A commonplace book is similar to a journal or diary, and what is a journal without some personality and individuality. As Tom Standage suggests, “which poems or aphorisms you chose to copy into your book or to pass on to your correspondents said a lot about you, and the book as a whole was a reflection of your character and personality”. In the commonplace book that I have created my focus was mostly on adaptations of the novels and characters that we read whether in film, or television and how the interpretation of these characters change between writers and directors. Through commonplace entries of The Mysterious Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beetle by Richard Marsh, and Dracula by Bram Stoker, I have compiled ways in which their novels and characters were adopted for the screen.

Many of my interest with literature follows how it has been adapted throughout human history, how writers take inspiration from previous authors that laid the groundwork for what a stereotypical novel looks like in our modern libraries. Although I did not focus on the way that other books took inspiration from the novels we have read, film and media still hold merit as forms of literature adaptations, allowing directors, and writers to have their own twist on the “classics”. I took on these adaptations to show the many ways that these works of fiction have been reimagined in the modern world and how they are viewed. Comparing different versions of characters between the original source material and other film adaptations, I was able to explore the different ways in which people have viewed these titular characters and how it evolves with society. 

The first of my commonplace entries that I started to take intrigue on this topic was with The Mysterious Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. In this commonplace entry I had found the different interpretations of what Mr. Hyde looked like different artists, directors, writers and how it compares to the text.

Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky, whispering, and somewhat broken voice”

The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

In the film The Mummy, which tried to set up the “Dark Universe” based on monster literature, Dr.Jekyll/Mr.Hyde, played by Russel Crowe, takes on the appearance of a much more human form, with only the eyes being a main difference between Jekyll and Hyde. In comparison the the version of Jekyll/Hyde in The League of Extrodinary Gentelmen is unique, in that Hyde takes on a Hulk like appearance. Unlike the novel which showed much greater physical difference, creating a creature incredibly different from Jekyll, being almost dwarfish, and inhuman altogether.

He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point.

The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

The 1931 film of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde takes the most novel accurate approach to the appearance of Hyde. As time has moved on the way that Jekyll and Hyde are interpreted has greatly changed, with other movies such as Fight Club being considered a Jekyll and Hyde film. The interpretation of Hyde has the largest variance between adaptations, creating a more monster like creature for what the film needs the character to fill in each individual screenplay. 

The next entry follows The Beetle, which was a novel that garnered a lot of attention at the time of its conception but failed to carry a legacy with it. Unlike the other two entries I write about, The Beetle has only gained one adaptation which was a film of the same name that was produced in 1919. The film did not gain much attention, many of the actors being very much no names with only Leal Douglas (High Priestess/The Beetle) acting to the mid 20th century and getting unfavorable reviews. Although the movie did receive praise for its strides in improving special effects, it failed at creating a true horror film, instead being said to have “create more merriment than most screen comedies.”

Now a movie that is lost in time, and a novel that hasn’t received the attention that the others have, The Beetle’s longevity may have been limited from its inability to be adapted well into a film adaptation. The Beetle is potentially my favorite entry in the commonplace book, and favorite novel of the semester. I went looking down rabbit holes trying to find anything about the adaptation but there is truly nothing left. I really hope that the film version of The Beetle is found at some point, or that a newer version is made in the near future. Until that day I will be left wondering at what the adaptation looked like. 

The wings of Dracula have spanned centuries, with many trying to take the character and genre to new heights. Films made for children, teens, and adults have all taken different approaches to Dracula and vampires in general and with over 200 adaptations there are countless examples of what a vampire can be. The first direct adaptation and most accurate of Dracula in 1931 was Bela Lugosi, a Bulgarian (Eastern European) actor, who created the stereotypical image of what Dracula looks like to viewers, only lacking the bushy Victorian mustache that Stoker gave to Dracula.

a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white mostache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about him anywhere.

Dracula

Potentially the most popular adaptation of Dracula in Frank Langella, considered “The Disco Dracula” and “The Sexiest Dracula” by many. Langella’s adaptation of the character was unlike the versions before him, creating a more modern Dracula that was deemed desirable but still terrifying. Many mainstream versions of vampires have tried to follow in the footsteps of both Lugosi and Langella in portraying what it means to look like a vampire.

with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere.

Dracula

Arguably the most well-known depiction of Dracula in the late 2010’s is Adam Sandler’s Dracula in The Hotel Transylvania trilogy, an animated adaptation made for younger audiences.