The Adaptation of Northanger Abbey Novel by Jane Austen into Jon Jones' Film

Abstract

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, published in 1817, has been adapted into a film of the same tittle and directed by Jon Jones, which was released in 2007. This research focuses on the motives involved in the process of adapting a literary work into an audiovisual work. There are changes that occur during the transformation from novel to film, due to the use of different media and the transition from text form to audiovisual format. In this article, two main issues are discussed, that is the transformation that occurred from the novel Northanger Abbey into a film adaptation, as well as the motives behind this transformation. The comparative method is used to analyze and identify the differences between the novel and the film. In data analysis, adaptation theory by Linda Hutcheon and semiotic analysis by Roland Barthes are used as theoretical frameworks. Semiotic analysis is used to reveal the ideology contained in both the novel and the film, which helps in identifying the motives behind the film adaptation. The results of the study show that the dominant ideologies in this film adaptation are patriarchy, social class, and Americanization, which explain motives such as cultural capital and personal motives in the adaptation of the work.