The three cinematic interpretations of Jane Eyre are vastly different. From the casting of Jane and Rochester to the way the film is shot, each movie has unique aspects that reflect the primary themes of the book. Personally, I prefer White's and Fukunaga's interpretations over Zeffirelli's. White and Fukunaga create artistic interpretations of Bronte's classic that expand on the original story to make effective and moving films.
Susanna White's 2006 version of Jane Eyre uses the book's symbolism and description of characters in the on-screen interpretation. In what is shown of Jane's time at Lowood, the presence of God in the school is apparent through (slightly heavy-handed) visual representations. When Jane is standing on the stool with the word "Liar" around her neck, a painting of God pointing angrily is directly behind Jane, so that it appears the God is pointing at her. This implies that the fear of God was heavily instilled in Jane at Lowood, setting a precedent for the rest of Jane's arc in the movie. Details like this, and the dark themes before Jane meets Rochester, are nice visual reminders of themes. In the proposal scene that we saw, it is clearly shown that Jane is passionate and emotional, which is not demonstrated in Zeffirelli's version. The weather matches description in the book as well, and overall the movie is very true to Bronte's text.
Cary Fukunaga's 2011 interpretation is not as true to the book, but it is artistically fascinating and takes many interesting liberties with the original story. The movie flashes back and forth between Jane's past and the present, which is the time she's spending at Moor's House. This shows the similarities and differences between portions of her life and, though we didn't get to this part in the movie, I suspect that it compares and contrasts the two proposals of Rochester and St John. This expands past the traditional and expected cinematic-interpretation-of-a-classic-book and pushes the audience to analyze Jane's life more closely.
All three movies are cleverly designed to expand upon the original text in entertaining and interesting ways. The progression of the three movies shows the progression of film and the need to constantly be innovating in order to stay ahead, and it shows how a classic can always be reimagined to take on new meaning.
We had similar opinions about the films ! You did a nice job of structuring the piece so that it is clear and focused. I agree about the idea that the flashbacks in the 2011 interpretation added something unique. You do a nice job closely analyzing the similarities and differences among the characters among the films.
ReplyDeleteI really like your concluding paragraph. I think most of us are always looking for which movie is the most true and accurate to the source material, but you bring up a very good point about the constant need for change in this art form. Great job!
ReplyDelete