Now that my time at university is approaching an end, I have begun taking time to reflect on the courses I’ve taken while being an English major at Texas A&M. And while I have made sure to take a variety of courses to help me explore different writing styles and genres, one of my favorite classes I had was a cross listed ENGL 356 which was a English and Film course cross listed course. My section was taught by Dr. O’Farrell focused on Jane Eyre and the film adaptations of this novel. From each adaptation, Jane is always reimagined differently and this results in the way it resonates with audiences.
Because of the sheer amount of adaptations we discussed, I really began to understand the impact that Jane Eyre has on popular culture as well as the many other directors and authors who have used that source to tell different journey’s for the characters. One of my favorite adaptations we explored was the Autobiography of Jane Eyre which was a web series. This web series was created by Kalama+Tea Productions, based on and ran on Youtube from February 28th, 2013 to 21st June 2014. While the series was active, other modes of social media;Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr were added to supplement the story. The story is set in modern Canada and the main character, Jane, a young nursing graduate, through her bi-weekly vlogs after she takes a live-in position as a tutor for the daughter of Edward Rochester, the mysterious owner of Thornfield Aluminium Exports.
It is notable for being among the first among the literary vlog series genre to film adaptations.
Watching that web series made me appreciate original work more because it helped to further humanize Jane. I think classes that analyze the use of classical stories within a modern context helps with learning the original more. Reimagining Jane further brought forth her independence and complexity as a young woman. If you are student who is interested in diving deeper into a character, a class like ENGL 356 is the one for you.