10 Films Substantially Different From Their Source Material

Surprisingly, high school-set 1995 coming-of-age comedy Clueless is the cinematic offspring of Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. 1980s Beverly Hills or early 1800s English Countryside - how different can they really be?

The rightfully lauded teen comedy stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, a vain and wealthy high schooler, who decides to 'adopt' unpopular Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy). Clueless belongs to that class of adaptions which, though differing substantially from the details and time and setting of its source, manages to capture and maintain the spirit of the original. Suffice to say, there's much different between Regency England and 1980s USA. However, writer-director Amy Heckerling has deftly extracted aspects of character and plot from Austen's original, successfully transplanting them into a near-contemporary setting.

In terms of genre, there's difference too, but again in terms of natural progression. Austen's work is a comedy of manners; Heckerling's film is classic of teen comedy. Again, she has masterfully adapted the workings of that older genre to that a contemporary one, changing much in the process whilst retaining the soul of the old.