Jane Austen Film Proposals Part 1

I’m going to do a short series of my favorite Jane Austen film proposal scenes.  There will be three.  Note:  All of the posts in this series will contain serious spoilers.

My first proposal scene will be…

Pride and Prejudice 2005!

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I love this scene.  It’s so beautiful – the sun rising and coming up between them (by the way, that was pure accident – but what a lovely accident!)  And the script is wonderful too.  Let’s compare the script and the book.

Script:

LIZZIE: I couldn’t sleep
DARCY: Nor I. My aunt?

He stops, looking wretched.

LIZZIE Yes. She was here.
DARCY: How can I ever make amends for such behavior?
LIZZIE: After what you have done for Lydia and for all I know, for Jane also, it is I who should be making amends.

Darcy looks at her for one deep moment.

DARCY: You must know – surely you must know, that it was all for you.

Lizzie is still as stone.

DARCY: (cont’ d) You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my Aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I had scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me forever.

Lizzie is silent.

DARCY: (cont’d) If, however, your feelings have changed. .

Darcy looks at her. Something in her eyes gives him confidence.

DARCY: (cont’ d) I could, I would have to tell you, you have bewitched me body and soul and I love and love and love you. And never wish to be parted from you from this day on.

Lizzie looks at him very serious, very simple.

LIZZIE: Well, then.

Darcy takes a step towards her, one hand stretched out. Lizzie takes hold of his fingers.

LIZZIE: (cont’d) You’re hands are cold.

Darcy nods.  Their heads touch as the sun rises behind them.

Book:

“Mr. Darcy, I am a very selfish creature; and, for the sake of giving relief to my own feelings, care not how much I may be wounding your’s. I can no longer help thanking you for your unexampled kindness to my poor sister. Ever since I have known it, I have been most anxious to acknowledge to you how gratefully I feel it. Were it known to the rest of my family, I should not have merely my own gratitude to express.”

“I am sorry, exceedingly sorry,” replied Darcy, in a tone of surprise and emotion, “that you have ever been informed of what may, in a mistaken light, have given you uneasiness. I did not think Mrs. Gardiner was so little to be trusted.”

“You must not blame my aunt. Lydia’s thoughtlessness first betrayed to me that you had been concerned in the matter; and, of course, I could not rest till I knew the particulars. Let me thank you again and again, in the name of all my family, for that generous compassion which induced you to take so much trouble, and bear so many mortifications, for the sake of discovering them.”

“If you will thank me,” he replied, “let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you.”

Elizabeth was too much embarrassed to say a word. After a short pause, her companion added, “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. Myaffections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable.

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I think that both the book and the script have their undeniable merits and I like both of them very, very much.  (Although I must say the script was more romantic.)

Pride and Prejudice Photo and Sense and Sensibility Photo

Someone was very clever putting this together… 

I made this myself.

Pride and Prejudice 2005 Banner

Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Elegance of Fashion has made an Elizabeth Bennet banner from P and P 2005.  She has made several other lovely banners, but this is the first one she has made from P and P 2005.  

I was the one who asked her to make it since I feel very strongly about P and P 2005.  Even though it’s not her favorite version, she graciously agreed to spend her time making it.  She e-mailed it to me this afternoon.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Join the Revolution!

Pride and Prejudice 2005 is THE BEST P and P adaption.  However, many bloggers do not share my opinion.  ”1995 one is the best…Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth are the best…”  Whatever.  You and I know that P and P 2005 is the best, but until now we’ve kept it a secret, afraid to let the truth out and get bombarded by angry 1995 fans.  No more.

I am starting a revolution only for the stoutest and bravest of P and P 2005 lovers.  If you love the 2005 version display one of these buttons on your blog or website.  Tell the world that Pride and Prejudice 2005 is the best.

When you put one of these up on your blog please link back to this post or the page that I’m going to create to go with this post.  I want to see how many of you out there are brave enough to do this.

I got the photos for the buttons from here.

Please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts at kraftyhorselover@hotmail.com.

Lizzy

My favorite Lizzy!  I got the pic from here.

A Chart

Pride and Prejudice 1995 Review

Wonderful.  Masterful.  Brilliant.  Well done.  Spectacular.  Awesome.  Stupendous.  I could go on but you get the picture.  I really, really enjoyed it.  (Not as much as the 2005 version, but never mind.)  For one thing, I loved it’s completeness.  It goes through the whole book without fail, and the actors and actresses often quote straight out of the book.  One thing I did notice that was taken out was Caroline Bingley’s flattering Mr. Darcy on the evenness of his handwriting.  But since this is a small point it doesn’t matter too much.

My next point is the music.  I love, love, love the music!  It is just sounds so wonderful.  Of course, I can’t explain it, but you know what it’s like if you’ve seen it and I’m sure everyone agrees with me.  The costumes and the sets are very, very well-done.  I like all the clothes that Lizzy wears especially the navy blue coat with the plaid scarf.  And of course the scenery is beautiful.

There is of course, high humor in Jane Austen’s novels and the movie follows through bringing us the pompous Mr. Collins, the domineering Lady Catherine and of course William Lucas.  Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet are very well portrayed as are Kitty, Mary and Lydia.

This movie is very well done and I would advise you to watch it if you haven’t already.  It is a true Austen classic.

 

Jane Austen Birthday Week Part 6

Part 6 will be a guest post by the admin of the lovely blog, Elegance of Fashion.  Her fictional name is Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

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Jane Austen’s Popularity: What Makes Jane Austen So Popular?

We all know how popular Jane Austen has become. Many of us read the books over and over again, watch the adaptations over and over again, and hey, many of us even have blogs devoted to Jane Austen. Jane Austen is considered one of the best-loved authors in not just all of English literature, but all of literature in general. But what has made Jane Austen so popular?

 

One of the things that I think has contributed to Jane Austen popularity is that in her books, the characters and situations, are so true to life.

 

For many of us, Jane Austen’s heroines might remind us of, if not ourselves, someone we know in our lives. These characters aren’t 100% perfect: they do have their faults like many people, but they also have good qualities that are necessary in role models. They have characteristics that we see present in many of our peers. Perhaps you may know someone with characteristics from those characters: someone with the understanding temper of Anne Elliot from Persuasion; or someone who is as imaginative as Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey; or someone who has Emma Woodhouse’s lively personality. It’s not hard to think of people that Jane Austen’s characters, even minor characters, remind us of.

 

Sometimes in books, we run across scenes where we have to say out loud, “that could never happen!” You don’t have that outburst with Jane Austen. Her books reflect the events that happen in our lives. We’ve all had those moments where we say something we shouldn’t have (like Emma to Miss Bates at the Box Hill picnic in Emma), or misjudged someone (like in Pride and Prejudice), or been betrayed by someone who we thought was a close friend (like Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey with Isabella Thorpe). Jane Austen wrote about her observations in life. Some say that her books are too ordinary, but it is in that ordinary (or rather realistic) setting that makes her books extraordinary: you are given something to relate to and sympathize with that really speaks to the soul. They are situations that we may have experience with and that is what makes them stay in our mind the longest.

 

There are many things that may have contributed to Jane Austen’s success, but the relatableness of her books I think is one of the most important. When we can relate to something, it remains in our minds much longer than something that is otherwise. Jane Austen may have written her books about two-hundred years ago, but her books continue to speak to those who read them. They give us an insight into human nature that we may not get from other books, which is why Jane Austen is one of the best writers in all of literature.

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Thank you, Miss Elizabeth Bennet!