At UCLA, students in an advanced Jane Austen course marked the author’s 250th birthday by creating their own adaptations of her work. The class, taught by lecturer Cailey Hall, focused on analyzing both Austen’s original novels and their many adaptations.
Hall explained her approach to teaching Austen: “If all an adaptation does is capture the romance of Austen’s novel, it’s missed the point.” She emphasized that while marriage is a common outcome in Austen’s novels, the works are also recognized for their social commentary and sharp wit. “I want my students to appreciate what an incredible hater Austen is.”
Having written her senior thesis on Austen fandom and studied at Chawton House with a graduate fellowship, Hall has designed several courses about the author. Her current course, “Jane Austen: Then and Now,” encourages students to consider both historical context and modern interpretations.
Mariana Souza, a senior English major in Hall’s class, noted how this context helped her understand Austen more deeply. “She was a bold social commentator,” Souza said. “We not only get to learn about the novels alone, but also about Austen’s world. Understanding her childhood, family history and place in society helps put many of her composition choices into context, making it easier to understand why each story is the way that it is.”
For her final project, Souza created a contemporary version of “Pride and Prejudice,” placing Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s first meeting at a college dance. Reflecting on the assignment, she said: “A good adaptation excels at translating the themes and messages of a work, not necessarily replicating it scene by scene.”
Throughout the course, students examined adaptations such as the 2005 film “Pride and Prejudice,” “Fire Island,” BBC miniseries with Colin Firth, “Clueless,” Jo Baker’s “Longbourn,” Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Eligible,” as well as new releases like “Miss Austen” and “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.” Upcoming projects include a Netflix miniseries based on “Pride and Prejudice” and a new movie adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility.”
“What makes Austen resonate is that she’s an incredibly careful observer with an astute ability to reflect or criticize,” Hall said. She asked students to pitch ideas for their own adaptations as part of learning how to analyze and reinterpret Austen’s work across different times and cultures.
The curriculum included close readings of three novels—“Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion”—followed by comparisons with film versions. In one class session reviewing scenes from recent adaptations, students discussed how issues like class are portrayed differently depending on setting.
One student observed that “‘Fire Island’ calls attention to class in multiple ways, explicitly calling attention to the characters’ overlapping status markers, including wealth, race and looks.” Hall responded: “Yes, even if class in Austen does not exist in the same way or extent in the 2020s, what they’re articulating here is an alternate set of class hierarchies.”
Another discussion focused on staging choices in the 2005 film adaptation during a scene involving Elizabeth Bennet on a swing receiving news from Charlotte Lucas. Students debated whether these creative decisions brought out aspects of character development present—or absent—in the original text.
Even less successful adaptations have value for analysis according to Hall: “Every time I read one of Austen’s novels, I discover something new,” she said. “To me none of her novels feel like texts you could come close to figuring out after a single read.”
With ongoing interest from fans worldwide leading to more screen projects every year, Hall anticipates having fresh material for future classes exploring Jane Austen’s legacy.
