Jane Austen in popular culture
The author Jane Austen, as well as her works, have been represented in popular culture in a variety of forms.
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose social commentary and masterly use of both free indirect speech and irony eventually made her one of the most influential and honoured novelists in English literature. In popular culture, Austen's novels and her personal life have been adapted into film, television, and theatre, with adaptations varying greatly in their faithfulness to the original.
Books and scripts that use the general storyline of Austen's novels but change or otherwise modernise the story also became popular at the end of the 20th century. For example, Clueless (1995), Amy Heckerling's updated version of Emma, which takes place in Beverly Hills, became a cultural phenomenon and spawned its own television series.[1]
As a character
Film and television
In 2007, Anne Hathaway starred as Austen in Becoming Jane.[2] Based on the biography Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Hunter Spence,[3] the film centred on Jane Austen's early life, her development as an author, and the posited romantic relationship with Thomas Langlois Lefroy (James McAvoy).[2]
Miss Austen Regrets, a television film starring Olivia Williams as Jane Austen, was released in the same year. Based on Austen's surviving letters, the semi-biographical television movie focused on the last few years of Jane Austen's life as she looked back on her life and loves and helped her favourite niece, Fanny Knight (Imogen Poots), find a husband.
Theatre
JANE, the musical debuted in June 2006 in the West Midlands, England. It is a West-End style musical theatre production based on the life of Jane Austen. The musical, directed by Geetika Lizardi, focuses on Austen as a modern heroine, a woman who chose art and integrity over the security of a loveless marriage.
Literature
Jane Austen features as an amateur sleuth in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series of historical mystery novels.
Kate Beaton, cartoonist of webcomic Hark! A Vagrant, devoted one of her comic strips to Jane Austen.[4]
Video Games
Jane Austen (voiced by Eden Riegel) is revealed as the narrator of 2013's Saints Row IV in a bonus cutscene, and the game's antagonist Zinyak reads the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice on an in-game radio station. Both the protagonist (the leader of the 3rd Street Saints) and the game alien antagonist Zinyak are depicted as fans of Austen's work. She appears as a figure in How the Saints Save Christmas DLC and Saints Row IV standalone expansion, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell.
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Elinor Dashwood | Marianne Dashwood | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | Sense and Sensibility Television Miniseries |
Joanna David | Ciaran Madden | David Giles | Denis Constanduros | ||
1981 | Sense and Sensibility Television Miniseries |
Irene Richard | Tracey Childs | Rodney Bennett | Alexander Baron | ||
1995 | Sense and Sensibility Feature Film |
Emma Thompson | Kate Winslet | Ang Lee | Emma Thompson | [5] | |
2008 | Sense and Sensibility Television Miniseries |
Hattie Morahan | Charity Wakefield | John Alexander | Andrew Davies | [6] |
Looser adaptations
- Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) is a Kollywood (Tamil) film set in the present, based on the same plot, starring Tabu as Sowmya (Elinor Dashwood), Aishwarya Rai as Meenakshi (Marianne Dashwood), with Ajit as Manohar (Edward Ferrars), Abbas as Srikanth (Willoughby) and Mammootty as Captain Bala (Colonel Brandon).
- Material Girls (2006) is a modern-day set film about two rich, spoiled Hollywood socialites's economical misfortune and struggles, whose plot was conceived from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.[7]
- From Prada to Nada (2011) is an adaptation set in the present among Mexican Americans in Los Angeles.
- Scents and Sensibility (2011) is also a modern-day adaptation. It follows the sisters as they struggle after their father is imprisoned for investment fraud.
- Kumkum Bhagya (2014) is an Indian television serial starring Sriti Jha and Shabbir Ahluwalia
Other references
- In Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, Lister tries to read Sense and Sensibility in tribute to Kochanski, although he is not sure how to pronounce the author's name, trying out "oosten" and "orsten", as well as desperately hoping for "car chases in this one."
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
- This section lists film, theatre, and television adaptations only.
- For literary adaptations, see: List of literary adaptations of Pride and Prejudice.
