The Scarlet Letter in popular culture

The following is a list of references to the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in popular culture.

Film
Scene from an adaptation featuring Stuart Holmes, 1917

Films inspired by the book
  • 1996: In Primal Fear, starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton, a passage from the book is quoted in a court scene.
  • Tomcats (2001) features the book as a prop, where the main character uses the book to strike up a conversation with an attractive librarian girl. However, in a later scene following a date between the two, he unwittingly gets shackled by her for a bizarre, unwanted, BDSM experience, where she references the book as "an excellent choice" as she holds a large paddle, marked by a large studded "A", in further reference to part of the book's plot, albeit in a raunchy depiction.
  • The Scarlet Letter (2004) takes its title from the novel.
  • In Dan in Real Life (2007), the novel is being read by Dan's daughter, Jane.
  • Easy A (2010) is loosely based on the story.

Literature

Music
  • 1957: In "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl for Me" from The Music Man, Harold Hill sings "I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more 'A'"
  • 1968: "Midnight Confessions", by the Grass Roots, depicts Arthur Dimmesdale's midnight confession of his love for Hester Prynne
  • 1987: A Scarlet Letter, an album by Curtiss A, takes it title from the novel
  • 1991: In the music video for the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the cheerleaders have a scarlet 'A' sewn to their tops
  • 1993: Courtney Love and her band Hole sing "No one knows she's Hester Prynne" in her re-written version of Nirvana's "Old Age"
  • 1996: Metallica's song "The Thorn Within"
  • 2001: Tool's song "The Grudge"
  • 2001: Jag Panzer's song "The Scarlet Letter"
  • 2003: The Distillers' song "Die on a Rope"
  • 2004: Halifax's song "Scarlet Letter Part 2"
  • 2005: Casting Crowns' song "Does Anybody Hear Her?"
  • 2006: The Clipse song "Pussy" (from Hell Hath No Fury)
  • 2006: As Blood Runs Black's song "Hester Prynne"
  • 2007: Feist's song "Past In Present"
  • 2007: Mad Caddies' song "Don't Go"
  • 2007: Deathcore band Hester Prynne takes its name from the novel
  • 2008: Mudvayne's song "Scarlet Letters" (from The New Game)
  • 2008: Tyler Joseph's song "Taken By Sleep" (from album "No Phun Intended")
  • 2008: Taylor Swift's song "Love Story"
  • 2010: Abdominal's song "The Scarlet Letter SparkTune"
  • 2013: New Years Day's song "I'm No Good"
  • 2013: Childish Gambino's song "Earth the Oldest Computer" (The A on my chest like adultery)
  • 2014: Odesza's song "Say My Name" featuring Zyra
  • 2014: Taylor Swift's song "New Romantics"
  • 2014: Set It Off's song "The Haunting"
  • 2015: Lupe Fiasco's song "Body of Work"

Opera

Plays

Television
  • 1968: In The Big Valley episode "In Silent Battle", Jarrod mentions The Scarlet Letter after the Sheriff informs him that a murdered saloon hall girl was branded with the letter "A" by her killer.
  • 1979: The Scarlet Letter PBS miniseries, starring Meg Foster.
  • 1987: In the Mama's Family episode "Educating Mama", The Scarlet Letter was the reason Thelma dropped out of school; she has to read it again for night school.
  • 2010: The Mentalist episode "The Scarlet Letter".
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References
  1. Ken Wlaschin (2006). Encyclopedia of American Opera. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2109-1.
  2. "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011
  3. Margaret Ross Griffel; Adrienne Fried Block (1999). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-25310-2.
  4. "Lori Laitman's Opera The Scarlet Letter World Premiere November 2008" chicagoclassicalmusic.org 5 August 2010
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