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In From Page to Screen: How Media Adaptations Reframe Classic Literature for Contemporary Audiences, Diya Abraham explores how classic literary texts are transformed when they are adapted into film, television, and digital media. The essay argues that adaptations are not simply copies of original works, but creative reinterpretations shaped by contemporary culture, audience expectations, and new media technologies. Through examples such as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice, and Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Abraham shows how classic literature can be reframed to speak to modern concerns while still maintaining a connection to the source text.
One of the most useful ideas in the essay is its movement away from “fidelity criticism.” Earlier approaches to adaptation often judged a film by how closely it followed the original book. However, Abraham explains that this way of thinking is limited because it treats literature as superior and film as a weaker copy. I agree with this point because adaptation always involves change. A novel and a film communicate in different ways, so it is not always possible, or even desirable, for a film to reproduce every detail of the original text. Instead, an adaptation should be evaluated by how successfully it translates the emotional, thematic, and cultural meaning of the text into a new medium.
The essay’s discussion of Romeo + Juliet is especially convincing. Luhrmann’s film keeps Shakespeare’s original language but places the story in a modern, violent, media-saturated world. This makes the play more accessible to younger audiences while also connecting its themes of love, conflict, and family loyalty to the culture of the 1990s. In this case, modernization does not destroy the original meaning. Instead, it allows the old text to become active again in a new social and visual environment.
I also found the analysis of Pride and Prejudice interesting because it shows how adaptations can reflect changing ideas about gender and romance. Joe Wright’s version presents Elizabeth Bennet as more independent and emotionally direct, which makes her easier for contemporary audiences to relate to. At the same time, Mr. Darcy is shown as more vulnerable and human. These changes reflect modern expectations of romantic relationships, especially the value placed on emotional honesty and equality. This shows that adaptation is not only about updating costumes, settings, or visual style, but also about reshaping characters according to the values of a new audience.
However, I think the essay could have discussed the risks of adaptation in more detail. While adaptations can make classic literature more accessible, they can also simplify complex texts or turn them into visual spectacles. For example, the essay notes that Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby uses modern music, CGI, and excessive visual design to connect the 1920s with contemporary consumer culture. This can make Fitzgerald’s critique of materialism feel more immediate, but it may also distract from the subtle sadness and moral emptiness of the novel. Therefore, adaptation is always a balance between renewal and distortion.
Overall, this essay is useful because it presents adaptation as a creative and cultural process rather than a secondary version of literature. It shows that classic texts survive not because they remain unchanged, but because they can be reinterpreted across different historical moments, media forms, and audience groups. For me, the most important idea is that a successful adaptation should not only preserve the original story, but also create a meaningful dialogue between the past and the present.