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Elizabeth Bennet | Fitzwilliam Darcy | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1938 | Pride and Prejudice | Curigwen Lewis | Andrew Osborn | Michael Barry | |||
1940 | Pride and Prejudice Feature film |
Greer Garson | Laurence Olivier | Robert Z. Leonard | Aldous Huxley Helen Jerome Jane Murfin |
||
1952 | Pride and Prejudice Television miniseries |
Daphne Slater | Peter Cushing | Campbell Logan | Cedric Wallis | ||
1957 | Orgoglio e pregiudizio Television miniseries |
Virna Lisi | Franco Volpi | Daniele D'Anza | Edoardo Anton | An adaptation in Italian. | |
1958 | Pride and Prejudice Television miniseries |
Jane Downs | Alan Badel | Cedric Wallis | This TV series is believed to be lost; no known copies exist. | ||
1961 | De vier dochters Bennet Television miniseries |
Lies Franken | Ramses Shaffy | Cedric Wallis Lo van Hensbergen |
An adaptation in Dutch. | ||
1967 | Pride and Prejudice Television miniseries |
Celia Bannerman | Lewis Fiander | Joan Craft | Nemone Lethbridge | ||
1980 | Pride and Prejudice Television miniseries |
Elizabeth Garvie | David Rintoul | Cyril Coke | Fay Weldon | ||
1995 | Pride and Prejudice Television miniseries |
Jennifer Ehle | Colin Firth | Simon Langton | Andrew Davies | ||
2004 | Bride & Prejudice Feature film |
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Lalita Bakshi) |
Martin Henderson (William "Will" Darcy) | Gurinder Chadha | Gurinder Chadha Paul Mayeda Berges |
||
2005 | Pride & Prejudice Feature film |
Keira Knightley | Matthew Macfadyen | Joe Wright | Deborah Moggach |
Looser adaptations
- "Furst Impressions" (1995), an episode of the children's television series Wishbone, is based on Pride and Prejudice. Wishbone plays the role of Mr. Darcy.
- In the 1997 episode of science fiction comedy Red Dwarf entitled "Beyond a Joke", the crew of the space ship relax in a virtual reality rendition of "Pride and Prejudice Land" in "Jane Austen World".
- Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) borrowed its basic plot elements from Pride and Prejudice, and the character of Mark Darcy (played in the film by Colin Firth, who played Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television Pride and Prejudice) is named in deliberate homage to the original character.
- Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003) is an independent film adaptation set among Mormons in Utah.[8][9]
- Lost in Austen (2008) is a four-part British fantasy television series in which Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper), a devoted Janeite, trades places with Elizabeth Bennet. Gemma Arterton and Elliot Cowan starred as Elizabeth and Darcy.
- A 2008 Israeli television six-part miniseries set the story in the Galilee with Mr Darcy a well-paid worker in the high-tech industry.[10]
- The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012–2013) is an Emmy winning YouTube adaption in which Lizzie Bennet (Ashley Clements), a graduate student explains her life through the video blog format alongside her sisters Jane Bennet (Laura Spencer) and Lydia Bennet (Mary Kate Wiles) and her friend Charlotte Lu (Julia Cho).[11][12]
- Death Comes to Pemberley (2013) is a 3-part murder mystery television drama based on the novel of the same name as a continuation of Pride and Prejudice starring Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Darcy, Matthew Rhys as Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jenna Coleman as Lydia Wickham, and Matthew Goode as George Wickham.
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), a movie based on the novel of the same name with Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet, Sam Riley as Fitzwilliam Darcy, Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet, Douglas Booth as Charles Bingley and Charles Dance as Mr Bennet.
Other references
- In the episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" of Futurama, Fry follows the leader of the brainspawn into several books, including Pride and Prejudice, where Fry is in attendance at a ball where the brain is introduced as the most eligible bachelor.
Theatre
- Pride and Prejudice (1935), a Broadway play, and the basis for the 1940 film
- First Impressions (1959), Broadway musical version of Pride and Prejudice
- Pride and Prejudice, a straight play version by Jon Jory
- Pride and Prejudice (1995), a musical by Bernard J. Taylor
- I Love You Because, a musical set in modern-day New York
- Pride and Prejudice (forthcoming, 2013), Simon Reade's stage adaptation to be performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
- Pride & Prejudice (2013), an opera by Guy Withers, premièred by Cardiff University Operatic Society[13]
Mansfield Park (1814)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Fanny Price | Edmund Bertram | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | Mansfield Park Television miniseries |
Sylvestra Le Touzel | Nicholas Farrell | David Giles | Kenneth Taylor | ||
1999 | Mansfield Park Feature Film |
Frances O'Connor | Jonny Lee Miller | Patricia Rozema | Patricia Rozema | ||
2007 | Mansfield Park Television Movie |
Billie Piper | Blake Ritson | Iain B. MacDonald | Maggie Wadey |
Looser adaptations
- Metropolitan (1990), directed by Whit Stillman, was a loose adaptation set in modern-day Manhattan and Long Island. (Jane Austen is also mentioned throughout the film.)
