Northanger Abbey, 2007

Northanger Abbey (2007, ITV) tells the life changing experiences of Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones). A young woman who has been brought up in the country where afternoons pass with the entertainment of her younger brothers and sisters. She indulges her spare time in reading novels, which leads to her imagination growing wildly, and every event develops into the 'day dream' world of the novel.

But like other Jane Austen ladies this one is not exception to pain, despair and love. Again, the choice between two gentleman causes distress to Catherine. One of them is very charming with little fortune but pleasant company and the other well you could guess, forceful, jealous and a man after two things, money and sexual pleasure.

The issue of sex and sexual fantasies are themes that 'glue' (pardon the expression) this young girl to the journeys that she decides to encounter. Her feeling toward a certain gentleman also encourage these fantasies to develop and interfere with her day to day activities. While displayed in Jane Austen's novels there is the a desire to be a pure and well educated woman. With this particular story a character who is blessed with such pretty affections and well mannered appearances preys for young rich men to marry her for fortune. Flirting with every possible man she can set her eyes upon, lingering into their history to find out if they are worthy of her affections and body. This character Isabella (Carey Mulligan) becomes a close friend of Catherine and together they indulge in 'girly chit-chat' but their affections towards love, men and sex are completely different.

This story does have a happy ending, and if you have read some of the classical Jane Austen novels you can properly guess what happens. Although we could suggest that these novels and dramas are very 'cliché' there is something about them that we are fascinated with. History, drama and romance all thrown into one production does have its appeal but when the matter of greed, jealousy and lust is there to balance these movements out, the stories become further more interesting to viewer. We could suggest that it is suddenly not all about the pure and proper, we are introduced to the side that was not looked upon or talked about because it was considered a disgust. Jane Austen's novels introduce us to the social and personal issues that these characters face. We could argue that particular characters represent certain people in society but thats is a different argument for another day.

All in all Jane Austen's novels are still sold widely today and her stories are still being produced into adaptations. This is what I am interested in, why? Why are they still being adapted? Is there a demand for them or is it just a story that allows different artist to explore their creativity? I don't know, but I have to admit I am I really enjoy costume dramas, I always have and I love viewing different adaptations of them because it allows me to see how somebody else see's these novels to what I do.