2. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
The archetypal comedy of manners is given a twist in Austens first published novel, the gothic satire Northanger Abbey. Upon visiting the estate of her would-be love interest Henry Tilney, imaginative seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland lets her love of gothic novels run away with her and starts to believe Henrys father has killed his wife. The character of Catherine, the naïve yet likable heroine, shares several similarities with Jane Austens Emma, who became valley girl Cher in 1995s runaway hit Clueless. We think this 1817 novel would be able to follow in the footsteps of that movie and make a brilliant modern romantic comedy. Catherine Morlands obsession with gothic novels and her coming-of-age story would work just as well in a modern setting. Imagine the movie set in a US high school, with Henry Tilney as the enigmatic new student with a family shrouded in mystery. Catherine, obsessed with modern gothic novels and movies such as Twilight, could start to believe something sinister and other worldly is at hand, leading to a series of comic misunderstandings. The movie would end, as in the original novel, with Catherine realising the errors of her ways and all being successfully resolved. Recent teen comedies have proved that they can be as funny, smart and perceptive as any other genre. With the current popularity of teenage gothic fiction, a modern movie version of Northanger Abbey could become a big hit.