#5. Pride & Prejudice
I love Jane Austen. I love Pride & Prejudice. I love everything about the 19th century, particularly in England. I love historical fiction.
I majored in English in college (or as we say it, at the University!) back in Australia, with a concentration on early and late 19th Century literature. From an early age, I had a love for reading. I remember crawling into bed with a torch (or flashlight), and had to go under the covers to continue reading after it was past my bedtime. It was without surprise that I had to wear glasses at the young age of 7, because of my constant escapades with reading in very poorly lit environments! But reading was my form of escapism. I dived right into the world of fiction and adventure. My first favorite author was Enid Blyton who was an English children's writer, and she wrote the 22-book series called "The Famous Five". It is similar to the American version of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. I also read her entire collection of "The Secret Seven", and all the books of the "St. Claire's" series, which is about twin girls going off to boarding school in England. As my love for reading grew, so did my love for writing. I wanted to grow up to be a freelance journalist, possibly traveling the world and writing...my 2 great passions at that time.
When I was in secondary school (which is equivalent to junior high/high school), I was introduced to Jane Austen, and the wonderful world of Pride and Prejudice. And there was no turning back after that! I fell in love with everything Jane Austen! I read and reread all her books. While I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice captured my heart, and it became my favorite book of all times.
I loved the spunkiness of Elizabeth, and secretly wished that I could be more like her - smart, witty, confident, self-assured, not really caring what other people thought of her, stayed true to herself and her convictions, fought for what is right and stood up for herself (loved it when she stood up to Lady Catherine de Burgh! or Catherine de bleh!...as I used to call her!).
I'm such an Austen nerd that I made it a point to visit Chawton in Hampshire when I was in England. In 2005, I was visiting my sister who lived in London at that time, and made a day trip out to the English countryside! I was giddy with excitement on the bus to Chawton, and Jared was a good sport to accompany me on my crazy quest to find the birthplace of my favorite author. The bus took us to the small town of Chawton, and we literally had to walk across the grassy knolls to get to Jane Austen's house. Of course I had to pretend that I was an Austen character and was living out the day-to-day routine of having to walk from place-to-place if a carriage was not available. It took everything in me to not steal anything from the Austen household! I was mesmerized and in awe of being there (I think Jared was probably wondering if there was a nearby pub that had ESPN). After spending some time there, we took another bus which took us to Winchester Cathedral where she was buried. I had to pay my respects to her.
It was an amazing day for this Jane Austen fan!
Jane Austen's house
Jane's writing desk!
Anyway, this year, as a tribute to the 200th Anniversary of Pride & Prejudice (as well as it being on my 40 List!), I wanted to reread the book and re-watch all the movies that have been made about the book. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable feat! So, if I haven't already bored you, here's my account of the movies that I own and have seen umpteenth times:
My Pride & Prejudice movie collection!
Pride & Prejudice - BBC version with Colin Firth:
By far my favorite! This version stays truest to the story of P&P. The fact that it's a 6-hour mini series gives it liberty to work the details of the story into the movie, unlike the Hollywood versions who try to cram everything into 90 minutes or so, which doesn't give the book justice at all!
Pride & Prejudice - Hollywood version with Keira Knightley:
It was okay, though I really like Matthew McFadyen as Mr. Darcy. While the movie stayed true to the story, the writers/producers took a lot of liberty with the script. They added their own interpretation of what Austen wrote. I've never been a big fan of Keira Knightley, so I thought they could have cast someone better. But casting Tom Hollander as Mr. Collins was brilliant. He was awkward, funny, and highly entertaining!
Lost in Austen:
This is fun modern-day-meets-19th-century-world-of-Elizabeth-and-Darcy movie. It's about a woman who loves Pride and Prejudice and everything about it, and she somehow finds a portal that transports her to the Bennett household. She and Elizabeth Bennett actually trade places (yes, Lizzy comes to live in modern day England, while Amanda becomes a guest in the Bennett household). But the story is more about Amanda meeting all the characters of Pride and Prejudice, and how she tries to prevent certain plots from occurring because that would just ruin the whole story, like forcing Mr. Bingley to NOT fall in love with her because he needs to fall in love with Jane to remain true to the story. For Downton Abbey fans, Hugh Bonneville (Sir Grantham) is Mr. Bingley. And by far, this version has the creepiest Mr. Collins EVER! Eek...he literally makes my skin crawl! Overall, this movie is different, but entertaining!
Bride & Prejudice:
Okay, true confession...watching this movie is one of my guilty pleasures! It is the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, and it is soooo fun to watch! There's dancing and singing, and it is so colorful! You have to overlook some of the cheesiness, but you'll definitely find this fun and entertaining! The story is based in India, so just imagine the Bennett family as Indians, and the story does stay true to the plot. I guarantee that you'll be smiling and singing along! And Aishwarya Rai (who plays the Elizabeth character) is truly gorgeous! Mr. Darcy (Martin Henderson) isn't too bad himself!
As I was looking on Amazon.com, I noticed that there is an older version of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Ann Rutherford. I will have to watch that soon!
If I haven't bored you yet, here's my fantasy cast of Pride and Prejudice:
Elizabeth Bennett - I'm still not sure...it's a huge role! If Jennifer Gardner can pull off a British accent, maybe it could work. But she's so sweet, unless she unleashes her Alias character!
Mr. Darcy - toss up between Matthew McFadyen (in the Hollywood version) or Hugh Jackman
Mr. Bingley - Eddie Redmayne (he played Marius from Les Mis)
Jane Bennett - Nicole Kidman or a blonde Jennifer Gardner
Mr. Bennett - Hugh Bonneville (from Downton Abbey)
Mrs. Bennett - Emma Thompson
Mr. Wickham - not sure...who's someone you'd love to hate? Maybe Ryan Gosling?
Caroline Bingley - Mary from Downton Abbey (I forgot what her real name is)
Lady Catherine de Burgh - Maggie Smith (from Downton Abbey)
Mr. Collins - anyone weird and creepy, though I do like Tom Hollander from the Hollywood version, he's also in the Pirates of the Carribean), or Russell Crowe...haha!
And to show you what a freak I am, here are some of my Jane Austen/Pride & Prejudice collectables:
I bought this coffee mug and kitchen towel with the inscription of Mr. Darcy's profession of love to Elizabeth.
English Tea is my absolute favorite!
Books I bought when I was in Chawton.
Yes! They even have a board book of P&P! This is a counting book. I believe the baby board book for Sense & Sensibility covers numbers and Emma covers shapes (or something like that!)
#6. Go to the movies by myself
I thought it would be weird, but it wasn't. It was actually quite nice! I mean, you don't talk to people during the movie anyway. I actually walked out of there with a huge smile on my face...maybe because I finally did it, and the movie had a happy ending.
I was on my personal retreat, and I thought it would be neat to go catch a movie by myself, just to break up the day. I watched "Safe Haven", another movie based on a Nicholas Sparks book. I didn't have any expectations, but it turned out to be pretty good. I loved "The Notebook", and Jared liked "The Lucky One" (oops, I hope he doesn't kill me for disclosing this!). I think "Safe Haven" is in between, but with a thriller twist.
'Nuff said. I did it! And I'm proud of myself for doing it. I may have to make this a regular thing!
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