Picnic at Hanging Rock: A Sociological Interpretation of Two Film Adaptations of Joan Lindsay’s Novel

Abstract

The article offers a comparative analysis of two film adaptations of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock created at different times. All three artistic forms—the novel, the film, and television series—are considered within the methodological framework of narrative analysis, sociology of the visual, and social semiotics. This allows us to compare the interpretive schemes used in film and television versions as indicators of changes taking place in society: its social system, social norms, and values. The 1975 film adaptation reproduces social relations and norms of the early twentieth century Australian white society described in the novel. Although the storylines are cut, the motifs and main oppositions remain unchanged. The mini-series screen adaptation (2018) transforms the plot and introduces the modernized social norms and relations relevant for the time of making the series, and gives a new interpretation to the characters. Here, not only the principles of creating a serial media product come into play, but also the effect of the temporary remoteness of the later screen adaptation from the time when the novel was written, behind which there are changes in the social system, statuses, and associated norms and values of the Australian (and, more generally, Western) society.