Novel to film adaptations

Case study of Jane Austen

Have you ever found yourself submerged in the world of Jane Austen? And no I’m not talking about just her novels.

Over 200 years ago Jane Austen wrote several novels which over the years have transformed from being only novels to now: plays, radio shows, tv shows and movies.

Many adaptations you see on the tv or in the cinema now are for newer more popular, social media trending books. To name just a few: Twilight, Harry potter, IT and The Lord of the Rings. But what about older novels, classics, that are harder to read and can no longer be classed as relevant.

As for Jane Austen’s work, despite the difference in society and social classes now and then her work has stayed relevant. This is due to her often critiquing her own time period in the writing. As well as, her writing style which is formal and straightforward so makes her writing easy to read for most people, she was able to this as she used a writing style that not many other writers had used during their work. She wrote in ‘Free direct course’ which allows the reader to know the feelings of the characters as the narrator can show these feeling. By doing that she was able to focus mainly on the characters and their dialogue rather than description and detail.

Sense and Sensibility

Austen’s first published novel was sense and sensibility. Although it was not originally published in her name as was just known as written ‘By a Lady’ and she stayed anonymous till after she’d died. Its first documented purchase was made by Prince Regent and cost him about 15 shillings. She later acknowledged and thanked him for his enjoyment and purchases of her novels by dedicating her 4th novel Emma to him. Sense and Sensibility is a story of a family of a mother and her children after she recently becomes widowed and they lose their father, it's a story of how they continue their lives without him. 

The two most watched and recognised adaptations of sense and sensibility are: Sense and Sensibility (1971) and Sense and Sensibility (1995). Both films portray the novel well, following the story and characters. Sense and Sensibility (1971) was the first Sense and Sensibility adaptation so it had nothing to go off of except for the novel so it was a very close re-enactment, whereas the (1995) version was written and starred in by Emma Thompson who exaggerates scenes so that a modern audience can understand and follow along the story.

The costumes in both adaptations were very accurate to the time of when the novel was written, the costumes in Sense and Sensibility (1971) contained hair like the 1960’s which wouldn’t be very accurate to the time of the novel in the 1800’s, this is also occurred through the fabric of the dresses used in the film which would not have been used in the regency era. However, many of the costumes and details do start to match up such as: the hats and accessories and also the high waistline on the dresses of the female characters. Whereas costumes is where Sense and Sensibility (1995) thrives, with its crossover bodice from the 1790’s, lower waistlines which showed up in fashion plates in 1797 and open robes which Jane Austen herself wrote about having one in her letters. 

Whilst the story line of both adaptations was mostly accurate, the characters and sets were not as spot on. Described as a ‘stagey production’ Sense and Sensibility (1971) was criticised for its sets, the outdoor scenes of this series was shot on film so there’s a vast difference between the shots inside and out. Many critics have said it feels more like a play that has been filmed than a series. As well as the sets, some of the characters weren’t entirely accurate either. A 25 year old was playing a 17 year old and could not quite do the character justice. In contrast, Sense and Sensibility (1995) was written by Emma Thompson who also starred in it, this meant she was able to portray this character well as she was able to really know the character she wrote. However, some slight changes were made particularly to the male characters. Thompson made the male leads more feminist, through their views of equality and really making them more emotional then they were in the novel, these changes were liked and was said by The New York Review of Books to be an ‘improvements on Austen’s original’.

Pride and Prejudice

The most famous Austen novel. Pride and Prejudice. Which includes Jane’s very own heroine Elizabeth Bennet. When originally drafted it was called ‘First Impressions’ in 1796 but was renamed between 1811 and 1812 when it was revisited. Pride and Prejudice is about how peoples pride often holds them back from certain situations and relationships as it follows main characters Elizabeth and Mr Darcy and their personal journeys that bring them together.

Two big adaptations of Pride and Prejudice are: Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Bridget Jones’ Diary. One is an accurate re-enactment of the novel and one is just based on the storyline and characteristics. Pride and Prejudice (2005) was only the second big screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and still got a very good reception despite the fact that it was only released 10 years after the hit series Pride and Prejudice (1995).

Even though the 2005 film is only a couple of hours long director Joe Wright portrayed the novel really well, his wide shots allowed for the grand and expensive setting to really be shown as well as, his close up shots and zooms in on emotion and characteristics that he didn’t want to be over looked by the audience. Whereas, in Bridget Jones they focussed in on the set to make Bridget more relatable to the audience whilst also signifying how messy her life was as her house was made to be messy, it contained: an unmade bed, a bathroom sink full of makeup, full ash trays and self help books. The Bridget Jones’ set was so well done that they created a whole fake restaurant from scratch which was so realistic that people actually tried to eat there, this made the whole film seem so much more real and relatable.

