Adaptations create a distance from the originals by concentrating diegesis on several essential aspects, shifting emphasis. It is not necessarily new work, but rather the discovery of new meanings that may be contained in the original but underestimated by criticism or performance. A Thousand Acres (1997) is a film adaptation by director Jocelyn Moorhouse of Jane Smiley’s eponymous novel, the modern prototype of William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606). The task of A Thousand Acres is to demonstrate the relevance and popularity of the primary source among the modern reader, simultaneously with criticism and rethinking of specific points.
Comparing the plot and characters of Shakespeare’s play and its adaptation, it becomes evident that Moorhouse has remained relatively close to the first text in many ways. Although the action takes place in the 1970s in Iowa, the plot of her production remains identical. Both tragedies are the story of a father who divides his property between his two daughters while rejecting the third, who later comes to the father’s aid. Other parallels exist at imagery: as symbols of status and power, Larry Cook’s thousand acres correspond to King Lear’s hundred knights. Furthermore, both works develop themes of compassion and reconciliation, the appearance and role of women in a patriarchal society. There is an illustration of the suppression of women with the dominance of men. Thus, the similarities found in King Lear and A Thousand Acres serve as a reminder that time passes, but attitudes and manners rarely change.
However, A Thousand Acres differs from the original in many significant aspects. First of all, Smiley made the author’s task more difficult by moving the characters of her rework to entirely different time and space from the original. Moreover, incest is critical, while King Lear does not speak about it directly, and Shakespeare only describes the relationship between father and daughter as overly passionate. In King Lear, Lear is an arrogant and rude person, but he grows and learns humility throughout the play, contributing to his reconciliation with his daughter Cordelia. In turn, Lear’s prototype – Larry Cook is not capable of moral improvement, remains arrogant and selfish until the end of his life, and the family remains fragmented. Furthermore, the role of women in society is also described in different ways in these works. In Shakespeare’s original, women have no place in patriarchal power structures. They are compared to the devil: “See thyself, devil! Proper deformity shows not in the fiend / So horrid as in woman” (Shakespeare, n.d.). In A Thousand Acres, women, on the contrary, evoke compassion.
Regarding the juxtaposition of the adaptation with the original, although Larry’s physical abuse of his daughter is weakened in the adaptation, the moral gap between father and daughter appears to be more precise and emotional. Thus, an inversion of values takes place in Moorhouse’s film compared to the traditional King Lear. Despite the vast time difference between the two works, both productions contain universal concepts with which societies of both the past and the present can identify themselves. Jane Smiley and Jocelyn Moorhouse managed to unveil Shakespeare’s play with extraordinary precision to modernity’s realities, making the necessary adjustments and revealing new meanings.
Shakespeare’s plays are among the most adapted in the world. It is because the topics covered by this author will never lose their relevance, and the viewer will always watch it with interest, regardless of whether it is a comedy or a tragedy. Key topics, including human passions, relationships, and weaknesses, are simple and understandable to all people, regardless of their status and wealth. Moreover, in the modern dynamic world, people lack many feelings: beauty and nobility of deeds, love, fortitude, and friendship, and in Shakespeare’s comedies, there is a lot of optimism and resourcefulness with an obligatory happy ending. As for directors’ attention to Shakespeare’s works, his products are so obvious but profound that each creator can present to the world his interpretation. Thus, thanks to these aspects, Shakespeare’s plays are still relevant today.
Reference
Shakespeare, W. (n.d.). King Lear. The Folger Shakespeare. Web.