Re-creating the text: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and its film adaptations

Abstract

Film adaptation is a relatively new and popular form of studying texts, which is very important to our society because of the effect that adaptation has on it. The differences between the “original” text and adaptation are what should make them relevant and worthy of further study. These differences allow us to see the changes in how we historicize a text, as well as the changing ways the novel is made “relevant” to new audiences. In essence, film adaptations keep the source text alive within culture and the audience. The theories behind film adaptations are many and are to be explored in the first chapter of this study. In the second chapter the films Pride and Prejudice (1940) directed by Robert Z. Leonard, Pride and Prejudice (1995 miniseries) directed by Andrew Davis, and Pride and Prejudice (2005) directed by Joe Wright will be analyzed and discussed. In the third chapter the more contemporary adaptations-- Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Pride and Prejudice (2003) and Bride and Prejudice (2004)--will also be discussed and analyzed. The six adaptations that will be discussed show us the various ways in which a text can be re-read by a different audience and enhance the “original” text by giving it new life.