Adapting wives and daughters for television: Reimagining women, travel, natural science, and race

Ballinger, Gill

Abstract

This essay examines the depiction of women, travel, natural science, and race in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters (1864-66) and Andrew Davies's BBC adaptation of the novel (1999). It argues that the adaptation offers a recognizable transposition of Gaskell's text, but makes some significant adjustments that reveal its contemporary reimagining of the novel's gender and racial politics. In particular, Davies transforms Gaskell's unexceptional female protagonist Molly Gibson into a proto-feminist naturalist adventurer, and revisions the casual racism the novel expresses towards black people in line with late-twentieth-century sensibilities. Each text, novel and film, reveals the period-specific ideological forces that shape its portrayal of Englishwomen and African people.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 17, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Mar 22, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 18, 2022
• Journal: Adaptation
• Print ISSN: 1755-0637
• Electronic ISSN: 1755-0645
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 84-99
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apab005
• Keywords: Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, Davies, adaptation, women, race
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7230409
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/adaptation