Pride, Prejudice, and my Passion for Austen

Okay, perhaps not so surprising, but I have a deep and abiding love for the works (and derivative works) of Jane Austen. She has so many great characters, but Elizabeth Bennett is one of my favorites.

So, of course when I found out about this, I watched every episode I could:



(Beware, Mrs. B. These are ridiculously habit forming)



This one had me in stitches and tears:

I squealed when they introduced the Colonel Fitzwilliam character last week.

And then, there was Darcy. I caught Monday's episode and was lost to inarticulate squealing even though we only see him from the neck down and only catch a little tiny bit of his voice. (::shrugs:: It happens. Not particularly often and not for any of the apparently typical things, but we'll talk about that some other time.)

Of course, this brings up a lot of issues, since this is a radical take on the story and on the characters. While I was reading something else entirely I happened to find this blog post someone had written on the topic.

And the writer makes a lot of good points, but, the one thing about a new take on an old favorite that draws me in every time, whether it's good or bad, it is always different. For example, personal favorites, Fitzwilliam Darcy, A Gentleman and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies are two VERY different books that take an excellent new look on favorite characters, the time period and indeed new worlds. Sadly, I realize, I have not written before about how much I absolutely LOVED either book -- not as much the "sequel" or Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters, but I digress. Part of why I loved this book is why I love fanfic so much. You see new things about the characters and new ways of looking at them. (Again, something else I'll need to talk to you about. But, something like my general feelings can be found  here and here in things I used to read once upon a time.)

In the case of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the question posed is intriguing  how would the story be changed set in this modern era with all the technologies therewith? And, I think it's a good question, one that needs asking, because even if she was excellently uncommon for her day and age, Lizzie Bennett has been a spunky role model for generations of girls. Who would she be now? Would we love her, her world -- or her male counterpart any differently?

I know that each telling, each revisit and new vision has colored my understanding and my view of the story and characters over the years. I really got pissy about Darcy when I first read the story. I thought he was an absolute jerk and I couldn't understand what she saw in him even right up to the end. I read it again and I started to see the signs of what made him tick, what he was thinking and even that he was flirting. Then I saw  Colin Firth in action, for lack of a better term, smoldering. And so on. Characters change based on the emphasis given to them by readers as much as how the writer or the reteller goes about their own business. At some point, I read Fitzwilliam Darcy, A Gentleman and found a man struggling with himself, more than in matters of love, but also in matters of the world. In fact, I not only came to love him most while reading those books, but I came to love Colonel Fitzwilliam better and Georgiana became more real to me instead of the vague backdrop she'd seemed to be in readings past. She went from wall flower to someone who really is made of sterner stuff. Shy, but no opinionless ninny.

Through it all, Elizabeth Bennett has remained spunky and kick-ass, up-to-and-including training in the martial arts, sword fighting, and zombie slaying in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's hard not to love Lizzie. Which, aside from the fact that there are characters (like Darcy) that we still haven't actually seen ::ehem:: face to face in the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It's part of why these characters and archetypes have become so enduring. We've come to care about whether or not the Spunky, Atypical-for-her-Era Heroine will rise and overcome. We want to see her match wits with people who don't think she's equal to the task and take them down a peg or three. We want to see her succeed, see her happy, and we want her to find love just as much as she wants happiness for those she loves, those she defends. It's part of what makes Lizzie Bennett awesome. She's someone who cares for others and makes us care for her and them in how she cares. And, with any luck, she'll open eyes along the way, including those of a Socially-Awkward, Surly, Shy, and/or Socially-Constrained Hero who just might find his match in our bright, fiesty, caring girl.

Cheers, Mrs. B,
-OA.