator Geronimo. Meanwhile, Julien's class-based personality and rebellious traits are transferred into emotional scenarios, achieving a balance between the simplification of surface narrative and the inheritance of deep spiritual connotation. This adaptation provides a referable practical paradigm for the contemporary stage transformation of classic literature.