I really never expected to be a Jane Austen girl. I’m cynical, I hate flowery language, and I’m terrified of marriage. The first time I picked up a copy of Pride and Prejudice I was in middle school and I couldn’t even get through the first few pages. It seemed like it was written in another language.
I didn’t bother again with Jane Austen until my junior year of college when I had to read Sense and Sensibility for a class on 18th Century Literature. I was struck. There’s this kind of dignified desperation to so many of Jane Austen’s characters that just speaks directly to me.
It’s not the fancy dresses or the proper greetings. Or perfect Mr. Darcy, because if you notice, he’s socially awkward and he messes everything up pretty badly. I don’t know precisely what it is. I could talk about the characters for ages and still not properly articulate why they mean so much to me.
The film adaptations succeed so well at capturing the magic. I started again with Sense and Sensibility and then I was stuck for a long time on the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth (the man can wear a sweater), and soon after that the new version of Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfayden came along.
I remember a professor I had in undergrad telling us about a friend of hers who, whenever she had a bad day, would put in her tapes of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to calm herself down. I have the same emotional dependence on the newer version. It doesn’t just make me happy. It makes me sad too. It injects some magic into my life.
I watched it last night for the first time in a while and at the words, “Netherfield Park is let at last,” I was already swept away. But, it broke my heart too, because the happy ending doesn’t devalue all the pain and uncertaintly it takes to get there.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this story so much too! Ok – I like the movie too – but it’s the STORY that I love most :)
I love this movie too! And I know what you mean about the magic. I actually will watch it sometimes when the Boyfriend is gone for the weekend. I’ve seen the BBC version and I don’t quite like it as much as the newest version. Colin Firth didn’t quite capture Darcy’s character for me. Matthew McFayden did in all of his glorious awkwardness. He’s quite good looking.
I LOVE this movie! I watch it over and over as well. I love the part when she’s standing on the edge of the cliff and that great music is playing. And the parts when she’s just staring into the mirror and at the statues, beautiful!
As a guy, I feel like I need to do research on the greater but ever so puzzling species. However, I feel like if I do, I would jeopardize my manhood.
I LOVE and adore that movie to pieces!
It hurts my ego to say that I can’t make it through a book–nevertheless, a classic author such as Jane Austen!!–but I’ve never been able to finish any of her books. Maybe I’ll try watching this movie, though!
i really can’t believe i’m admitting this, but i can’t get through austen’s books. at least, not yet. i can’t even tell you how many times i’ve started any number of her books and just haven’t been able to finish them (i own a few and the bookmarks are still between pages to prove it!). maybe i’ll give it another shot soon though; hearing how it’s affected others has always made me want to be that affected as well.
i do, however, love the updated movie version!
I love this movie, too! But Sense and Sensibility will always be my favorite of Austen’s. I’ve read the book countless times and the movie is one of my all time favorites. :-)
You have just made my plans for tomorrow night- Jane Austen movie marathon. Cannot wait!
Oh yes, love this one as well. I watched Sense and Sensibility for the first time a few weeks ago and thought it was fantastic. I have yet to read that book, though.
I still need to see the BBC version- of Pride and Prejudice, and I know a lot of people who have that kind of attachment to that book and the film versions. Me… I’m not much of a Jane Austen fan (surprise surprise) but I can understand why people feel that way about the text (or texts).
However, this sentence “I’m cynical, I hate flowery language, and I’m terrified of marriage” tells me that you REALLY need to read some Hemingway. Like right now.
I still have to see this movie! I saw both BBC versions, LOVED the Colin Firth one, but there was another one that was just low budget awfulness lol. I love Keira and Matthew Madfadyen (he was the lead in one of my favourite shows, MI-5) so I will have to get on this!!
I absolutely adore this movie. It’s one that I could watch over and over again. I’ve never seen the BBC version from beginning to end, so I’ll have to see it!
Best movie ever! I tried to read the book in 9th grade and I failed miserably. It was even the abridged version! I’m embarrassed for myself. I think I’ll put it on my Unemployment Reading List of Awesomeness.
Awe! I love Jane Austen!! I also LOVE this movie, but the BBC version will always hold the keys to my heart ;) . I’ve been to parts of England where the BBC movie was filmed, and so I always think of that tiny village, and that beautiful countryside.
Love it.
I never thought I’d like Jane Austin either. In fact, I thought just the opposite. I thought I would seriously dislike her writing. But I found that after reading two of her novels (I have 3 more waiting to be read) I want to read them all. And when I watch this version of Pride & Prejudice… I get swept away into the wonderful and painful and utterly delightful story.
That movie is just a little piece of perfection, isn’t it? It’s one of those that I can watch on a loop for hours if I lacked the self-control to stop myself. I kind of love Matthew Macfayden’s Darcy simply because he’s just kind of shy which can come across as something much snobbier. I relate to that. :( Did you know that the very last scene at Pemberly with Elizabeth and Darcy was supposedly not included in the UK version? Apparently, the British said it too sappy for Austen?
I havent seen any of these movies in ages. I should definitely check them out again soon. I could use some magic and a good swoon.
It’s funny you should mention that about the age thing! I wrote a post on my (admittedly) Pride and Prejudice themed blog, The Bennet Sisters (www.thebennetsisters.wordpress.com), about what age is appropriate to read PandP at, and the results were so inconclusive! I read it young, but know that I never appreciated it as much as I do now at my late-teens/twenties age group. I think that it grows on you, much as your friends you have when you are younger mature and adapt and come closer.
Or maybe I’m just very gushy about one of my all-time favourite novels and authors!
I think it’s so great to be re-introduced, almost by accident, and have our eyes opened. I accidentally fell back into the novel after finding out that Jane Austen went to the same highschool that I did. It’s like finding the last piece to the puzzle!
At What Age Should You Read Pride and Prejudice? http://thebennetsisters.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/at-what-age-should-you-read-pride-and-prejudice/