Importance of Being Earnest
... qualities about the characters. This is first seen in the beginning of the movie when to debt collectors are chasing Algernon. The director uses this scene to emphasize Algernon’s lifestyle to the audience. From this scene, it may be inferred that Algernon has a gambling problem, and he lives his financial life on the edge. A following scene shows Jack and Algernon meeting each other at a gentlemen’s club, which is another deviation from the play. The director uses this scene to stress split identities. First, Jack is seen in his “country” clothes, while Algernon is dressed in his finest suit. This shows us the difference in backgrounds of the characters in a way that the play cannot. Also, this scene may be shown at a gentlemen’s club to heighten the interest of the audience. These differences, though unfaithful to the play, are an important part of the movie because they further develop the characters of Jack and Algernon. There are also other scenes such as these that are not found in Wilde’s version of the play. For instance, one scene shows Algernon flying in on a hot air balloon when he is going to visit Cecily for the first time. Also, when Cecily is learning German, it shows her daydreaming about “Ernest.” This is to show how deeply in love she has fallen into with a person she does not even know and does not even exist. This is where the satires from the play are seen. The movie seems to show highlight the satire of love by showing how ridiculous it is for Gwendolyn and Cecily to fall in love with Ernest, who does not even exist. Furthermore, it shows how shallow humans sometimes think when it comes to love. This is seen because the only reason Cecily and Gwendolyn love “Ernest” is because they like the name Ernest. The movie tries to emphasize affection more than the play. The audience sees this is the scene where Gwendolyn and Jack are first alone together. They even start to kiss, which is not in the play. The movie do...