It seems as though every classic novel has a movie adaptation. Some classics include 1984 by George Orwell, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Out of all the movies with original novels out there, one story that must be analyzed is Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. Now there are many television adaptations of this novel, but the current comparison and contrast will be made to Deborah Moggach’s 2005 Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy respectively.
When it comes to the main plot and general flow of the story, the novel and movie are fairly similar. They both focus the story around Elizabeth Bennet and her journey into falling in love with Mr. Darcy. They both introduce the primary characters, such as Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, the Bennet Family, Mr. Collins, Charlotte Lucas, Mr. Wickum, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The movie depicts the key events of the story, such as Mr. Collin’s proposal to Elizabeth and then his marriage to Charlotte, Elizabeth’s discovery of Mr. Darcy’s involvement in “saving a friend from an awful marriage,” both of Mr. Darcy’s proposals to Elizabeth, as well as Lydia’s outrageous act of running away with Mr. Wickum. In summary, the movie did what it needed to do to meet the plot of the novel. However, every movie has their differences from the novel. For starters, the movie removed monologues, letters, and conversations to turn a book that has sixty-three chapters into a movie that is an hour long. For example, in the beginning, when Mrs. Bennet begs Mr. Bennet to see Mr. Bingley, in the novel he visits him the next day, whereas in the movie he already has before Mrs. Bennet starts to beg. They also shorten the plot by removing characters, such as Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, who are Mr. Bingley’s sister and brother-in-law, and taking Miss. Bingley, another sister of Mr. Bingley, out of the second half of the story. After Mr. Bingley hosts a ball at Netherfield, she disappears. The movie also takes less desirable characters, such as Elizabeth’s sisters Mary and Kitty, and turns them into elements of comic relief. With Kitty being Lydia’s ‘lost puppy,’ and Mary being the sister who is darker and more realistic than her siblings, they are basically there for the viewer to laugh at. In the book they don’t have much of a role, but they are the sisters to to main character, so they have to be in the movie somehow. Other characters such as Mr. Bingley and Mr. Collins are given more humorous characteristics when they do not contribute much to the plot. There are many adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and when it comes to turning a classic into a movie, the directors and screenplay writers should do what they can to make it identical to the original author’s message. With this story, screenplay writer Deborah Moggach was able to make her version of Pride and Prejudice very similar to Jane Austen’s novel, however she did removed characters and conversations for the sake of time. With language and body language, this story truly depicts the definition of pride and prejudice, both formats explaining why these characteristics are unhealthy in a society.
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Throughout all of history, every single human being has tried to find their own utopia. They want life to be perfect in every way, shape, and form. The problem is, the structure in which a society functions is not determined by every human being. To refer to Charles Darwin's concept of Social Darwinism, it is the "survival of the fittest." The strongest and most fit members of the society decide what is ideal and what is not. Most of the time, those who are the fittest to write history are the men of the time.
Beginning with the Nineteenth Century, the ideal lifestyle for a man was to have a respectable job that earns him a lot of money and status, a respectable wife, and a male heir to take his fortune when he passed away. However, this social goal was hard to achieve. As demonstrated in Jane Austen's, Pride and Prejudice (1813), in the eyes of man, women are a nuisance and their only goal in life is to marry and reproduce. Mrs. Bennet is the mother of five daughters, and she so obnoxiously points out that their only function is to marry a man with money so that they are kept in the higher society. Even more so, men are going to want to marry a woman who is perfect. Mrs. Bennet shows this by obsessing over the idea of her 'perfect' daughter, Jane, should marry the rich Mr. Bingley. Another example of a perfect woman, such like Jane, is the Prioress, or Nun, from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. In the prologue of this novel, Chaucer introduces us to a number of different people who are going on a pilgrimage, each with their own flaws and perfections. The men, such as the the Summoner, have obvious traits which show their misfortunes, but they are still accepted by society. However, women, such as the Prioress, must show they are perfect in order to be accepted. Even the Woman from Bath hides her misfortunes in order to be accepted by this group of people they will be travelling with. To describe the Prioress, Chaucer writes, "Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace," and with the Woman from Bath he says, "In making cloth she showed so great a bent She bettered those of Ypres and of Ghent." These women are ideally perfect. The Woman from Bath is skilled in sewing and the Prioress strives for kindness. The men accept these women into the group because of their perfections. For what is written in the lines of history, women must accomplish the ideals men set for them. For most women, that would include being skilled in cooking, sewing, music, and art. Even though the role of women in society has changed, how they are seen does not change. A woman who is educated or kind is more pleasing to the eye than a woman who is unskilled in any way. A woman who can sew is more impressive than one who cannot. Naturally, men learn about the standards set by men before them, and they feel they need to achieve those goals. Even if women do not want to be a part of those goals, men have the upper hand. They are the stronger of the species. They are the ones that write history. |
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