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The Importance Of Being Earnest Movie Vs Play

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The Importance Of Being Earnest Movie Vs Play
Oscar Wilde wrote a play called “The Importance of Being Earnest” and it was first performed in 1895. The play is about the characters that have different identities and do not always tell the truth. Since, the play has been released there have been many film remakes of Oscar Wilde’s play. The one that I decided to compare it to was the 2002 version that was directed by Oliver Parker. Parker keeps the meaning, tone, structure, text, and theme the same compared to the play. Parker expands, energizes, and stages scenes in the play to make modern audiences engage and have tension towards the film more.
When viewing the film it made Wilde’s play come to life and it was enjoyable to watch. Parker put a lot of his own twists to the play and added scenes. As a viewer you would not notice the scenes because they were blended in so well. You would have to have read the book and physically compare the film and the play to notice. In Act III, in the play, Gwendolen and Cecily are eating muffins by the window watching Algernon and Jack, at this point he was Earnest. Gwendolen is persuading Cecily to get the boys attention, but the men then look and notice the women staring at them. Gwendolen switches attitudes and states, “They’re looking at us. What effrontery!” After this scene, Algernon and Jack
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In the film, Algernon and Jack are respectfully playing the piano and guitar in the garden. They start to serenade both girls as they watch from a balcony. It then proceeds to the staff helping the men carry the piano in the house while Algernon continues to play. Algernon singing, repeats, “lady come down, lady come down.” Parker changes this scene making it more full of energy to make the audience focus on it more. He makes he more modern and more “Hollywood like” by making the men sing. Now in modern films you never see a man whistle to woman in this form, viewers prefer

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