19 Movies Based On Classic Literature
So … you’re telling me, seeing Marmot Day is basically the same as reading Nietzsche, isn’t it?
Buena Vista Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
The play is a comedy about a “clever” woman being “tamed” into a good woman while her more desirable younger sister Bianca is being fought over by several men. This is pretty similar to the plot of the film, although there’s a lot more of a love story between Kat and Patrick and it’s a little less misogynistic.
Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection
The premise of this movie is similar to 10 things I hate about you, but it’s not set in high school: A “seedy” woman constantly interferes in her sisters’ affairs, so her brother-in-law hire her gamer friend to seduce her . However, there is no real “Bianca” in this adaptation.
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My Fair Lady is based on the Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.
Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
Even Pygmalion is based on something else – in this case a Greek myth in which Pygmalion creates a statue that he then falls in love with. In Shaw’s play, this concept is very loosely adapted to a story about a flower girl taking diction lessons. My Fair Lady follows Shaw’s play pretty closely and shares the same characters and basic plot, although some details have been changed and music has been added.
Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection
In this even looser adaptation, the popular and boastful Zack makes a bet with a friend that he can turn any girl into a prom queen in six weeks. This is similar to the plot of the play, in which Higgins takes part in a bet that he can turn Eliza into someone who can pass for a Duchess after showing off his skills.
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And pretty woman.
Buena Vista Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
In a similar story to the two examples above, an older, wealthy man helps turn a younger lower-class woman into a lady, though this time there’s a love story (which actually makes it more akin to the original myth that Pygmalion was beogen on).
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Oliver & Company is based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
Disney
The film is based on Oliver Twist, but the Chicago Tribune called it “more of a modernization of Lady and the Tramp”. The film follows the basic premise that Oliver will coincide with a group of pickpockets in a town, although it changes location and many of the characters and plot points.
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The Dark Knight Rises is based on Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
Ron Phillips / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
The original scripts (which were heavily cut and shortened at the end) were based on the classic novel, especially in tone: “What Dickens does in this book by bringing all of his characters together in a unified story with all these thematic elements? and all that great emotion and drama, it was exactly the tone we were looking for, “said Christopher Nolan.
8th.
The Nutty Professor is based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
The Eddie Murphy film is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, which is a sort of parody of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was. In the film, an overweight science professor makes a slimming serum and tests it on himself, creating a thinner and less comfortable alter ego he calls Buddy Love.
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From Prada to Nada is based on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.
Lionsgate / courtesy Everett Collection
The film follows the story of the Jane Austen classic from Wealth to Dishwasher, but takes place in East LA with Latinx characters.
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The movie SpongeBob SquarePants seems to be based on Homer’s Odyssey.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
Many have pointed to similarities between the film and Homer’s story, but the director has not said anything final, despite describing the plot as a mythical hero quest and an “incredibly dangerous heroic odyssey”. However, the inclusion of a Cyclops and the “Sack of Winds” Mindy for SpongeBob and Patrick gives pretty obvious allusions to the literary work.
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Warm Bodies is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Summit Entertainment / Summit Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
Well, technically it is based on Isaac Marion’s novel Warm Bodies, which in turn is based on the classic piece. It shows a version of the balcony scene and star-studded lovers named “R” and “Julie”, although the setting is people versus zombies instead of warlike families.
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Marmot Day is loosely based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Gay Science.
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
In Nietzsche’s book, he describes the concept of “eternal return”, where one has the same experience over and over again. This is obviously similar to the movie in which a man reporting the weather lives on the same day over and over again.
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Cruel Intentions is based on the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
The plot of the film is pretty similar to the book in which a rich aristocrat promises to spend the night with another aristocrat if he tries to seduce the innocent Cecile who “stole” her boyfriend. Even the ending, when Kathryn Merteuils (the Marquise de Merteuil in the book) involvement in the whole scheme is revealed, is super similar. Obviously the film modernizes this and is set in a high school.
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Moulin Rouge is based on both Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
20th Century Fox / courtesy Everett Collection
The film’s co-writer said the Moulin Rouge became a symbol of the underworld, as it is actually referred to in the film. Christian ends up losing Satine to the “underworld,” and one could argue that there is a subversion of the myth towards the end of the film, as Christian’s life is in danger if he doesn’t go away. One Bustle writer even pointed out that the climax scene is Christian walking away from Satine and then slowly returning.
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Barnyard is loosely based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
According to IMDb, the film is very loosely based on Orwell’s novel – critics also noted vague allusions to the book and current events. Both stories show humanized versions of farm animals taking on new leadership after the death of their leader, but the similarities seem to end there.
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Clueless is based on Emma from Jane Austen.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
The plot of the film of a woman setting up a friend she took pity on is the same as that of the classic novel, and the characters are quite similar to those in the novel, although they have obviously been updated.
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She’s the Man is based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
DreamWorks / courtesy Everett Collection
The film shows the same basic plot and relationships as in the original piece: Viola falls in love while disguised as a man with Duke (Duke Orsino in the play), who falls in love with Olivia, who in turn falls in love with Olivia in her disguise . . However, the setting, the time period and the football aspect are obviously all very different from the original story.
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Bridget Jones’s Diary is based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection
The film was actually based on a book of the same name, but the book’s author, Helen Fielding, said she was heavily inspired by the plot of the classic Austen novel. Both starred in the romantic lead of Mr. Darcy – a role Colin Firth actually played in the TV miniseries of Pride and Prejudice AND in Bridget Jones’ diary.
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Finally, Apocalypse Now is based on Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
United Artists / courtesy Everett Collection
The characters and plot structure of the film are similar to the novel, according to the New York Times, but the ending (as well as the protagonist’s goal) is very different.
Which films were you very surprised to find based on classical literature? Let us know in the comments!
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