- Ruby in Paradise (1993), directed by Victor Nuñez, is a homage[14] to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
- From Mansfield With Love (2014), a YouTube vlog adaptation of Mansfield Park by Foot in the Door Theatre. Telling the story of Frankie Price a modern employee of Mansfield Park Hotel who communicates with her brother in the Navy through videos. The series began in December 2014 and ended November 2015.
Theatre
- Mansfield Park (2011), a chamber opera by Jonathan Dove, with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton, commissioned and first performed by Heritage Opera, 30 July – 15 August 2011.[15]
- Mansfield Park (2012), stage adaptation by Tim Luscombe, produced by the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, toured the UK in 2012 and 2013.[16] The play was published by Oberon Books (ISBN 978-1-84943-484-3).
Emma (1815)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Emma Woodhouse | George Knightley | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1948 | Emma Feature film |
Judy Campbell | Ralph Michael | Michael Barry | Judy Campbell | ||
1960 | Emma Television miniseries |
Diana Fairfax | Paul Daneman | Campbell Logan | Vincent Tilsley | ||
1972 | Emma Television miniseries |
Doran Godwin | John Carson | John Glenister | Denis Constanduros | ||
1996 | Emma Feature film |
Gwyneth Paltrow | Jeremy Northam | Douglas McGrath | Douglas McGrath | ||
1996 | Emma Television movie |
Kate Beckinsale | Mark Strong | Diarmuid Lawrence | Andrew Davies | ||
2009 | Emma Television miniseries |
Romola Garai | Jonny Lee Miller | Jim O'Hanlon | Sandy Welch |
Looser adaptations
- Clueless (1995), a modernisation of the novel set in a Beverly Hills high school. The film was directed by Amy Heckerling and stars Alicia Silverstone.
- Clueless (1996), a TV show based on the 1995 film.
- Aisha (2010) is a Hindi-language film set in Delhi; it is a modern version of Emma, similar to Clueless. The film was directed by Rajshree Ojha and stars Sonam Kapoor.
- Emma Approved (2013–2014), an Emmy-winning YouTube adaptation in which Emma Woodhouse (Joanna Sotomura) is a matchmaker who documents her ventures into the matchmaking business with her assistant Harriet Smith (Dayeanne Hutton) and confidant Alex Knightley (Brent Bailey).
Northanger Abbey (1817)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Catherine Morland | Henry Tilney | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | Northanger Abbey Television Film |
Katharine Schlesinger | Peter Firth | Giles Foster | Maggie Wadey | ||
2007 | Northanger Abbey Television Film |
Felicity Jones | J. J. Feild | Jon Jones | Andrew Davies |
Looser adaptations
- "Pup Fiction" (1998), an episode of the children's television series Wishbone, is based on Northanger Abbey. Wishbone plays the role of Henry Tilney, and Amy Acker guest starred as Catherine Moreland.
Persuasion (1817)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Anne Elliot | Capt. Frederick Wentworth | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Persuasion Television Miniseries |
Daphne Slater | Paul Daneman | Campbell Logan | Barbara Burnham Michael Voysey |
This TV series is believed to be lost; no known copies exist | |
1971 | Persuasion Television Miniseries |
Ann Firbank | Bryan Marshall | Howard Baker | Julian Mitchell | ||
1995 | Persuasion Television Film |
Amanda Root | Ciarán Hinds | Roger Michell | Nick Dear | Originally a Television movie, it was released in US theatres by Sony Pictures Classics. | |
2007 | Persuasion Television Film |
Sally Hawkins | Rupert Penry-Jones | Adrian Shergold | Simon Burke |
Looser adapations
- The plot of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2001) is loosely based on Persuasion.
Sanditon (1817/1925)
Film and television
None
Looser adaptations
- Welcome To Sanditon (2013), starring Allison Paige, is a modernization of the unfinished novel that is set in the fictitious town of Sanditon, California. The web series is a spin-off of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries created by Hank Green and Bernie Su.
