Adaptations and Inspiration

In 1990, the BBC created their own interpretation of Jeanette Winterson's Oranges are not the only fruit. Winterson wrote the screenplay, however chose to miss out the stories and myths which she includes within her book, the underage love making with the older woman Miss Jewsbury and changed her name to Jess to create a character. Although the series was very controversial with it's lesbian sexual scene, it won a BAFTA award for Best Drama. It was also released on a cassette tape where the book was read out by Charlotte Coleman.

Older 'Jess' is played by Actress Charlotte Coleman. The costume design for her character is very plain, wearing colours such as grey, brown, black and white. This could represent her upbringing being very plain and possibly dull? I noticed more when she meets Katy (Tania Rodrigues) how dull her clothing was. Katy's clothes shows the 70's era clearly with the colours and styles of the fabrics. 

After her a Katy share a kiss

After she meets Melanie

After Jess and Melanie get found out by the Church - beige/browns and cream

After taking just a few screen shots of the second episode, you can see that whenever there seems to be a character involved such as Katy or Melanie, Jess' clothes become a lot more patterned and/or colourful. Before these two characters, her clothing was very bland. This could be symbolic of how these two characters create change in Jess' life and make her more hopeful. After meeting both Katy and Melanie, she wears more flower patterned clothing which could represent their friendship and love affair growing and blossoming naturally. 

On the other hand, the brightest outfit which Jess wears in the bright pink raincoat her Mother buys her. The rain coat could symbolise how her Mother is trying to keep her hidden and covered up by this rain coat out of danger and to protect her from other peoples behaviour.

In 2005, this particular adaptation of Oranges came out on DVD.

There have been many different book covers of Oranges.

The first is the cover I own now and the one I owned throughout my English Literature GCSE. This book cover looks more up to date and gives off the impression that it is semi-autobiographical due to the positioning of the camera/paintings angle behind the girl. 

This is the second image I found of a book cover for Oranges. This cover looks older than the previous one and the image on the front gives away a lot of symbolism of femininity, natural instincts, growth, darkness and religion - all of which Jeanette struggles with throughtout.

This cover looks far more intense, and I think this is trying to show the contrast between 'Good' and 'Evil', herself and the church. The red and orange could symbolise love, the devil, danger and Oranges being the fruit which her Mother always gives her when she feels ill/down.

When I saw this book cover I questioned whether this an actual printed copy of the book. It is very different from the others with a lot less colour, however there are hints of orange in the background. I think this cover is showing the more intimate side of the story, her sexuality, her femininity. The snake could be representing temptation, or how society/religion/her mother was holding her back from her natural emotions and feelings.

Inspiring films/videos for styling and fashion

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Makeup Artist: Pat McGrath 

Hair Stylist: Danilo 

This combination of hair and makeup to create Lisabeth Salander is stunning to watch and look at. Her punky and gothic style is androgynous but has an underline sexual tone seeping out.  

Film Trailer

Fashion Photography by Lara Jade

I found these stunning pictures online through Instagram and they've captured the innocence and beauty which I am looking to portray. The styling, makeup and hair works perfectly to create their beauty in rugged simplistic way...