The adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s comedy play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which was conducted by Oliver Parker in 2002, found success and recognition in the wide audience of film-lovers. The movie represents an example of a stunning faithful direction of original writing. The adaptation coincides with the authentic source along different lines. The major resemblance aspects include a reproduction of a witty spirit of the play and the peculiarities of rich comical language, which find their reflection in work.
The initial monologs that represent play’s direction in the original play and evolves as an epilog in the movie show that the primary intention of a film director is to keep to the authenticity of Oscar Wilde’s intentional statement. Indeed, commentaries in film adaptations provide a backbone for initial agreement or disagreement with a play author (McFarlane par. 3).
The establishment of a social correlation between the play and film adaptation contributes to a revelation of the author’s time’s spirit (Stirbetiu 491). In his film, Oliver Parker manages to reflect a spirit of the Victorian times by supporting the traditional for the period humor acts and characteristics of Englishmen. The spirit resemblances are also supported through setting identity. Thus, the author depicts many countryside episodes, which disclose the real-life settings of the 19th century.
Moreover, the film director depicts the luxury of the Victorian times by making use of Lady Bracknell’s palace, which is facilitated by red carpets and marble elements. Furthermore, the faithfulness of adaptation finds its revelation in the depiction of the critical values of Oscar Wilde’s times. In this respect, the author demonstrates that the upper classes of Victorian England appreciated their noble statuses as the highest values and agreed on the unimportance of state-society and radicalism discordance.
Both in the play and in the movie, the values are mostly communicated by Lady Bracknell’s, who is a distinguished Victorian character. The language of the actors is linked to the communicative peculiarities of the play characters as well. Thus, the speeches and dialogues are full of humoristic remarks, oxymoron, and verbal absurdity: “Education produces no effect whatsoever” (Wilde 32).
The resemblance of characterization coincides with the descriptions of all characters. Thus, two central figures – Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff embody the silliness of the time period. The roles are performed by Colin Firth and Rupert Everett. The actors manage to reflect the pretentiousness of Victorians’ desires and values.
Thus, both figures communicate with their imaginary friends and call themselves Earnest, which emphasizes the nobility of the positions. In fact, however, the actions and words of the figures are permeated with lies, which are perfectly perceived by the audience. Therefore, the film director follows a direct mode of characterization (“Different Modes of Adaptation” par. 5). The depiction of the distinguished lady Cecily Cardew, who was guarded by both Jack and Algernon, serves as the most authentic character translation (Camarillo 23).
Thus, the Hollywood actress, Reese Witherspoon, complies with the play character not only in appearance but her language and manners as well. Specifically, the charming blond lady manages to overtake the appropriate Victorian accent and modes of expression. Conclusively, one may claim that film faithfulness represents a primary advantage of the movie adaptation.
Still, it has some minor weaknesses. Mainly, Oliver Parker adds several elements, which can not be correlated with the experiences of the 19th century’s life. The bright example is the episode with Gwendolyn, who gets a tattoo on the backside (The Importance of Being Earnest).
Works Cited
Camarillo, Emmanuel. “Analysis of Character Translations in Film Adaptations of Popular Literature.” CMC Senior Thesis (2014): 1-47. Print.
Different Modes of Adaptation 2014. Web.
McFarlane, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. 2006. Web.
Stirbetiu, Maria. “Literature and Film Adaptation Theory.” Language and Discourse (2012): 491-499. Print.
The Importance of Being Earnest. Dir. Oliver Parker. Perf. Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O’Connor, Reese Witherspoon. Miramax Films, 2002. DVD.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Ed. Leonard Smithers. London: Oxfam, 1898. 1-60. Print.