Bernice Consistency in the Way Bernice Bobs

Bernice

Consistency in the Way Bernice Bobs Her Hair: A Comparison of Joan Silver's Film and Fitzgerald's Original Short Story

Scott Fitzgerald's depiction of the Roaring Twenties has long been lauded as a richly detailed and highly picture of the spirit and the aesthetics of the time, with the frivolity, depravity, and humanity of the period practically leaping off of the pages he scribed. His short story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" is no exception to this general assessment of his works, showing the attitudes, the superficiality, and the underlying emotional and social conflicts that bubble just beneath the surface of the young and moneyed in 1920s America. Joan Silver's 1976 film adaptation of the story, which remains highly faithful to Fitzgerald's text, manages to capture this spirit quite directly and completely, and from beginning to end creates both an homage to Fitzgerald and a real recognition of the characters and the import of the plots and subtexts he included in his works.

This paper compares the ending of Silver's film with that of Fitzgeald's short story, showing the degree of preservation and consistency that was aimed for and achieved in the film. The implications that this very close following of the original text has on the film's overall effect, meaning, and impact on the audience is also discussed, showing the importance of such choices in the making of an adapted film work. 1920s flavor and flair is embedded in every detail of Fitzgerald's work, including the structure, and Silver was quite correct in her attempt to capture this quality and adept in actually achieving her intentions.

When Bernice Breaks Braids

The end of Bernice Bobs Her Hair is the same in both the film and the short story version of the tale: having been tricked into getting her hair bobbed by her erstwhile more worldly cousin Marjorie, whom Bernice has been visiting in St. Paul, Bernice finds herself a social outcast in the very group Marjorie had insisted she change to ingratiate herself with. Leaving in what is initially a muddle of humiliation and hurt, Bernice is struck with a sudden inspiration for revenge; sneaking into her cousin's bedroom, she snips the two pigtails of Marjorie's own long hair and on her way to the train station throws them onto the porch of Warren, the beau that had become a source of conflict between the two girls. What this ending means for the characters involved and for the overall message of the story can be clearly shown through a comparison of the different enriching details in the text and the film.

Fitzgerald's description of Bernice at the end of the story very clearly implies that a change -- and not entirely a change for the better -- has taken place in her character. When the idea for revenge comes to her, the expression on her face was, "connected vaguely with the set look she had worn in the barber's chair-- somehow a development of it. It was quite a new look for Bernice and it carried consequences… 'Huh!' she giggled wildly. 'Scalp the selfish thing!'" (Part VI). Not only as her haircut empowered her, then, but it has also given her a sense of the social backstabbing and conniving of high society, destroying her former innocence. The way the film deals with this is indicative of its importance to the overall story.

One of the issues that arises with any film adaptation of a written text is the question of audience. While literary authors can of course be assumed to want many readers to enjoy and appreciate their works, they are not typically motivated explicitly by a desire to create mass appeal, however in films this is something that can be and often is necessary, and can affect the story and other elements of a works' adaptation (Desmond & Hawkes, 96). According to a story related by the author Robert Penn Warren regarding the adaptation of his novel All the King's Men, this can directly affect the endings of movies n particular, where "irony" or a sense of any ambiguity has to be gotten rid of, in the views of some directors, for clear-cut "cowboys and Indians"-type conclusions (Desmond & Hawkes, 96). This view would make an ending like that of Fitzgerald's short story problematic for the American viewing audience, as it definitely raises questions about morality and shows an empowering destruction of innocence rather than making a clear moral point.

The decision to cast Shelley Duvall in the role of Bernice might initially be seen as a way to water down this element of the short story, given a natural and deep innocence to her face that seems to come through in all of her characters. Silver does not shy away from the clear subtext of the story, however, and apparently trusts her audience to enjoy and approve the film anyway. Though subtle in some respects, there is a definite edge to Duvall at the end of the film that is not present in the beginning, and the irony and ambiguity of the story's ending is strongly present in the film's version of the ending, as well.