Recently, I attended a book signing for Shannon Hale's The Actor and the Housewife (which I thought a great book, by the way). As background to how A&H came about, Shannon shared with the assembled fans the story behind her first novel geared toward adult readers, Austenland. Austenland is about a young woman so obsessed with Austen novels and the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth, that it has seriously begun to affect her love life. Personally, I loved the book, which I found really funny with the right amount of hopeless romantic. I have friends (at least one of whom is a fan of Mr. Darcy)*, however, who had a lukewarm response to Austenland. I think, perhaps, they identified a little too strongly with the heroine and felt they were being made fun of. I'm certain this was not Shannon's intention, as she shared with us her own tendency to re-read Pride and Prejudice and her reaction to watching Colin as Darcy. "That's it," I thought, "I definitely need to see this show."
I had seen the Keira Knightly P&P before. As I recall, it left me with a nice chick-flick buzz. Resolving to repent of the grievous error of having never seen the Colin Firth BBC adaptation that so many rave about, I checked it out from the library. Two DVDs, each two and a half hours (give or take a bit) long. I had to keep renewing it, trying to squeeze it in around our camping trip. Finally realizing that if I didn't start it I wouldn't get to see it, I popped in the computer (on Friday?) and watched while I sorted laundry, etc. It took most of the first day to get through the first disk. It took most of Sunday after church to get through the second disk.
Maybe watching during daylight hours, when I had to repeatedly press "Pause" to tend to various domestic responsibilities, was not a good idea. Maybe watching it independently of RM, who kept wandering in an out addressing me as "Ms. Austen" or "Dear Jane", was a bad idea. Maybe expecting it to take its rightful place as a chick-flick favorite was a asking too much. Whatever the reason, I found myself a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong. It was very well done. Colin is indeed handsome, but I found myself jealously noting how stunningly beautiful Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet is more often than I noted Darcy's simmering stare. But, while I wasn't swept off my feet, I do think I'd like to see it again some mythical day when I can do so without interruption. Then maybe I'll finally, fully "get it." But, then again, maybe I won't...I still can't bring myself to crush on either Edward or Jacob. :)
* In the spirit of full disclosure, so am I. :)
5 comments:
I watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice before I had even read the book. It was my first intro to P&P and I watched it because I had friends who raved about it...one of which who let me borrow her DVD's. I didn't realize how long it was and ended up staying up till 3:00 AM because I couldn't stop. (Realize, of course, that I didn't know how the story was going to end.) I lOVED IT! And so, of course, for me nothing can quite compare. I had uninterrupted viewing time, unlike you. I'm sure that helped. So I am a big Colin-Firth-as-Mr.-Darcy fan. But not so much that I didn't laugh heartily at Shannon Hale's Austenland. If you are at all interested there is a trilogy of books that take the whole story from Mr. Darcy's point of view that are quite interesting. But if you are only lukewarm to P&P to begin with then maybe you won't care. :)
Sarah, I think I'm better than lukewarm with P&P, though I'm not sure it's my favorite book or show. :D I'm definitely game to add those books to my "To-Read" list. Let me know the author/titles. Who knows when I'll get around to reading them, but if they are on my list I won't forget about them.
Are you familiar with Wide Sargasso Sea? It is written as a prequel to Jane Eyre, which is one of my personal favorites. I'm still undecided if I like WSS, another novel from AP English, as it really tweaks the way you think about Mr. Rochester.
So I am a fan of both versions. I watched the long version first-while I was sick. No interruptions. Months later I watched the short version. Years later I read the book and in my mind I had my favorite characters and scenes from each movie. I have my favorites from each. For example, I love the mother in the short version. I also love the moment when Mr. Darcy expresses his love in the short version MUCH more than in the long. So there you go-it has been a slow growing love for the story. It was not love at first sight, it grew through many dates together:)
I recently got to see Lost in Austen, which was fun (it does have a a few brief adult-ish references). The recreation of the wet-shirt scene cracked me up.
Ok...so I watched the Keira Knightley version again last night. (With RM.) Loved it. Got the buzz. So, I've got to try the six hour again sometime soon (uninterrupted) to see if it changes anything. :D
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