picking your brains?

[valancy_s]

I'm trying to think of modernizations of classic works of literature along the lines of Bridget Jones, She's the Man, that kind of thing - other than Jane Austen or Shakespeare. Help? Can be a film, TV, a novel, whatever.

ETA: Including children's and YA retellings, btw.

Comments

[tinuviellen]

I can't believe I get to be the first person to say 10 Things I Hate About You! :)

BTW, I just saw a book called Murder in Mansfield Park, in which nasty heiress Fanny gets murdered and Mary Crawford is the heroine/detective. Not what you asked for, just had to mention.

[valancy_s]

modernizations of classic works ... other than Jane Austen or Shakespeare.

Uh... way to go with the close reading skills, sis ;)

That Murder in MP book looks RIDICULOUS. "Imagine if Mansfield Park had totally different characters, who did totally different things!" How exactly is that an adaptation, even?

[tinuviellen]

Well that explains it. Am still asleep. Or rather, I should say, I WISH I was still asleep...

I third O Brother Where Art Thou, in any case.

[valancy_s]

Love O Brother, but I'm brainstorming for my course, and I really don't think I can have the freshmen read The Odyssey. Alas.

[maidenjedi]

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is the best example. There are some fairy tale retellings, too - "Ever After" is a reimagining of "Cinderella" (which is an ancient fairy tale that even the Grimm Brothers updated for their time; it could also be considered a "modernization" depending on your ideas of the original "Cinderella" tale). "The Lion King" was a reimagining of "Hamlet" (I know, Shakespeare, but it's really creative Shakespeare!).

If I recall, wasn't "Blade Runner" considered a modernized version of "Frankenstein" (if not, I know "Terminator" is considered such in some places)? "Apocalypse Now" is a retelling of "Heart of Darkness." There's an old Rosalind Russell flick called "Mourning Becomes Electra" which is an American Civil War version of the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Steve Martin's "Roxanne" was a modernization of "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand.

And, before I forget, "Cruel Intentions" was a modernization of Francois Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liasons Dangeureuses."

[maidenjedi]

I have also read that there are a bunch of YA novels out that retell some of the classics in modern high school settings. Apparently there's a version of "The Iliad," for example. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them eventually become films.

[valancy_s]

I have also read that there are a bunch of YA novels out that retell some of the classics in modern high school settings.

Oo, what are they? Do you know any?

[maidenjedi]

Shana Norris' "Troy High" is the "Iliad" retelling. Also, Meg Cabot's "Avalon High" is a King Arthur retelling. (I haven't read the Norris book, but the Cabot one is pretty fun)

I googled and found this article about YA lit doing retellings: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/regina-brooks/taking-timeless-classics_b_491540.html (mentions both the Cabot and Norris books, and there are more listed)

[myrna_nora]

Carmen Jones is a WWII-era musical from the opera Carmen.

In a similar vein to ShakespeaRe-Told, BBC did the TV series The Canterbury Tales and Fairy Tales.

Sherlock, TV show starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Cinderella (2000) with Kathleen Turner as the stepmother is set in a 1950s-ish world.

Do you want foreign films? I know you said no Austen, but there is Aisha [Emma] and Kandukondain Kandukondain [Sense and Sensibility] both from India.

[myrna_nora]

This one is obscure. Probably too obscure for what you are looking for. (But the owls are going to haunt me until I mention it.)

The Owl Service, a 1967 children/YA book. The characters read The Mabinogion (medieval Welsh mythology). Then they find that their lives and those of the generations before have all been a variation of the legend. There was a TV series in 1969. It's paranormal and trippy.

[epea_pteroenta]

Lots of King Arthur updates:

King Arthur (the bad film)
TV's Merlin
Lerner and Loewe's Camelot
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Kevin Crossley-Holland's YA Arthur Series

All taking Le Mort d'Arthur as their inspiration I guess.

I know it's Jane Austen, but Rosie Rushton has written some modern YA versions of Jane Austen and they're quite good.