Classic Literature Rehashed in Films Quiz

Answer: Clueless

The 1995 story of Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), an over-indulged and ostensibly shallow student in Beverley Hills, is a modern re-telling of Jane Austen's Emma Woodford. Like Austen's heroine, Cher uses her wit and charm to arrange relationships between people in her life, without realising that her own true love is closer than she thinks.

Answer: The Odyssey

With a blind prophet, sirens who lure the intrepid travelers onto the rocks, and a devious one-eyed giant, this hilarious film stars George Clooney as a latter-day Odysseus in his attempts to get to his wife and stop her from re-marrying because she has told everyone he's dead!

Answer: O

Odin James is the only black student at an exclusive boarding school. He's the star of the basketball team and in love with Desi, the most popular girl in the school, but they are both victims of a jealous plot by Hugo. Substitute the names and the setting, and you have Shakespeare's 'Othello', re-written for a modern, youthful audience.

Answer: Macbeth

The 1957 film, 'Kumonosu Jô' (translated as 'Throne of Blood'), was Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' set in medieval Japan. While on their way to their Lord's castle to celebrate a victory over a traitor, Washizu and Miki meet an evil spirit who foretells their futures. Add a scheming wife and you can work out the rest of the plot, if you know 'Macbeth'.

Answer: West Side Story

As Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' set amidst gang warfare in 1950s New York, the love story of Tony and Maria has become a classic in its own right. First staged as a musical in 1957, 'West Side Story' was made into a film in 1961. With Leonard Bernstein's music and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, it was a new type of musical, with a plot that was rooted in classical tragedy, blended with the social tensions of the twentieth century, making extensive use of contemporary dance and drawing on a variety of musical genres.

Answer: True

Written by Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the 1996 film, 'Edipo Alcalde' is Sophocles' tragic tale set in modern-day, strife-torn Colombia. Garcia Marquez takes Sophocles' basic storyline and, apart from a few exclusions, such as the original subplot and the role of King Laius, is reasonably faithful to the original, proving that great literature can translate into any medium or setting. Like any good Greek tragedy, 'Oedipus Rex' is strong on a sense of acceptance of fate, fortune tellers and mystics, and these features adapt well to Garcia Marquez's world of magic realism.

Answer: The Taming of the Shrew

Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger starred as the latter-day Katherina and Petruchio. This teen-flick set Shakespeare's play in 1990s Seattle instead of 16th Century Padua. The setting might have been very different, but a West Coast high school proved fertile ground for exploring Shakespeare's eternal themes of social and sexual politics.

'The Taming of the Shrew' was also the subject of Cole Porter's musical, 'Kiss Me, Kate!' Originally a Broadway hit, this was also made into a successful film in 1953, with Katherine Grayson and Howard Keel in the Kate and Petruchio roles.

Answer: The Lion King

A king is treacherously killed by his own brother, who then plots against his nephew and takes the crown. The usurped prince gains revenge, guided by his dead father's spirit. 'The Lion King' might be cartoon animals singing songs in Africa, but it's obviously 'Hamlet' for kids.

Answer: Lysistrata

This Swedish feminist drama focuses upon three women in a traveling troupe of thespians performing Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Each of the women has some serious problems and fears to overcome and, in a mirror of the play they are performing, sexual politics and relationships play a central role in the story.

Answer: Pride and Prejudice

A bit of a giveaway, this one. 'Bride and Prejudice' is a light-hearted treatment of Austen's novel about the Bashki family's efforts to marry off its daughters, with an Austenian blend of misinterpretation, circumstance, and boorish opinion providing the obstacles to romance. There's even a Mister Darcy provided, as if the film's title wasn't enough.

Answer: She's the Man

Not quite a shipwreck at the start, instead the disbanding of a girls' soccer team is the starting point for the plot of 'She's the Man'. This prompts soccer-mad Viola to join the Illyria boys' team, disguised as her brother Sebastian (who is conveniently away in Europe).

She doesn't figure on falling in love with Duke, who in turn is in love with Olivia. 'Twelfth Night' for sporty teens.

Answer: Medea

'Médée Miracle' is a low-budget film set in modern-day Paris. Isabelle Huppert stars as Irene (Médée), who has left her homeland because of her beloved Jason, father of her children. Irene, however, is left alone in a foreign land when Jason leaves her for the daughter of an influential politician. Her obsession with lost love goes so far that Irene imagines killing her own children. Unlike her ancient predecessor, a miracle happens to the present day Medea.

Answer: The Tempest

Starring Walter Pidgeon as Doctor Morbius and Leslie Nielsen as the starship commander, 'The Forbidden Planet' was a sci-fi classic that was Oscar-nominated for its special effects. It has strong resonances with 'The Tempest', with Morbius and his daughter Altaira stranded on a lonely planet, rather like the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda stranded on a magical island.

The deformed Caliban translates in the film as a hideous monster that roams the planet.

Answer: A Canterbury Tale

It's WW2, and a land girl, an American G.I. and a British Tommy find themselves together in a small town on their way to Canterbury. In their collective determination to expose a local prankster, they become engrossed in the history of the area and the tales of The Pilgrim's Way.

Answer: Electra

Ellie (Sheila Kennedy, of US 'Big Brother' celebrity) uses the only weapon she has in her quest for revenge against her stepmother, Cora (Shelley Winters) and her three stepbrothers - her body and looks. It's loosely based on the story of Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon who, with her brother Orestes, plots revenge against their stepmother Clytemnestra for the murder of their father. Electra's tale is told (with variations) by all three of the great Greek tragedians, Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus, the latter in his trilogy, 'The Oresteia' (the plays of which form the wrong answers to this question).