The Apple TV series Dickinson takes the viewers to the 19th century, while also incorporating a modern way of speech and behavior from the characters based on real-life people. The show ended in 2021 after following one of the greatest poets of all time, Emily Dickinson, for three seasons. The protagonist's journey couldn't be more poetic, from finding love to entering a Civil War — Dickinson set the stakes high for its characters.
Emily Dickinson was an American poet who lived in Amherst, Massachusets. She was ahead of her time in many aspects of her life: she never married or had children, and was a female writer who didn't use a pseudonym, which was rare at the time. Many speculate with whom Emily could have had romantic relationships, due to various of her poems about love. Many poems of Dickinson's were dedicated to her best friend and sister-in-law, Susan. Some speculate that she may have sent romantic letters to a man she knew later in her life. Either way, Emily's poems continue to be timeless and have the power to evoke vivid images with short verses.
There have been other movies and TV series that have taken a more modern-day adaptation approach to classic literature. The Great Gatsby and Marie Antoinette innovated with their modern soundtracks but kept the ranging aesthetic of their time periods. The Baz Luhrmann approach to Romeo and Juliet took the most famous 'unrequited love' romantic tragedy of all time and placed it in a '90s background during a gang war. There are some works that are set in another period but were recently written that tackle modernity in different ways, such as Hamilton. Bridgerton is a perfect example. The colorful wardrobe and makeup of the series captures accurately the Regency era while using modern music played by an orchestra. That way, it still feels appropriate because of when the story is set.
From going against society to twerking, here is how and why the Apple TV show Dickinson worked so well with Emily Dickinson's body of work.
How Dickinson Innovated
Dickinson is set in the 19th century when Emily Dickinson wrote and lived. However, besides the clothing and some societal rules, the series is extremely modern. The soundtrack goes from A$AP Rocky to Billie Eilish; there are even some songs from Hailey Steinfeld, who plays the poet in the series. Also, the way the characters party with these needle drops blasting in the background could be transported to a nightclub in 2022, and it would work. How the characters speak is also modern: they use millennial slang that can be found on any social media. The way people spoke a few centuries can, sometimes, set a distance between the characters and the audience. Dickinson did a great job breaking every barrier and making this story as accessible as possible.
Another aspect of the show that is rarely seen in historical TV shows and movies is the fast pacing of the narrative. The episodes are 30 minutes long, and a lot happens in them. Historical stories usually have a slower way of developing characters and situations, but the Apple TV series is just as frantic as Emily was herself. Writing poems day and night, the show tries to keep up with Emily's fast-paced mind.
Because every episode is named after a poem, the audience sees what inspired the poet to write. There are sometimes supernatural/fantasy elements to the characters or events. Death, from her poem, "Because I could not stop for Death," and Nobody, from "I'm Nobody, who are you?" become characters that live around her, but that only she can see. Death is played by Wiz Khalifa, the rapper.
he audience gets inside this great writer's mind in every episode. In the last season, Emily finally gets published in a newspaper. The author becomes invisible and sees how people around her react to her newfound fame. This choice is a fun way to discover the poet's work while also moving the plot forward interestingly and unusually. The surrealistic elements that brought to her life gives the show an unusual approach that makes the audience wonder what will happen next.
Does Apple TV Work With Emily Dickinson?
Emily Dickinson was someone ahead of her time. The way she wrote poetry (short lines with simple imagery to explain complex subjects) can be easily read today. There is no need for knowledge of the time period she lived in to understand what she is trying to say. Dickinson was also openly in love with her best friend, Sue. Most of her poems were written for Sue, and she would usually write the dedication of her poems to her.
The writers of the series, and showrunner Alena Smith, made a bold choice and kept getting it right. They made sure what Emily was going through was relatable enough for the audience to keep watching. The show made parallels between the Covid-19 pandemic and the American Civil War. Lavinia (Anna Baryshnikov) complains that the war happened while they are in their twenties, the time they should spend having fun. They showed how similar those feelings could be and brought the story closer to the world's current reality. The show also tackles various important subjects such as racism, sexism, and other prejudices that characters faced at that time with a modern view, while also exposing the remains of those problems today.
Women Ahead Of Their Time
Emily Dickinson is not the only writer who had adaptations with a modern approach that worked due to the content of her writing. Jane Austen’s works are known worldwide. She went against what society thought a woman should do and became one of the greatest writers who ever lived. She is, nowadays, compared to Shakespeare. Because of her sarcastic characters and honest views of societal rules at the time, her writing (just like Dickinson’s) works well when being adapted with a more modern approach. A modern adaptation of her book, Persuasion, is currently being produced by Netflix.
Emma is probably one of Austen's most iconic characters. A strong-willed, manipulative and self-absorbed young girl who does everything in her power to be entertained. The 2020 adaptation of the classic with Anya Taylor-Joy couldn't be more modern. The colorful clothing and social criticism (with its female empowerment and dissection of social rules) are embedded in the film.
Dickinson taught the audience, and future filmmakers, that there is no right way of approaching a narrative about a historical figure. The series became so beloved because of its modernity that actually enhances how iconic and forward-thinking Emily Dickinson was.