Classic 19th Century Stories Relived Through Movies

  

Lately, I have been watching many movies: I noticed that many of the movies are adaptations of 19th century stories. After noticing this, I asked the question "What makes these old stories--that we have already heard countless times--interesting enough to spend tons of money to make a movie?" Then I remember that those novels are 'classics.' But what makes a novel a classic? I will briefly explain what is 'classic' and then give a list of a couple of classic stories relived through movies.

1) The story has to have some sort of artistic quality that expresses either nature, life, beauty and truth/hope.
2) It needs a motif, theme, plot or characters that are universal. It must be able to be read by anyone: anyone should also be able to read it and get something mindful out of it. A couple examples are love and hate; life and death; faith; hope; any other emotion or phenomenon that any person in society can possibly connect with or simply understand.
3)  It has to teach something: a moral, a thought, a movement, etc.
4) Finally, the story must stand the test of time: no matter how old the story is, it can never be erased from our minds nor can it ever lose it's meaning.

Now these may vary from scholar to scholar but these are some of the more general guidelines that can be applied to most, if not all. Plus, directors and producer, and the whole movie business, just wants to make money on something already created so they don't have to do the work. Since they're classics, the public wants to see how good or how bad that director did on the movie.

Here are a couple of stories turned into movies . . .

A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Published 1843
     


Alice In Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
Published 1865
 

Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo
Published 1862

  


Other times 19th century stories are parodied into movies, cartoons, songs, etc. One movie that incorporate several stories is "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

 
Mr. Hyde from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Published 1886
 
 
Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
Published 1890 



Tom Swayer from The Adventures of Tom Swayer
by Mark Twain
Published 1876


Ishmael from Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
Published 1851
~ no photo found ~

Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
Published 1870


Rodney Skinner/Invisible Man from The Invisible Man's Griffin
by H.G. Wells
Published 1897
 

Allan Quatermain from King Solomon's Mines
by H. Rider Haggard
Published 1885


Mina Harker from Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Published 1897


There's tons out there. Do some reading of the 19th century genre and see where you can see more adaptations!