Jane Eyre

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:23 am

So I guess Ellen Page is going to play Jane Eyre in some new version being produced by the BBC? I don't know if it's going to be shown on TV or if it's a theatrical movie. Anyway, I would pretty much go see any adaptation of Jane Eyre that made it to theatres, and Ellen Page sort of makes sense in the role, but I can't really picture her doing an English accent.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 11:49 am

I tried to read Jane Eyre but only was about halfway through it when I had to take it back to the library. The first half was kind of "And here's a crappy school where they try to starve the kids to make them properly humble and appreciative of the great charity their 'betters' have shown them." and then she got the nanny job and it'd be nice if there were translations of some of the French the little girl says, and then the dude's bed caught fire. So I guess it picks up in the second half, or the movies cut out a lot?

Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 16347 Location: TaBB Graveyard

I enjoyed Jane Eyre a lot but I've never seen an adaptation of it. I might see this one though I guess. The BBC does make some pretty great adaptations (Sweeney Todd was the best thing ever fu Tim Burton) and Ellen Page is adorable.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 12:14 pm

Fingers are crossed for relocating the story to Nova Scotia.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:04 pm

Man, I am trying to think up movies in the past couple years that were based on classic literature and I am really not coming up with much. The only ones that spring to mind are The Painted Veil and The Duchess of Langeais. (The what now? Yeah, exactly.) And I guess Love in the Time of Cholera but ugh. There was Tristram Shandy, Oliver Twist, and Pride and Prejudice in 2005... But since then there's been pretty much nothing. What is going on, Hollywood movie machine? Don't Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branaugh have any pull anymore?

Also, speaking of Tim Burton, I guess at one point he was going to make a movie of "Rappaccini's Daughter" but now the world will never get to see Helena Bonham Carter as the toxic avenger I guess. This is relevant because this is Justin's forum.

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

there was the jane austen book club movie, if that counts at all

also In the Name of the King: a Dungeon Seige Tale

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

btw I think superman and batman are classic literature by now

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

also 300 was based on the illiad or something

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

also I hear they're making a hobbit movie

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

oh and how could I forget marie antoinette?

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:40 pm

Oh, I guess there was There Will Be Blood. Forgot about that one. But still, Oil! is hardly part of the major canon.

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

and I know you're a eurocentric racist, boorishly, but there was The Forbidden Kingdom

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:42 pm

Beowulf.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:43 pm

Under certain definitions, I guess Sweeney Todd and The Chronicles of Narnia could be considered "classic" or "literature".

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:44 pm

And uh I Am Legend and 3:10 to Yuma are what you might call "pretty old stories".

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

the davinci code is based on the bible

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

also harry potter is a modern classic

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:47 pm

Oh sorry Tommy. Were you trying to do something here? Something funny, maybe?

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

national treasure was based on classic literature

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

oh and I think marilyn manson is making an alice in wonderland movie

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

I'm pretty sure the lyrics of the beatles are classic by now, too

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:52 pm

So what makes a book a part of the Literature Canon? Being assigned by English teachers?

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

it has to be boring

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:55 pm

You forgot to mention there's a new theatrical version of Brideshead Revisited coming this summer.

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

oh shit
I forgot evan almighty

boorishly, I think you were way wrong about there being no classic literature movies

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:58 pm

And yeah there's not really any official canon. It's really just a constantly shifting, loose collection of books that people read and talk about. So who knows, maybe Oil! has been catapaulted to the level of canon these days, but if so it is probably temporary.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:59 pm

Tommy you are right. I was being too hasty I guess. Also, I hate you.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:02 pm

Do people read and talk about all of those books outside of being assigned them for English classes? I mean, if that's all there is to it, then DaVinci Code would totally be canon, along with whatever Oprah recommended this week.

Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 3795 Location: Gotham City

don't hate me cuz I'm right

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:07 pm

There is also a quality of "enduring classic" to books in the canon, despite the fact that books enter and leave all the time over the course of decades. So maybe it's more like a quality of "likely to become or remain an enduring classic". This is also obviously highly subjective and a potential topic of intense debate if you are into that kind of thing.