Sense and Sensibility (film) Emma Thompson had written. Doran believed the humour and style of writing was "exactly what [she'd] been searching for." Thompson and Doran were already working together on Mirage's 1991 film "Dead Again." A week after its completion, the producer selected Thompson to adapt "Sense and Sensibility", although she knew that Thompson had never written a screenplay. Also a fan of Austen, Thompson first suggested they adapt "Persuasion" or "Emma" before agreeing to Doran's proposal. The actress found that "Sense and Sensibility" contained more action than she had remembered, and decided it would translate well to drama. Thompson spent five years
Sense and Sensibility the effects of patriarchal control over women in which women cannot earn or inherit their money and use "Sense and Sensibility" as an example of this as the male heir, Mr. John Dashwood, deprives his sisters from their home as well as promised income. They also point to the "despised" Mrs. Ferrars' tampering with the patriarchal line of inheritance in her disowning of her eldest son, Edward Ferrars, as proof that this construction is ultimately arbitrary. Gilbert and Gubar contend that while "Sense and Sensibility's" ultimate message is that "young women like Marianne and Elinor must submit to powerful conventions