The casting for both films was very well done, for the character of Bridget it took a while to cast the perfect actor. Eric Fellner, a producer for Bridget Jones, commented that as soon as Rennee Zellweger walked in to the room he knew she would be perfect for the role. However, she was an American women so they put her undercover to really test how well she could portray her, she was tasked to work at a publishing house as an English woman named Bridget, they knew if she could fool her co-workers into believing she was really Bridget she could really play her. As for Marc Darcy (a character in Bridget Jones) the writer of Bridget Jones had seen Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 series) as Mr Darcy and had developed a crush on him, as Marc Darcy was a re-imagined Mr Darcy it became clear he would be the perfect actor for the job. As for Pride and Prejudice, Kiera Knightley (who played Elizabeth Bennet) was the perfect age for the role but director Joe Wright did not originally want her as Elizabeth as she was too attractive for the role, as in the novel Elizabeth’s older sister Jane is supposed to be much more attractive than Elizabeth. Mr Darcy even comments on this in the novel “You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room” is Mr Darcy’s comment to his friend who is dancing with Jane and when told to dance with Elizabeth he replies with “ She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me”. However when the director met Kiera he could not deny that her personality and humour was perfect for the character of Elizabeth and knew he had to cast her.

All though the two films appear to have entirely different story lines, looking closely at them both they are more similar than you may think. Pride and Prejudice (2005) is a re-enactment of the novel so is very closely followed, using the same characters, as opposed to Bridget Jones, which follows a similar story line to the novel, by using similar characteristics but one character is more obvious than the others, Marc Darcy, played by an actor of Mr Darcy in the 1995 series Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth. Not only do they share an actor and a name but also their story as he much like Mr Darcy starts as the man the heroine cannot stand and ends up being someone she falls for, which then makes Elizabeth and Bridget the same character. 

Both Joe wright (director of Pride and Prejudice) and Helen Fielding (writer of Bridget Jones) had different ways of portraying their characters. Joe Wright made Elizabeth’s family, the Bennets, poorer but he also declines the idea that Mr Darcy is ignorant and instead offers the idea he is just socially awkward, this makes both characters a lot more like able and relatable to the modern audience. Helen Fielding, on the other hand, used Austen’s idea of Darcy more closely and played with the idea of Marc Darcy being a highly ranked proud man, who has many young women who want him yet he only wants the one person who does not want him, much like Darcy in the novel.

Mansfield Park

 Mansfield Park was Austen’s third novel and one of the least popular ones, it was written later on in Austen’s life so it holds a different tone to the other novels, it is more mature so deals more heavily on themes such as: power, family and relationships. The novel was not reviewed by critics when it was released but Austen did ask her family and friends for their thoughts on it, to which she gained very mixed reviews: Jane’s mother thought main character Fanny was dull whereas Jane’s sister Cassandra told Jane how fond she was on Fanny. This has resulted in not many adaptations of Mansfield Park and the ones that were made were not always of a high standard. Two adaptations of Mansfield Park are: Mansfield Park (1983) and Mansfield Park (1999). The main difference between the two is the 1983 adaptation in a tv miniseries but the 1999 version is a film. 

Mansfield Park (1983) was a BBC Miniseries, it was the first adaptation of this Austen novel so therefore is quite faithful to the storyline as it only had the novel to go off, this was also due to it being six episodes long which allowed for more time to fit the storyline in. It was more low budget than the other adaptations but the costumes and set really did it justice as a lot of it was filmed on location in grand estates across England. The costumes were so well done in this series that the costume designer was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on this series.

Mansfield Park 1999 was an improvement on the 1983 adaptation, although it doesn’t follow the story quite as well as the first one it improves the main character who used to be regarded as dull and turned her into Jane Austen herself, as she recites Janes letters to the camera throughout the film. The costumes in the film were not accurate to the regency era and instead are more modern to reflect Rozema’s (the writer and director of Mansfield Park (1999) view on the time period: Fanny’s clothes are not fitted, she rarely wears hats and another main character Mary Crawford barely wears pastels, this also allows for the characters to be more focused on.

Emma

Emma is the only novel of Austen’s that has been dedicated to anyone, after Prince Regents support on Austen’s other books she was requested to dedicate one to him, to which she agreed and wrote a short page to him in Emma. The character of Emma is supposed to be unlikeable at the beginning the whole storyline is her character development, Austen herself described Emma as “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. 2 Emma adaptations came out around the same time one being Emma (1996) and the less obvious one being Clueless.

