Topic: Francine/Jenny

[Allan]

I understand many (if not most) of the reasons for the changes that were made as AP's story was transformed into the screenplay.  One thing had continued to puzzle me.  What could possibly be the reason for changing the name of Ennis' second child from Francine in the story to Jenny in the movie.  Well, I just had an "Ah ha!"  I think that "Francine" sounds to much like "Lureen."  They just wanted to avoid character confusion.  Allan

[greenfrog]

Hmmm  Makes sense.

[tpe]

Could it also be that the screenwriters felt that "Jennifer" would be a more typical name than "Francine"?

[Allan]

Could it also be that the screenwriters felt that "Jennifer" would be a more typical name than "Francine"?

I'm not sure that "typical" counts when a couple of your major characters are Alma and Ennis.  Also, the derivation of the names in the story are so important.  Francine comes from Frances and means "free," which is interesting to me because Alma means "good."  "Good" and "free" are a nice combination.  It has been well advertised that Ennis means "island" and that Jack (devived from "John") means "God is good."  Jenny comes (obviously) from Jennifer, which means "White Cheek."  "White Cheek" does seem to fit with the others.  I really think that this switch was for character distinction when the names are spoken.  Allan

[lila70]

This might seem like a trivial observation, but...

In the short story, Ennis's daughters are named Alma Jr. and Francine.  In the film, they are Alma Jr. and Jenny.

I've seen other movies where certain characters' names were different from what they were in the book.  Does anyone know why this is done?

[jackster]

Interesting question lila70, one that I've often wondered about myself every time I read the SS. I don't recall ever seeing any type of explanation from the Screenwriters regarding this change. I'll check the early versions of the screenplays when I'm home and see if they used Jenny, but I think they did. It may be just as simple as they thought it would be more easily understood, a more common type name. Annie is always very careful about character names (in all her works) and uses them to great effect, so it's not something that would be changed without good reason (I think).

I'll be curious to see if anyone knows why.

[tpe]

Whatever the reason, they most likely asked Proulx's premission.  Jenny's character is of course less developed.  I suspect that the change would have been more difficult had the character been developed or expanded, in the manner of Cassie.