Jane Austen's novels sublimely combine romance, a sharp wit, social satire
and rich and believable characters to satisfy both head and heart. Her novels on
love and marriage have been adapted for the big and small screens more than any
other female writer. The BBC has been most prolific at mining her work,
revisiting her six novels several times through the last five decades; their
revivals have helped reinforce Austen's place in the literary canon and in
popular imagination.
Though Austen's appeal may be perennial, the look of the adaptations has
changed constantly, with each naturally reflecting the time of its conception.
Like much television drama up to the 1960s, the earliest adaptations were
usually theatrically staged, and partly due to the absence of colour and the
constraints of a tiny television screen even those in the 1960s featured
relatively austere sets and costumes intended only to approximate the time
period; there was little need for lavish period detail that would be unseen and
unappreciated by the audience. 1970s adaptations such as the BBC's 1971 Emma
improved upon static 1960s productions, but are still, to modern eyes, hampered
by contemporary trends in make-up and a fondness for a beige and brown palette.
The explosion of interest in 'heritage cinema' in the 1980s (led by
Merchant-Ivory) fostered in television adaptations the lavish historical detail
and high production values that audiences now expect. However, though costumes
were now buttoned or laced rather than zipped, 1980s Austen adaptations weren't
immune to fashion; Northanger Abbey's (BBC, 1987) dream sequences in particular
are redolent of 1980s music videos.
The 1990s watchword was authenticity, with productions demonstrating an
almost fetishistic pride in creating convincing period worlds. This was also the
time when period drama first ventured into less sunny and green pastures.
Whereas the exterior scenes of ITV's 1981 Sense and Sensibility take place in
permanently sun-lit greenery (even when the novel indicates otherwise), Pride
and Prejudice (BBC, 1995) features rain-drenched scenes and mud-splattered white
muslin dresses. The realism of Persuasion (BBC, 1995), the least
romantically-styled Austen, signalled a new wave of television literary
adaptation, sharing more traits with Bleak House (BBC, 2005) than with earlier
Austens.
A successful adaptation manages to be relevant to modern audiences without
alienating devoted readers. Modernising Austen often involves increasing the
romance by adding scenes of kisses and weddings that occur 'off-stage' in the
novels. Persuasion (BBC, 1995) features a public kiss between the hero and
heroine, an unlikely occurrence in Austen's time. Pride and Prejudice (BBC,
1995) ups the sex ante by featuring scenes of the Bennett sisters bustling
around in their underwear, and in the famous scene of Mr Darcy taking a dip.
Casting obviously plays a part in audience appeal, though sometimes it can
contradict the intentions of the novel; Dominic Rowan (Mr Elton) in Emma (ITV,
1996), like Alan Rickman (Colonel Brandon) in the film of Sense and Sensibility
(US, 1995) seems too attractive for his role.
Much of the audience's enjoyment depends on an early emotional investment in
the blossoming relationships. Whereas in the novels the characters' emerging
feelings are often communicated by the narrator, the adaptations have to take a
more direct approach. In 1967's Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth's voiceover tells
us of her love for Mr Darcy; in the 1995 update, Elizabeth tells her sister how
she feels. Direction also helps to make thoughts and feelings explicit. The
camera draws attention to a character's reactions, or focuses our attention on a
touch or a bitten lip without having to rely on words. Another visual solution,
used by the writer/director teams for Northanger Abbey (1987) and Emma (1996),
is adding 'dream' sequences to reveal characters' innermost thoughts. Adaptors
also occasionally add new scenes to help modern audiences make sense of
pragmatic relationship decisions. This practice can be seen in Sense and
Sensibility (1981), where additional scenes between Colonel Brandon and Marianne
help us to appreciate their compatibility and why she decides to marry him.
The 'streamlining' process necessary in adapting lengthy novels for the time
constraints of television often results in the loss of entire subplots;
typically the scriptwriter will choose to keep comic scenes over more
serious-minded discursions. It is often necessary to cut undistinguished minor
characters (or even more significant characters, such as Mary in Pride and
Prejudice (1967)) or reduce the size of a character's role (such as Sir Walter
Elliot in Persuasion (1995)) so that the audience isn't confused by the parade
of different characters. Austen often features letters or the reporting of
off-stage events to convey background information in her novels. Adaptors have
found a variety of solutions for imparting background information: rewriting
letters as dialogue, or dramatising a letter's events as the letter is read
aloud. The problem of conveying narrated background information is commonly
solved by rewriting the narration as dialogue, as in Persuasion (1995).
The most crucial challenge for adapters is conveying Austen's satirical
barbs. This can be problematic because some of the satire and observational
humour is in the narration; occasionally Austen narrates the characters'
conversations (notably in Northanger Abbey), or describes an amusing event,
rather than writing the scene with dialogue. In this situation, scriptwriters
must either create new dialogue that captures the playful mood of the source
material, or rewrite elements of the narration as dialogue. Fortunately, Austen
had a keen ear for witty dialogue, which adaptors are able to lift it directly
from the page, faithfully rendering her words and preserving her intentions and
voice. Though much of this dialogue is easily understandable to the modern ear,
the prolific Andrew Davies (who has adapted two Austen novels) further
modernises Pride and Prejudice (1995) by adding anachronistic colloquialisms
such as "Oh, never mind, I'll do it". An assortment of other strategies have
been used to increase the comedic elements in Austen adaptations, including
visual jokes, casting comic actors in supporting roles, and encouraging
exaggerated performances.
Though she may go in and out of fashion, Jane Austen's legacy is a wit and an
acuteness of observation that will ensure that her novels will continue to be
read - and adapted - for many years to come. Her well-plotted stories and rich
characters offer pleasures for producers, writers, actors, readers and viewers alike. In
the pages of her six novels, her heroines learn empathy, integrity, judgement,
the distinguishing of reality from fantasy, the balance of head and heart:
lessons that are as attractive and valuable in the early 21st century as in the
early 19th.
Louise Watson
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