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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