Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre Film Adaptation

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Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre Film Adaptation Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is one of the most popular texts of all time. Since it’s publication in 1847, there have been stage, television, and film adaptations of this classic. One of the more popular adaptations is director Franco Zeffirelli’s film version. What makes his version of Jane Eyre interesting compared to other adaptations is his ability to take particular scenes from the book and dramatize them in a way that make them seem more profoundly powerful than they were originally portrayed in the book. Jane Eyre is the story of a girl who struggles to keep her independent spirit despite the problems that society and circumstance conspire to throw against her. Zeffirelli portrays Jane as a young, independent, and somewhat rebellious girl who tries her best to adjust and fit in at the Lowood School for girls. In Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Brontë’s novel, some scenes were kept the same while others were changed or extended. Reasons for the change were to make the film more visually exciting, speed up dramatic action, to help the viewing audience focus on certain characters and events rather than others, and to emphasize certain character traits or themes which are important to the plot. Some scenes that worked well in the novel, such as those that were primarily dialogue, may not have transferred well to film, which is mainly visual. Also, time constraints dictate that scenes that are not really vital to the character plot development, sometimes simply are not included in the film. In scenes from Jane’s childhood, when at Lowood, she finds solidarity in her friendship with another girl at the school, Helen Burns. The two become good friends, as well as a support system to each other when facing other tough characters such as the school headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst. One of the most powerful scenes that

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