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

• 1908 film version directed by Sidney Olcott starring Gene Gauntier, Jack Conway, and Ruth Roland.
• 1911 film version co-directed by George Loane Tucker, adapted by Herbert Brenon, and starring Lucille Young, King Baggot, Robert Z. Leonard, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Anita Hendrie.
• 1913 film version starring Linda Arvidson and Murdock MacQuarrie.
• 1917 film version directed by Carl Harbaugh, and starring Stuart Holmes with Kittens Reichert, presented by William Fox.
• 1917 film version starring Werner Krauss.
• 1922 film version adapted by Frank Miller, and starring Sybil Thorndike.
• 1926 film version directed by Victor Sjostrom, adapted by Frances Marion, and starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, Joyce Coad, James A. Marcus, Margaret Mann, Polly Moran, Dorothy Vernon, Chief Yowlachie, and Iron Eyes Cody.
• 1934 film version directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Colleen Moore, Henry B. Walthall, Betty Blythe, William Farnum, Alan Hale, Sr., Hardie Albright, and Shirley Jean Rickert.
• 1973 film version by Wim Wenders.
• Demi Moore stars in the 1995 film version directed by Roland Joffe. The film deviates significantly from the original novel.
• 2015 film version directed by Elizabeth Berry, and starring Molly Wilson, Kevin Wegner, and John Risner.

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

• 1919: A rare interpretation of Franz Kafka's In The Penal Colony is that the machine is a graphic dystopian retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. For example, in Sacvan Bercovitch's literary criticism of The Scarlet Letter, 'In The Office of The Scarlet Letter' he discusses this possible interpretation.
• 1986: Roger's Version by John Updike, set in a city resembling Boston in 1984, is loosely based on the characters and situations of The Scarlet Letter.
• 1999: In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, main character Melinda Sordino is reading the novel in her English class and compares herself to Hester Prynne.
• 2005: The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (2005) involves a plot to forge an original manuscript of the novel.
• 2006: In the Pretty Little Liars novels by Sara Shepard, Aria reads the novel in her English class and compares it to her father's affair.

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

• 1855: The Scarlet Letter by Lucien Southard [1]
• 1896: The Scarlet Letter by Walter Damrosch and George Parsons Lathrop [2]
• 1902: The Scarlet Letter by Pietro Floridia (unperformed)[1]
• 1913: Hester, or The Scarlet Letter by Charles F. Carlson (likely unperformed)[1]
• 1934: Hester Prynne by Avery Claflin [2]
• 1938: The Scarlet Letter by Vittorio Giannini, starring Dusolina Giannini, premiered at the Hamburg State Opera[1]
• 1959: The Scarlet Letter by Robin Milford
• 1961: The Scarlet Letter by Walter Kaufmann[1]
• 1964-1967: The Scarlet Letter by Donald Lybbert (unperformed)[3]
• 1965: The Scarlet Letter by Fredric Kroll [3]
• 1965: The Scarlet Letter by Hugh Mullins[1]
• 1970: The Scarlet Letter by Robert W. Mann[1]
• 1970: Hester, by Lewis Rosen[1]
• 1979: The Scarlet Letter by Michael P. Gehlen[1]
• 1986: The Scarlet Letter by Robert DiDomenica (premiered 1997)[1]
• 1997: The Scarlet Letter by Martin Herman[1]
• 2001: The Scarlet Letter co-written by Michael Bahar, Eric Braverman, Simon Gray, Daniel Koloski and Stacey Mancine, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• 2008: The Scarlet Letter by Lori Laitman and David Mason [4]

Plays

• 1995: The Scarlet Letter by Phyllis Nagy adapts elements and themes from the novel.
• 1999: In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks adapts elements and themes from the novel.
• 2000: Fucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks also is inspired by the novel.
• 2010: The Scarlet Letter by Naomi Iizuka premiered at the Intiman Playhouse.
• 2011: The Scarlet Letter by Carol Gilligan and her son Jonathan, produced at Prime Stage Theatre.

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".

External links

• Excerpts from Opera "The Scarlet Letter" by Fredric Kroll

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