In the past decade, the influences of poststructuralism, postcolonialism, feminism, cultural studies, and evolutionary biology have helped to redefine adaptations as sites of a fascinating and limitlessly complex cultural and intertextual dialogism that has profoundly impacted the historical development of both literature and film. These developments followed specifically Andrew's call for adaptation studies to take "a sociological turn", a somewhat vague prescription which spoke to the crucial significance of history in the field's evolution. This chapter explores the value of a historical turn in adaptation studies, and focuses on the specific case of film adaptation, though this discussion will be relevant to adaptations of history, music, and so forth. It reflects on the most prevalent methodological approaches to studying adaptations—the so-called case-study and synchronic historiography, and also focuses on the largely neglected diachronic historical approach, or what might be referred to as big histories.