Austen/Brontë/Judi Dench

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

Happy holidays, dear readers. While there are many avenues within Christmas cinema, a favorite of mine being Christmas horror, I decided to view two elegant and romantic odes to classic literature. Typically I’d be like, okay, snooze, because there are a good deal of classic novels that I detest. (the term classic is used rather generously within academia) But while I labored through many boring books, I always enjoyed Jane Eyre. I had to read it a total of three (3) times in my academic career, so it’s a good thing that I like this spooky story so much. Charlotte Brontë writes in a haunting, gripping, shockingly-easy-to-comprehend-for-her-era way. She wrote bluntly but poetically about the constraints of the Victorian Era, of being poor, of being a woman, and did so with such apparent accuracy and ease. The fact that she wrote a ghost story, a love story, a (somewhat feeble) criticism of colonialism, all while doing so with a bold, feminist edge, saying things like “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils”? …Like exactly!! How she can write such a bleak story but tell it through the lens of someone so optimistic, blows me away. And every time I watch Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film adaptation, it is equally breathtaking. Mia Wasikowska is quite aptly cast as the brave and benevolent Jane Eyre, Michael Fassbender effortlessly embodies the charming and threatening aura of her employer turned lover Rochester, and the Dame Judi Dench did her thing, as she always does. The gloominess and griminess of this story is captured perfectly, and Michael Fassbender is a scary kind of hot that makes you question what you find attractive. While this story is somber and tumultuous, it’s also shockingly empowering. Nearly 100 years before Charlotte Brontë gave us Jane Eyre, Jane Austen gave us another tricky love story, one that has become the blueprint for many romances since. A book that I did not enjoy reading, despite my love for the film Austenland, was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Its commentary on class and its feminist spirit was nice and all, but I found the book to drag on a bit and take a while to get to the point. I’d never vibed with Jane Austen’s writing like I vibed with Charlotte Brontë, and for this reason I put off watching Joe Wright’s iconic film adaptation until tonight. As one of the only English majors on planet earth who was never obsessed with this book, my official statement on Pride and Prejudice is that I stand by the fact that the book is boring, but thankfully, this film adaptation is so much better. There’s a lot of interesting dynamics of both high and low society here but there is also the first ever will-they-won’t-they, enemies to lovers romance. So many characters in other stories are based off of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, (Bella and Edward Cullen, just to name one) but no one does it quite like Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden/Tom Wambsgans. Call me a philistine, call me lazy, but I think that Pride and Prejudice translates into a much better story when played out on screen. I could notttt keep up with every family tree and nobleman and solider mentioned in the book, but within the film it all clicked and flowed together effortlessly. Pirate princess Keira Knightly and cuck-king Matthew MacFayden and apparent lady of the evening Judi Dench brought something exciting and refreshing to these well-established characters, thus giving me an entirely new perspective on a story I’d only ever been forced to read. There’s a lot of girlish giggling and shade throwing and other trifling, trite moments that I feel take up too much space in the novel, but in film form, everything was enhanced and actualized. The iconic love story in Pride and Prejudice is fully realized by the dedicated, running-in-the-rain performances in this film. I begrudgingly, as a brooding, Brontë babe, loved Pride and Prejudice, and I’m sorry I waited so long to watch it. I’m gonna blame my hesitation on a few pretentious and pedantic teachers and their overuse and over-quoting of this book, but I digress. There’s a reason why this “do they hate each other or do they wanna fuck each other” narrative works, and time and time again storytellers utilize this trope to make a love affair more interesting. It’s Christmastime, and it appears that the cold weather and cheer are scarce this year, so do yourself a favor and watch something good to make things warmer and fuzzier. If only there were a blog you could visit, with hundreds of film recommendations…