Our society is always changing and utilizing different tools and techniques to survive daily living. One technique is adapting literature to make it more current for today’s society. However, modernizations are often critiqued harshly by society, whether it be a positive or negative one.
But how do modernizations contribute to society? Modernizations in literature adaptations allow for a broader more diverse audience. These are typically people who do not have time to read the book but still want to get a feel of what it is about or people who love the book so much that they want to see how others view the text. By opening up the text to a broader audience, directors have the ability to change the text how they see fit, in order to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats throughout.
Modernizations have allowed for a more diverse group of people to be represented in adaptations. This can include utilizing different cultures, genders, or races when adapting a film. In Elementary, a television show that is an adaptation of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes, the director utilizes gender-bending and racial diversity by casting Lucy Liu as Dr. Watson, a character that is usually played by a white male. This casting choice allows for not only diversity in an all-white, male cast, but also for women empowerment. Nowadays, people love seeing women in roles where it is more typical to see a male, like in a superhero movie. Directors are creating more movies like Captain Marvel, a movie that is set before any other superhero movie and stars a female as the lead crime fighter instead of most superhero movies that star men as the lead. Captain Marvel is the eighth most profitable superhero movie ever which goes to show that people are just engaged in women as men being the lead role (Box Office Mojo). By opening up Dr. Watson to be played by a female actor, it also allows for more people to be able to relate to what she goes through being a woman in a job (detective) stereotypically played by men. This decision fits modern times because now women are allowed to take on any role that men can, such as being an actor, doctor, detective, construction worker, etc. By not limiting the gender of Dr. Watson, Elementaryis able to provide a modern-day twist to Sherlock Holmes. This, in turn, opens up the role for people of any gender or race to play roles they never have before.
Modernizations are not limited to only who is cast to play each character but can also relate to where the scene is set. This can contribute to the cultural aspect of the adaptation. Bride and Prejudicea Bollywood spin on the American classic Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen allows the audience to be introduced to Indian culture and traditions. This movie shows the hardships of multicultural relationships and what it is like learning a new culture. This also shines a light on different parts of Pride and Prejudiceby placing emphasis on the parts that are more related to Indian culture. Bride and Prejudice focus more on the dances and family aspect, which allows for the audience to stay more engaged due to the singing and dancing rather than in the typical adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. This modernization allows for people who may not be able to go to India and experience Indian culture the ability to understand where they are coming from, how their culture differs, and open their horizons to other cultures, but as a Pride and Prejudiceversion.
On the other hand, fidelity, or how true an adaptation remains to the original piece of work, is a critical role in making a modernization successful (Denton). A piece can make something modern by adding the use of technology, gender-bending, or color conscious casting and as long as it remains faithful to the original story then it will be successful. Staying faithful to a piece of work means that you are staying true to the plot and how the characters are being represented. Although, occasionally, plot twists are acceptable and enjoyed most fan bases do not appreciate when an adaptation is completely different from the book. However, it is impossible to completely maintain the fidelity of a book when adapting it into a movie because you are working with a different audience, technology like cameras and screens, and in a shorter time frame. It is quite impossible to fit an entire book in a film that is short enough, and action-packed to keep the attention of the audience. Also, films reach an audience in the way a book never could. They give the audience a picture of how the characters act by themselves and in response to other characters, clarify the book, and see if how they viewed the book in the same way as others. Therefore, adapting a book into a film is highly relevant in today’s society and by modernizing it you are making it more understandable and relatable.
Although adaptations in the true sense require keeping the spirit of an original piece, people still have the ability to make them modern (Allen). Adaptations allow for today’s society to enjoy and learn from a text that they might not otherwise have read. Older texts like Pride and Prejudiceoffer a lot of knowledge on romance but can seem outdated at times. A way to make a piece of literature seem more current is through the use of technology since it plays a vital role in today’s society. Adaptations like The Lizzie Bennett Diarieswere created for this reason. LBD is an adaptation of Pride and Prejudicethat is brought across as vlogs and utilizes modern language and examples to share Elizabeth Bennett’s love story in order to make it more relevant to teens of today. The setting of Regency England can be hard for an audience of the 21stcentury to relate to and understand, so by placing LBD in current San Francisco and using social media to tell the story, it makes a younger audience enjoy it more. This also gives young girls the dream to fall in love with a handsome and wealthy man like Darcy because it is in a time and place where it could happen to them as well. By utilizing vlogs and social media as a way to modernize a text you are allowing for the literature to reach a broader audience.
Adaptations that stay as true to the literature as possible but add some sort of modern take to it are often the most popular for viewers to watch. Modernizations can happen in any form and allow an audience to see a new aspect of tradition literature. By utilizing technology, gender-bending, and color-conscious casting a film is able to reach out and touch more people than ever before which in turn allows for the audience to take these messages from the adaptations and apply them to their own life.
Works Cited
- Allen, Brooke. “Adapting the Classic.” The Hudson Review, The Hudson Review, hudsonreview.com/2014/02/adapting-the-classic/#.XMmCpC-ZOqC.
- Austen, Jane. Shapard, David. “The Annotated Pride and Prejudice (Interactive Edition)” by Jane Austen & David M. Shapard on iBooks. IBooks.
- Denton, Siobhan. “Book Adaptations And The Fidelity Argument.” Film Inquiry, Film Inquiry, 13 Apr. 2017, http://www.filminquiry.com/book-adaptations-fidelity-argument/.
- “Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” YouTube, uploaded by Hank Green, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/user/LizzieBennet
- Mayeda Berges et al. Bride & Prejudice. Pathé Distribution and Miramax Films, 2004.
- “Superhero.” Box Office Mojo, IMDb, 2019, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=superhero.htm.
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