Lady Susan (1871)
Film and television
Year | Adaptation | Lady Susan | Alicia Johnson | Director | Screenwriter | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Love & Friendship Feature film |
Kate Beckinsale | Chloë Sevigny | Whit Stillman | Whit Stillman | ||
Other references
In 1994, American literary critic Harold Bloom placed Austen among the greatest Western Writers of all time.[17] In a 2002 poll to determine whom the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Austen was ranked number 70 in the list of the "100 Greatest Britons".[18] In 2003, Austen's Pride and Prejudice came second in the BBC's The Big Read, a national poll to find the "Nation's best-loved book."[19]
In 2007, the article Rejecting Jane by British author David Lassman, which examined how Austen would fare in the modern day publishing industry,[20][21][22][23][24] achieved worldwide attention when Austen's work—submitted under a pseudonym—was rejected by numerous publishers.[25]
Austen's writing was the inspiration for the 2013 video game Regency Love, a visual novel in which the player interacts with townspeople, friends, family, and potential suitors, looking for a suitable match. The game includes storylines inspired by Austen's writing style, as well as trivia questions about Austen's work.[26]
- The 1980 film Jane Austen in Manhattan is about rival stage companies who wish to produce the only complete Austen play, the fictional Sir Charles Grandison, which had been recently discovered.[27]
- The 2007 film The Jane Austen Book Club is about a group of people who form a Jane Austen discussion group. Much of the dialogue concerns her novels and her personal life. This film is based on a book by Karen Joy Fowler.
- The 2013 film Austenland is a romantic comedy based on Shannon Hale's novel of the same name, starring Keri Russell as Jane Hayes, a young thirty-something obsessed with Jane Austen who travels to a British resort called Austenland, in which the Austen era is recreated.
- In the radio sitcom Old Harry's Game, Jane Austen is a minor recurring character who is in Hell. In it, Austen is discovered to have been incredibly violent, rude and foul-mouthed personally. As a result, she is one of the few people in Hell that Satan is frightened of and whom other sinners such as Hitler look up to.
- In the science fiction book series Remnants, a subculture group called "Janes" emulate the mannerisms and ideals of the characters in Jane Austen's novels.
- In the British TV series Blackadder the Third, Mr. E. Blackadder explains he gave himself a female pseudonym when writing a book. Insisting that every other male author is doing it, Blackadder explains that Jane Austen is really a burly Yorkshireman with a heavy beard. In addition to this, in a deliberate nod to the third series being set in the Regency period, each episode had an alliterative title loosely punning Sense and Sensibility, e.g. "Sense and Senility", "Ink and Incapability".
- The 2005 book Kafka's Soup, a literary pastiche in the form of a cookbook, contains a recipe for tarragon eggs à la Jane Austen.[28]
- In 2010, a mock movie trailer became popular online, satirising the novels and characters of Austen's novels. Titled, Jane Austen's Fight Club, it depicts Elizabeth Bennet leading a bare knuckle boxing therapy group for other Austen characters.[29][30]
- In 2013 it was announced that Austen is to feature on the next £10 note issued by the Bank of England, probably in 2017.[31]
- Austen is referenced several times in the British science fiction television program, Doctor Who in relation to the ongoing character Clara Oswald, an English teacher who travels in time with the titular character, the Doctor. In "The Caretaker" (eighth series, 2014), she and the Doctor debate historical facts related to Austen, with the Doctor confessing his knowledge of Austen stems from a written biography he read.[32] In 2015, Austen is referenced twice in ninth series, by which time it is indicated that Clara has by this point met the author (though this is not depicted on screen), with references hinting at romantic attraction between the two (in keeping with the series hinting that Clara is bisexual). In "The Magician's Apprentice", Clara describes Austen to her students as an "amazing writer, astonishing comic observer and, strictly between ourselves, a phenomenal kisser."[33][34] Later in Series 9, in "Face the Raven", Clara tells a friend that she and Austen would play tricks on each other, ending with Clara stating: "I love her. Take that how you like."[35][36] In a February 2016 interview, Dollard indicated she originally planned for "Face the Raven" to include a scene featuring Austen and Clara, but it was cut before production.[37]
Bibliography
- Macdonald, Gina and Andrew Macdonald, eds. Jane Austen on Screen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-521-79325-4.
