There are many issues involved with adapting a classic novel for the small screen, but probably the most important of these is the degree of loyalty the adaptation should make with the original novel.
For a director it is almost impossible to remain perfectly loyal to the novel. For instance,around the time of the first director, David Lean, filmmaking had not advanced to such a stage for it to be possible to, as shown in the book, animate the roots of a tree to look like dead people’s hands.
Another problem in directly adapting the novel is that there is simply not enough time to include all the details of a book into a small length of time. Many directors today find this difficult and have to resort to leave out large, but usually unneeded, parts of the novel.
The first adaptation of Great Expectations was directed by David Lean. Shot in 1946 this adaptation was in glorious black and white. It would have been possible to shoot the adaptation in colour, but possibly budget issues might of occurred as colour filming was a new innovation and still quite expensive.
The adaptation starts with the view of a large, leather-bound book entitled, “Great Expectations”. The book opens and a voice over reads the first few lines describing the character Pip. The voiceover is obviously a grown-up Pip reading. Wind sound effects are heard and the book’s pages are blown over and over until the scene fades to Pip running into the graveyard.
The rest of the scene remains true to the book almost exactly. The lighting is dark, to portray the time of dusk and this gives the scene a mystifying feel because you cant quite see all of the set.
Close-up shots and over-the-shoulder shots are used to portray Pip’s and Magwitch’s feelings. Panning shots are also sometimes used, not only to show the surroundings, but to also convey how the graveyard is getting darker.
In conclusion, David Lean took the “faithful to the book” route when he directed the adaptation of Great Expectations.
The next adaptation was drected by Julian Amyes in 1981. Between Lean’s adaptation and Amyes’ adaptation, there had been countless stage performances of Great Expectations. This mean that most of the population knew of the story of Great Expectations. To ensure that Ames’ adaptation went down in history and wasn’t forgotten, Amyes had to make a few changes to the story.
Great Expectations is one of Dickens’ greatest accomplishments, properly concentrated and related in its parts at every level of reading. Dickens skillfully catches the reader's attention and sympathy in the first few pages, introduces several major themes, creates a mood of mystery in a lonely setting, and gets the plot moving immediately.
The film that was produced after the novel has a lot of differences and not as
As the case with most “Novel to Movie” adaptations, screenwriters for films will make minor, and sometimes drastic, adjustments to the original text in order to increase drama and to reach modern audiences. Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film interpretation of The Great Gatsby followed the 1925 classic great plot quite accurately, with minor deviations. However, Luhrmann made some notable differences to the characters and settings of The Great Gatsby in order for the story to relate to the current generation and to intensity the plot
Originating in the Victorian Era, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations continues to be a huge success. So much of a success, in fact, that it is being re-released as it originally was (in installments), but now in a digital format for reading on electronic devices.
Van Brunt, Alexa. "Subversion of Gender Identity in Great Expectations." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 16 Feb. 2004. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. .
Ricks, Christopher, "Great Expectations," from Dickens and the Twentieth Century. Ed. John Gross and G. Pearson, 1966. pp. 199-211.
Capuano, Peter J. "Handling The Perceptual Politics of Identity in Great Expectations." DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
“About the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: The Similarities Between Dickens and Pip.” A Date with Dickens. Oprah’s Book Club. 6 December 2010. Web. 21 March 2014.
The film may have edited out one of the drastic details that made the novel’s success, explaining the film’s failure.
Comparing the Opening Scenes of the David Lean and the B.B.C. Versions of Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Of the many changes made between the book and the movie, most were made to keep the audience interested in the story. Most people who watch TV don’t have a long attention span. Executives at NBC didn’t want to spend millions to produce a movie and then have nobody watch it. The screenwriters had to throw in some clever plot twists to keep people interested. Another reason the movie was different from the book was the material in the book was a little too racy for network TV. Take the ending, for example, nobody wants to see a grown man hang himself. This was a reason the producers had to change some material in the movie.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón and written by Mitch Glazer the film “Great Expectations” was a great hit in 1998. Based on Charles Dickens ' classic novel, this is a heartfelt story of a man and an unreachable woman. This movie was brought to life by the cast staring Ethan Hawke (Finnegan Bell), Gwyneth Paltrow (Estella), Anne Bancroft (Ms. Dinsmoor), and Chris Cooper (Joe). Although the graphics of the film are outdated, this detail is overlooked by its brilliant storyline, theme and the acting. Set in New York City, the story illustrates a boy from a modest background that reaches for greatness. Regardless, the youngster always bared a strong attraction towards the young miss which in their adolescence turned into love. Further on in the film, a mysterious benefactor greenlights the man to make his dreams come true. All he did had one goal… to ultimately making Estella fall in love with him. Estella’s detachment for men is due to her mother history with men. My favorite part of the film is the first time that the protagonist Pip met Estella’s mom Miss Havisham. She told Pip that her heart was broken, which is particular because later on in the film, that same thing happens expect now the roles are turned.
“Themes and construction: Great Expectations” Exploring Novels (2005): 8. Online. Discovering Collection. 07 Feb. 2006. Available http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC.
Great Expectations’ main character, Phillip Pirrip- generally known as Pip- had a rough upbringing as a child. His sister, Mrs. Joe had “brought him up by hand”, after their parents and five brothers had all been laid to rest many years ago. Another character, Herbert Pocket experienced a bizarre childhood, though in a different manner. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations develops through the novel following Pip, a young “common boy” who grew up in the countryside. As he matured so did his love for a girl of higher class, Estella. However, being a common boy, Pip was not good enough for his Estella, thus once he was given an opportunity to become a gentleman in London he seized it without much hesitation. Charles Dickens’ had his own style in the ways he portrayed his child characters’ upbringings, history, and the children’s emotions. Also in Great Expectations, Dickens creates his child characters in unique methods; Pip, Estella, and Herbert Pocket all have miserable backgrounds, however none of them is too similar.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a coming-of-age story written from December 1860 to 1861. Great Expectations follows the life of Phillip Pirrip, self-named Pip; as his “infant tongue could make of both name nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.” (I, Page 3) The story begins with Pip as a young child, destined to be the apprentice of his blacksmith brother-in-law, Joe Gargery. After spending time with an upper-class elderly woman, Miss Havesham and her adopted daughter, Estella, Estella, with whom he has fallen in love, he realizes that she could never love a person as common as himself, and his view on the social classes change. Pip’s view of society grows and changes with him, from anticipating the apprenticeship of Joe, to the idealization of the gentle class, and eventually turning to the disrespect of the lower class of which he once belonged. Although Pip may grow and physically mature, he did not necessarily grow to be a better person. He loses his childhood innocence and compassion, in exchange for the ways of the gentlemen.