Editing Sense and Sensibility (film) (section)

=== Changes from source material ===
Scholar Louise Flavin has noted that Thompson's screenplay contains significant alterations to the characters of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood: in the novel, the former embodies "sense", i.e. "sensible" in our terms, and the latter, "sensibility", i.e. "sensitivity" in our terms.  Audience members are meant to view self-restrained Elinor as the person in need of reform, rather than her impassioned sister.{{sfn|Flavin|2004|pp=42–3, 46}}{{sfn|Dole|2001|pp=51–3}} To heighten the contrast between them, Marianne and Willoughby's relationship includes an "erotic" invented scene in which the latter requests a lock of her hair – a direct contrast to Elinor's "reserved relationship" with Edward.{{sfn|Stovel|2011}} Lee also distinguishes them through imagery – Marianne is often seen with musical instruments, near open windows, and outside, while Elinor is pictured in door frames.{{sfn|Kohler-Ryan|Palmer|2013|p=56}} Another character altered for modern viewers is Margaret Dashwood, who conveys "the frustrations that a girl of our times might feel at the limitations facing her as a woman in the early nineteenth century."{{sfn|Parrill|2002|p=11}} Thompson uses Margaret for [[exposition (narrative)|exposition]] in order to detail contemporary attitudes and customs. For instance, Elinor explains to a curious Margaret – and by extension, the audience – why their half-brother inherits the Dashwood estate.{{sfn|Parrill|2002|p=11}} Margaret's altered storyline, giving her an interest in fencing and geography, also allows audience members to see the "feminine" side of Edward and Brandon, as they become [[father figure|father or brother figures]] to her.{{sfn|Stovel|2011}}{{sfn|Flavin|2004|p=44}}{{sfn|Nixon|2001|pp=36–37}} The film omits the characters of Lady Middleton and her children, as well as that of Ann Steele, Lucy's sister.{{sfn|Flavin|2004|pp=44–45}}
{{Quote box
 | quote="The changes that Emma Thompson's screenplay makes to the male characters, if anything, allow them to be less culpable, more likeable, and certainly less sexist or patriarchal."
 | source  = —Austen scholar Devoney Looser{{sfn|Looser|1996}}
 | width   = 27em
 | align   = right
 | bgcolor = #FFFFF0
}}
When adapting the characters for film, Thompson found that in the novel, "Edward and Brandon are quite shadowy and absent for long periods," and that "making the male characters effective was one of the biggest problems. Willoughby is really the only male who springs out in three dimensions."{{sfn|Thompson|1995|p=269}} Several major male characters in ''Sense and Sensibility'' were consequently altered significantly from the novel in an effort to appeal to contemporary audiences.{{sfn|Parrill|2002|p=7}} Grant's Edward and Rickman's Brandon are "ideal" modern males who display an obvious love of children as well as "pleasing manners", especially when contrasted with Palmer.{{sfn|Looser|1996}} Thompson's script both expanded and omitted scenes from Edward's storyline, including the deletion of an early scene in which Elinor assumes that a lock of hair found in Edward's possession is hers, when it belongs to Lucy. He was made more fully realised and honourable than in the novel to increase his appeal to viewers.{{sfn|Stovel|2011}}{{sfn|Flavin|2004|p=43}} To gradually show viewers why Brandon is worthy of Marianne's love, Thompson's screenplay has his storyline mirroring Willoughby's; they are similar in appearance, share a love of music and poetry, and rescue Marianne in the rain while on horseback.{{sfn|Stovel|2011}}{{sfn|Jones|2005|p=102}}{{sfn|Nixon|2001|pp=35–36}}