- Pucci, Suzanne Rodin and James Thompson, eds. Jane Austen and Co.: Remaking the Past in Contemporary Culture. Buffalo: State University of New York Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-7914-5615-6.
- Troost, Linda and Sayre Greenfield, eds. Jane Austen in Hollywood. 2nd ed. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8131-9006-8.
References
- ↑ Pucci and Thompson, 1.
- 1 2 "Becoming Jane – The Official DVD Website" (Press release). Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
- ↑ "Masterpiece Classic – Jane Austen Selected Resources – Books/Biographies" (Press release). Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved 14 February 2010.
- ↑ Beaton, Kate. "Jane Austen Comics", Hark! A Vagrant. Accessed 3 December 2014.
- ↑ Lee, Ang, dir. Sense and Sensibility. Adap. Emma Thompson. Perf. Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant. Columbia Pictures, 1995. DVD.
- ↑ Alexander, John, dir. Sense and Sensibility. Adap. Andrew Davies. Perf. David Morrissey, Janet McTeer, Hattie Morahan, Charity Wakefield, Dan Stevens, Dominic Cooper, Mark Williams, Claire Skinner, Anna Madeley, Daisy Haggard. BBC, 2008. DVD.
- ↑ Material Girls, Wikipedia
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice (2003) at the Internet Movie Database.
- ↑ See Jennifer M. Woolston's "'It's not a put-down, Miss Bennet; it's a category': Andrew Black's Chick Lit Pride and Prejudice," Persuasions Online 28.1 (Winter 2007).Jasna.org
- ↑ Burstein, Nathan (6 November 2008). "Mr. Darcy's Israeli Makeover". The Forward.
- ↑ lizziebennet.com
- ↑ Digital, Pemberley. "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
- ↑ "Pride & Prejudice". Cardiff University School of Music. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ↑ "Northanger Abbey". Jane Austen Society of North America. 20 May 2016.
- ↑ Quirke, Kieron (16 August 2011). "Mansfield Park, Arcola Theatre – Review". Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ↑ Stebbing, Eve (24 September 2012). "Mansfield Park, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds - Review". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Bloom, Harold. 1994. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. p. 226. New York: Harcourt Brace.
- ↑ "BBC — 100 great British heroes". BBC News. 21 August 2002. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ↑ The BBC's Big Read BBC: The Big Read April 2003. Retrieved 7 November 2010
- ↑ De Bruxelles, Simon. "How A Laydee showed that First Impressions really are misleading." The Times. 19 July 2007. p21.
- ↑ Morris, Stephen. "The author and the Austen plot that exposed publishers' pride and prejudice." The Guardian, 19 July 2007. p3.
- ↑ Jane Austen in Modern Day. ABC news. 20 July 2007.
- ↑ 'Publishers fail to spot plagiarized Jane Austen' Reuters. 19 July 2007.
- ↑ "No Censure for Stolen Words", New York Times, 20 July 2007.
- ↑ "How literary hoax turned into a global story for Austen fans". Western Daily Press. 12 September 2008.
- ↑ Hudson, Laura (19 August 2015). "A romance game that feels like playing a Jane Austen novel". Boing Boing. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
- ↑ BBC News. 2004. Rare Austen manuscript unveiled
- ↑ C J Schüler (13 November 2005). "Kafka's Soup by Mark Crick". The Independent. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
- ↑ Jane Austen's Fight Club
- ↑ Staskiewicz, Keith (30 July 2010). "I am Jane's pinching corset: We talk to the creator of 'Jane Austen's Fight Club'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
- ↑ "Jane Austen to be face of the Bank of England £10 note - BBC News". Bbc.com. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
- ↑ Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who: "The Caretaker", BBC One, first broadcast 27 September 2014.
- ↑ Steven Moffat, Doctor Who: "The Magician's Apprentice", BBC One, first broadcast 19 September 2015.
- ↑ "BBC Writers Room: Doctor Who - Series 9, Episodes 1 & 2 and Episodes 11 & 12 - Steven Moffat". bbc.co.uk. 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- ↑ Sarah Dollard, Doctor Who: "Face the Raven", BBC One, first broadcast 21 November 2015.
- ↑ "BBC Writers Room: Doctor Who - Series 9, Episode 10 'Face the Raven' (original title 'Trap Street') - Sarah Dollard". bbc.co.uk. 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- ↑ "Whovian Feminism Interviews Sarah Dollard". Whovian Feminism. 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.