Modern Ways to Enjoy Classics

The classics of literature are called so for a reason. They are timeless stories that everyone can relate to regardless of where they live in the world. However, considering when most of these classics were written, their language has evolved so much that they could be difficult to understand and appreciate. Thankfully, some writers, playwrights, librettists, TV executives, and film producers were wise enough to take these classics and adapt them for modern audiences. Here are some films, TV series, and theater shows that give classics a modern twist.

1. Clueless (1995)

   Clueless is known as one of the most popular movies of the ’90s. The film is actually an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, set in Beverly Hills, California. The film tells the story of Cher (Alicia Silverstone), a rich girl who fills in the “Valley girl” stereotype, going through the motions of high school, which include growing up, making friends, and falling in love. The film was so successful that it was adapted into a television series and a book series.

2. Romeo + Juliet (1996)

   This film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as Romeo and Juliet, respectively, in a story set in Verona Beach, Florida, instead of Verona, Italy. This adaptation is unique in that it uses the words of the Bard but is set in the modern era. The adaptation also updates some items, such as guns in place of swords and daggers, and the two families are engaged in a mafia war.

3. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

   Written by Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice set in twenty-first-century England. The film adaptation of the novel stars Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, and Renée Zellweger as the eponymous Bridget Jones. Jones is a thirty-two-year-old single woman who decides to change her life and record it all in a diary. Throughout the course of the story, she ends up in a relationship with both Daniel Cleaver (Grant), her boss, and Mark Darcy (Firth). The film is considered one of the best romantic comedies of all time and spawned two sequels.

4. West Side Story (1957)

   This theater favorite is one of the most popular adaptations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Set in New York, West Side Story tells the tragic love story of Maria and Tony as they fight to keep their love alive despite being connected to rival street gangs and of different ethnicities.

5. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

   Another ’90s favorite, this coming-of-age romance is the retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. In the film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Cameron, a student who’s new to the school and wants to date Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). In an attempt to work around her father’s rules, Cameron gets the resident bad boy, Patrick (Heath Ledger), to date Bianca’s uptight older sister, Kat (Julia Stiles). The film was both a critical and box-office success, a classic by itself.

6. Sherlock (2010)

   Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery series has been adapted plenty of times, but its most recent BBC adaptation is by far one of the best. Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character and Martin Freeman as John Watson, takes Conan Doyle’s stories and brings them into the twenty-first century. More often than not, the stories remain true to the classic version, with the titles being modified ever so slightly. The series has received numerous awards despite having just thirteen episodes throughout its four-series run.

7. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (2012)

   War and Peace is one of the best works by Leo Tolstoy, a master Russian storyteller. The novel is one of the longest and most complicated pieces of literature, comprising hundreds of characters set across a long period. The musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 is an adaptation of War and Peace, volume 2, part 5, which deals with Pierre’s search for meaning and Natasha’s affair with Anatole. The musical takes place in a dinner-theater fashion, where members of the cast sing and dance sporadically throughout the theater. The musical received twelve nominations at the 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting, Best Original Score, and Best Musical.

8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009)

   This novel, written by Seth Grahame-Smith, adds rotting sentient corpses to the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. In the novel, nineteenth-century England is struck with a zombie plague instead of the black plague. The novel’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, trains her sisters in combat for them to become zombie fighters, while at the same time, Mrs. Bennet still hopes that they find wealthy husbands. A film based on the novel was adapted in 2016, starring Lily James as Elizabeth and Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy, a noted zombie killer.

9. August Rush (2007)

   Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist is one of his most popular works, adapted time and time again in various media. An adaptation that many may have overlooked is the film August Rush. The film follows the journey of the eponymous August Rush, an eleven-year-old musical prodigy who runs away to New York in search of his parents. The film focuses largely on its musical elements, which culminates in the end in the form of a composition titled August’s Rhapsody.
   

10. Selfie (2014)

    In this short-lived romantic comedy series, marketing genius Henry Higgs lends a hand to the social-media-obsessed Eliza Dooley after a publicized incident makes her realize that she’s spent way too much time chasing after followers and not enough time making real-life friends. Selfie was based on the 1956 musical film My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn, which in turn was based on Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw. The play was named after a figure in Greek mythology who fell in love with one of his statues, which later came to life.

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