Jane_Eyre_Comparison_of_Film_to_Book

Jane Eyre Comparison of 2011 Film to Book Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 and contains vast and rich material (largely autobiographical) and tells the story of an orphan girl’s tragic story and development. The 2011 film adaption of the novel by director, Cary Fukunaga, translates the first-person narrative of Jane’s autobiography to screen by making use of flashbacks throughout the film which creates a mysterious effect and creates drama and suspense for the audience. The film does not start at the “beginning”, where the novel does, so the flashbacks play an important role of illustrating important event to the audience (especially those who are not familiar with the novel). This essay will discuss some comparisons and alterations between the opening scene to the red room scene as well as some characters in the novel and in the film. The film starts with events that happened toward the end of the book. Jane does not reveal her identity until later in the film, creating suspense. It begins with Jane running in the rain and ending up at St. Johns Rivers house, with his two sisters. Thereafter the flashbacks are presented in chronological manner starting from her childhood at age 10. Fukunaga’s cast is quite satisfactory and consistent with descriptions presented in the novel. Amelia Clarkson plays the young Jane Eyre, who is direct and sincere just as the novel’s character. Mia Wasikowska acts as the older Jane, she portray a simple, yet feisty woman as this was in close ties with the Jane in the novel. Jane’s cousins (Eliza, John and Georgiana) and aunt (Mrs Reed) are also portrayed accurately, as the truly make the audience cringe. Some scenes in the film, for example, the scene where John physically abuses Jane (Brontë, 14) , was well portrayed in the film as it outraged audiences and the emotional and shocking impact was greater than the novel’s. I feel that the red-room scene was slightly disappointing. When reading the novel, one sees that this scene is crucial as it has significant impact on the development of the main character, Jane. Jane’s determination to live and to choose a better life is seen in this scene in the novel (Brontë, 15 – 22) , yet, in the film the red-room scene is rather brief and has a limited showcase of the emotions Jane experiences. Also, in the novel, Jane sees the ghost of her deceased uncle whilst in the red-room (where he died) and she then screams and faints. This intense and dramatic scene was surprisingly completely left out by Fukunaga. This could possibly be because he wanted to focus on the romantic theme of the novel and omit some of the more gothic elements. In the film the film-makers also make some other eye-catching alterations to important details. In the novel the window-seat scene is described as clear as a misty,dark day in November, but the directors lose Brontë’s intended atmosphere by making the day much brighter and this changes the mood and also takes away from the influencing Victorian atmosphere as well. Overall, the 2011 adaption of Jane Eyre was quite different from previous adaptions. This is mostly because of the flash-back method used. Those who have not read the book before watching the film would not have the same experience of the film and watching the film alone would not give the viewer the same emotional experience as the book gives. This is the result of some important scenes being omitted or briefly included. Characters are also left out by Fukunaga that Brontë most probably included to give readers a better understanding and emotional connections to the story. When reading the novel one can empathise and feel sorry “with” Jane, whilst watch the movie only allows one to see the events from a distance and one feels sympathy for her. Using the flash back method was smart and it created a different perspective. Fukunaga focused more on the novel’s love scenes and less on the gothic elements and emotion. This puts less emphasis on Brontë’s approach which laid more emphasis on the development of Jane herself (elements of a Bildungsroman). One can deduce that Fukunaga’s changes to the film, from the novel, were intentional so as to create a more dramatic and entertaining product. His focus also rendered a more romanticised story, yet he still follows the story line closely and authentically. Bibliography Jane Eyre. Dr. Cary Fukunaga. Polygram. 2011. Film. Rich, Adrienne. Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Women. In Brontë, C. Jane Eyre. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 2001.