Inspired By Austen: Five Jane Austen Film Adaptations Set In Modern Times

Marlene Kondelik, Retired Assistant to the Provost, Albion College

Thursdays. 2 p.m. – 4:30 pm. October 6, 13, and 27, and November 3 and 10. In Person. Bohm Theater. Class size unlimited.

Note: there is a $10 fee to help cover the cost of the theatre rental.

In recent years, there have been a multitude of films based on Jane Austen’s novels. In this class I will present five such films, but without women in Regency attire and men driving carriages. Instead, Jane Austen’s novels will be set in our own times. The first two, Clueless and Bride and Prejudice, follow the plots of Emma and Pride and Prejudice transposed to Beverly Hills and India. The third and fourth films, Metropolitan and The Lake House, are thematically inspired by Mansfield Park and Persuasion, set in Manhattan and Chicago respectively. The fifth is a film adaptation of the novel The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. I hope you will see that Austen’s novels, although set in Regency England, reflect universal concerns-love, friendship, getting along in one’s family and in one’s world. Enjoy these homages to Jane Austen.