Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A Janeite with a million rereads under her bonnet must be in want of a retelling

We've been hovering around various bicentennial moments to do with Jane Austen for a couple of years now (four of her novels were published between 1811 and 1815; she died in July of 1817; the two others of the six of her major works were published posthumously in 1818), so I thought I'd share some of my favorite Austen-related media. *whispers* It's all going to be Pride and Prejudice related, you guys. P&P is my very particular jam. 

Recommendations

Pride and Prejudice (2005)
I gather this is somewhat of an unpopular opinion, but I like this version of P&P, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen, much more than the 1995 BBC version with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth (wet shirt scene not withstanding). The BBC version is certainly more accurate, in that it includes much more of the original story and its portrayal of the characters is a fairly direct interpretation of the book. But the Knightley/MacFadyen movie, to me, is a much more enjoyable experience. I also like the interpretations of the characters and the situation the movie provides, making everyone (especially the Bennets) just a bit earthier than the earlier version (and the book). I’m also quite fond of the way the 2005 movie depicts Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s relationship—Mrs. Bennet is still a meddling, irksome, hard-to-live with irritant and Mr. Bennet is still too little interested and invested in the lives and realities of his daughters, but you can see that there is some affection between them. I cannot stand Mrs. Bennet in the BBC mini-series, like to the degree I kind of don’t ever want to watch it again. *shrug* Just me, perhaps, but I recommend the 2005 movie for a lovely couple of P&P hours.  

Lost in Austen
Lost in Austen is a four-part British television show that follows Amanda Price, a twenty-something who adores Pride and Prejudice and especially Mr. Darcy.  She’s in a relationship with a perfectly all right bloke—no Mr. Darcy, mind—and both her mother and the bloke think it’s about time they got married. Then one day she finds a portal in her bathroom into the attic at Longbourn and stumbles into the world of P&P just as the story is getting started. Elizabeth is missing, having gone through to modern-day London, and Amanda takes the place of a visitor among the Bennet family. And then things ensue. Sounds kooky, right? Oh, it is, in the best possible way. Every time I watch it, I think, “This is just silly.” And then I get completely caught up in the re-imagining of the story and Amanda’s commentary on it. For the most part, it’s just light and frothy and wonderful, but watch out for a short scene in the last episode where Darcy slips into the modern world briefly. If you ever needed a visual for “poleaxed,” you’ll get it. The actor playing Darcy (Elliot Cowan) does an amazing job in that moment, conveying approximately eleventy-billion emotions in Darcy all in one small moment. Also, Amanda’s utter desire to leave the modern world and all the advances she enjoys in it as a woman in favor of the early 19th century is nicely balanced by the way Elizabeth absolutely *thrives* in the modern world. Watch it. I know you’ll love it.

An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain, Pamela Aiden
This trilogy of novels retells Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy’s point of view. Aiden follows Darcy throughout the entire time covered in P&P, which means she has a good deal of story to invent from whole cloth, as there are great swathes of P&P during which Darcy is not only not on the page, but we don’t really know what he’s up to. Then there are all the delightful bits of the original where we *do* know what he was doing, but we don’t get to see it (his search for Lydia and the subsequent events, for instance). This is the first straight-up retelling of Pride and Prejudice (rather than something modernizing and/or inspired by it, such as Bridget Jones’s Diary) I ever encountered, and it’s still my favorite.

Pride and Prejudice audiobook, read by Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Pike’s performance of the unabridged Pride and Prejudice on audio is stunningly good. (She played Jane in the 2005 movie, too, if you’re trying to place why that name already seems connected to P&P.) She does an excellent job at the narration and breathes particular and exquisite life into each of the characters. I full-heartedly recommend it.

Illustrated Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Shiei
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment, this edition of Pride and Prejudice contains manga-style black-and-white illustrations throughout (about two per chapter) and features full-color details of some of those illustrations at the front of the book as well as drafts at the back. It’s just delightfully fun and a neat mash-up of two different media styles.



On My Radar

Heartstone, Elle Katharine White
I haven’t gotten to this one yet, but this fantasy novel has been described to me as “Pride and Prejudice with dragons.” And, I mean, sold. From the back cover: “They say a Rider in possession of a good blade must be in want of a monster to slay—and Meybourne Manor has plenty of monsters.” This one is high on my TBR.

Pride and Prejudice graphic novel, illustrated by Robert Deas, text adapted by Ian Edington
I’ve been getting more and more into graphic novels and some comics over the last couple of years, so I’m excited to get to this graphic novel retelling of Pride and Prejudice. The art looks great, and I look forward to sitting down with the book and getting wrapped up in this interpretation of the world of Elizabeth Bennet. 



Not My Jam But Possibly Yours

Well Played, Katrina Ramos Atienza
This short novel is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set at a university in the Phillipines and features a soccer-playing Lizzie-character and a math nerd Darcy- character. While the premise really appeals to me, I couldn’t get into the swing of the story. YMMV.

Before the Fall  (2016)
I watched this movie retelling of Pride and Prejudice literally within a few hours of finding out it existed. In this modern version set in Virginia, the Elizabeth (Ben) and Darcy (Lee) characters are both men. I love, love, love, this kind of swapping around of genders and/or roles and/or sexualities in retellings. Unfortunately, I thought the film was kind of uneven. So much of the touchstones of the story were changed that I found the whole thing very muddled. In addition to the change in setting and time period (givens, of course, in a modern retelling) and genderswap of Elizabeth and having the love story between two men, the particulars of Ben and Lee’s misunderstandings of one another and their situation bring in two thorny issues I don’t think the film adequately accounts for (domestic abuse and alcoholism), and it class-swaps Jane and Bingley (Bingley is poor; Jane is wealthy). It was just too much to be going on with. But. In my opinion, worth watching to see what they’ve done with the story and to support the film. (I’m still waiting for a movie where Elizabeth is a man (or Darcy is a woman) and not. one. other. thing. (except maybe the pronouns—or not) is changed about the story or the language. No explanations. Just genderswapped. Give it to meeee.)



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