The 1999 adaptation was portrayed like a fairy-tale, its location being fuelled by light colours and natural light, following the novel in the early 1800s but it originally was supposed to be set in 1990s but after hearing that clueless was in the works it was changed to be set at the same time as the novel. Clueless is a loosely followed adaptation set in the 1990s in Beverley Hills America where they have swapped letters for phones, it modernised scenes such as Emma’s portrait of Harriet for Mr Elton to now be Cher taking a photo of Tai for Elton. The title Clueless comes from the characteristic both Cher and Emma equally possess. In the novel Emma is described as “had lived twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her” much like Cher not understanding the news and real world after being sheltered by her wealthy family. Both characters are made to miss understand the real world and be ‘clueless’.

In the novel Austen uses clothing and land to describe a characters status, in Emma (1999) the costume designer was Oscar Nominated for her work on Emma, where she drew every sketch by hand, used colours many other period dramas had not and ensured every actor was comfortable and confident in their costume, she used a lot of pinks, blues and greens to create better looking clothes for the characters, she also ensured nothing was too tight for the characters to look free and not too restricted much like other costumes and outfits from that era. Social status is represented in Clueless as racial and class privilege, much like when Cher is held and gun point and continues to be unserious and make jokes whilst in this situation which really puts forward the idea of white privilege. Where in the Novel Mr Knightley is used to put Emma in her place, Clueless use the character of Josh. 

When casting Emma for Emma (1999) they originally wanted a fully British cast but after the casting directors could see how well American, Gwyneth Paltrow could slip in and out of a British accent it became clear to them she was the perfect Emma.

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen’s final novels Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Following her death, her brother published the recently finished Persuasion and also Northanger abbey which he published simultaneously in one complete set in 1818. This is the first time the name Jane Austen was recognised as being connected to these novels through her brother Henrys note in the books he published for her. This was first called The biographical Notice of the Author when Henry first wrote it but he renamed it in 1833 to Memoir of Miss Austen.

There are only 3 adaptations of Northanger Abbey. Two being Northanger Abbey (2007) and Northanger Abbey (1986). The 1986 adaptation was not very good at following the story line of the novel, the only 90 minute adaptation is the shortest Austen adaptation, as its so short the film is rushed and often misses out key parts in the original storyline. Whereas the 2007 version has the novels comic feel and romantic ending, it was also able to follow the story nicely, however for the film to be broadcast on tv 10 minutes worth of scenes was cut, Austen fans were not happy about this and complained so finally they got given the 10 minutes back in the UK Edition.

Northanger Abbey (2007) was written by Andrew Davies who has previously turned classics into films and has worked on: Vanity Fair and Bleak House who modernised the story a bit so that modern audiences would enjoy and understand it. Its costumes and set was very authentic and liked by many of the audience. On the other hand, the costumes in the 1986 adaptation were so luxurious that they were wrong for many characters as they would not be able to afford costumes like that, this was not the only thing that was wrong but also that the only time regency music was played was in ball scenes which makes the film inaccurate.

The 1995 persuasion film was the most faithful adaptation of the novel. The costumes were perfect as well as the locations and production. Although it was a low budget BBC movie that was under two hours long, it was given extra funding due to BBCs collaboration with masterpiece and Sony pictures classic, as well of the funding it also allowed them to film on location and access to borrowed footage of tall ships from 1984s The Bounty. When researching the novel to write the screenplay they found out the main character hardly speaks so it was difficult to get the story moving. Rather than getting the period detail completely accurate they focused in on wanting it to feel real and relatable. The audience complained the lead actors were not attractive enough however the actor who plays Captain Frederick looks rugged and weather-beaten which was perfect as it made him look like he’d spent most of his life at war.

The 2022 Persuasion was not received well with audiences especially lovers of the original novel, film versions of persuasions often don’t do it justice as there’s not enough time to truly capture the slower more reflective pace. This film was made to be a cross between Fleabag where she breaks the fourth wall to speak to the audience and Bridgeton which is a more modernised period drama. Because this film is made to be for the modern audience it tends to steer away from the novel. For anyone in the audience who has already read the book steering away can often be disappointing for them but as this is a Netflix film this has helped the novel reach wider audiences and encourages people to engage with classic literature. To make the heroine (Anne) more modern they gave her a pet bunny and also make her say phrases that definitely weren’t even around when Austen was: for example she talks about a “playlist” that was made for her. This adaptation is also very diverse as Austen’s time wasn’t about racial issues and neither was her novels. Despite the modern twist on the characters the screenwriters wanted to be faithful to the story which they were able to achieve.