Monday, September 03, 2007

Jane Austenesque

In the past few days I have watched both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice (5 hour long BBC edition). Before this I don't believe I've ever watched or read a Jane Austen story, although Lord knows I have a million friends who swear by her. I really enjoyed both, especially Pride and Prejudice, and now have a better idea as to why every woman seems to love Mr. Darcy and wants to be Elizabeth Bennett.

Of course, seven hours of 19th century immersion will mess with your head, and I started to think about what my life would be like were I a character in a Jane Austen novel.

If I were a character in a Jane Austen novel, I would--

  • be fairly to mildly pretty but nothing special, except for my amazing wit, impeccable reason and quick thinking skills
  • spend copious amounts of time strolling through the English countryside
  • have a precocious sister or at least be surrounded by over the top outlandish relatives
  • need to marry a well-to-do man to help secure my financial future, but resentful of this fact and hold fast to the romantic notion of marrying for love
  • meet an enigmatic and brooding man who appeared to despise me, and I would then return his feelings of disgust
  • meet a charming and pleasant man after meeting brooding and enigmatic man, begin to believe in love, but then have my heart dashed after realizing he is a scoundrel
  • have the pieces of my shattered heart picked up and reassembled by enigmatic, brooding man once learning that he is actually tenderhearted and kind (and incredibly wealthy)
  • finally realize true love does exist and live happily ever after
Hmm. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything. Do men love Jane Austen like so many women do? Do they fall in love with the heroines like women fall in love with the heroes?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what are the chances, ann! i just finished watching the 2nd part of the bbc p&p a couple days ago too! (the 1st part came already a couple weeks ago.) i do like watching/reading jane austin, but i think for me it's cause i just can't get over how little their lives actually consisted of. well don't get me wrong, they do a lot, but noone works! they just inherit money and go on trips and to balls. i always enjoy the bits of humor austin adds though--like mr. collins in p&p. the mum cracks me up too cause she's so crazy.
but yeah, i'd have to say grady could care less about these movies--i mean, when the only "action" is who hooked up with whom and who's getting married, blah, blah, i can't imagine that any man would jump at the chance to watch it all unfold. but wow, most women can't get enough of that drama!

Blakewell said...

No - we think Elizabeth Bennett is crazy. Not to mention intimidating.

amy nickerson said...

I'm glad I could help initiate you into the world of Jane Austen. I don't know why women find her stories so intriguing but for some reason, we keep coming back time and time again. Perhaps we just love a great love story!