Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner utilise language conventions to express similarities and differences in the ways they prove that good people have prejudice and that such issues can be overcome. Kramer creates these ideas visually through film techniques whereas Austen relies on active reading. First, prejudice is established through characterisation of protagonists and how it impacts their lives. Subsequently, how even the best people can react negatively when confronted with difference and change, shown through the symbolism of blindness.
Then, the authors show through dialogue that relationships can be created and developed once prejudice is overcome.
Kramer and Austen establish prejudice …show more content…
In Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the Prentice and the Drayton families are brought together through the union of their children, challenging racial barriers. This shows that they have accepted and overcome prejudice for themselves and others. Another relationship that is developed, or rather rediscovered, is between Christina Drayton and Matt Drayton. Through Joanna and John’s passion, Matt is brought back to a time when his relationship was strong and through his personal experiences, he realizes how much Joanna means to John. He states that “there’s not one thing that [John] feel[s] for Joey that [he] didn’t feel for Christina.” This shows by applying Joanna’s emotions in his own situation, he can finally understand and approve of the relationship and improve his own. This powerful statement further deepens its message using Matt’s tone of voice, which is soft and gentle. This directly impacts the audience as until this point, Matt has not been open about his emotions, realizing that he is more caring than what was originally thought. In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Darcy are brought together by overcoming their own issues and creating new experiences with each other. By overcoming prejudice, they can see the goodness in each other’s character. Unlike Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Pride and Prejudice does not have film techniques to convey a message, and instead it uses its dialogue to convey emotions. During the novel’s resolution, Darcy speaks to Elizabeth about all the regrets he has had regarding his judgement, which Elizabeth responds humbly to “think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure”, meaning that the past is only there to reflect on. This clearly shows that Elizabeth has moved on from the past and uses it to learn how to improve the way she is now. The
Then, the authors show through dialogue that relationships can be created and developed once prejudice is overcome.
Kramer and Austen establish prejudice …show more content…
In Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the Prentice and the Drayton families are brought together through the union of their children, challenging racial barriers. This shows that they have accepted and overcome prejudice for themselves and others. Another relationship that is developed, or rather rediscovered, is between Christina Drayton and Matt Drayton. Through Joanna and John’s passion, Matt is brought back to a time when his relationship was strong and through his personal experiences, he realizes how much Joanna means to John. He states that “there’s not one thing that [John] feel[s] for Joey that [he] didn’t feel for Christina.” This shows by applying Joanna’s emotions in his own situation, he can finally understand and approve of the relationship and improve his own. This powerful statement further deepens its message using Matt’s tone of voice, which is soft and gentle. This directly impacts the audience as until this point, Matt has not been open about his emotions, realizing that he is more caring than what was originally thought. In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Darcy are brought together by overcoming their own issues and creating new experiences with each other. By overcoming prejudice, they can see the goodness in each other’s character. Unlike Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Pride and Prejudice does not have film techniques to convey a message, and instead it uses its dialogue to convey emotions. During the novel’s resolution, Darcy speaks to Elizabeth about all the regrets he has had regarding his judgement, which Elizabeth responds humbly to “think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure”, meaning that the past is only there to reflect on. This clearly shows that Elizabeth has moved on from the past and uses it to learn how to improve the way she is now. The