A Jane Austen Re-read: Pride and Prejudice
Moving forward, I will be doing these books in order of publication, with Austen’s first book, Sense and Sensibility coming next. However, since it has the most movie adaptations ever, and since it is by far Austen’s best known work, I started here.
There are spoilers below. If you haven’t already read this book or watched one of the movies, this post likely isn’t going to make much sense anyway.
Rereading The Book
I had so much fun revisiting the world of Longbourn and Elizabeth Bennett. Austen’s books are the frameworks for much romantic fiction to come, but they are also so much more, and their depth and complexity is something that becomes apparent with each reread.
At first glance, Pride and Prejudice is a simple “hate a first sight” romance, with a satisfyingly happy ending for most of the characters. However, below this surface level plot, it does an exquisite job of showing how two people can teach one another to be better, even through a contentious relationship. The Lizzie and Darcy we meet at the beginning of this book are not the Lizzie and Darcy who end up together at the end of the book, and their interactions and conflicts are a large part of their growth as people.
In terms of what I got out of this particular reread, I particularly enjoyed the fact that Mr Collins, and his actions are the heart and soul of the book. I have always cordially disliked him, and never particularly enjoyed those parts of the books. This time around, I loved how he was always in on the action, and found every scene with him to be particularly enjoyable.
I really enjoyed this book, and had a great time rereading it.
Written Adaptations
I don’t have enough time to actually review the written adaptations, but I did want to give you all a list, particularly because there are some really interesting diverse adaptations out there
- Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld – Modern day United States
- Longbourn by Jo Baker – The story as told by the servants of Longbourn
- Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange and An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan – Two versions of Mr Darcy’s side of the story
- Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik – YA, Modern day LA
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith – What the title says
- Cozy Classics: Pride And Prejudice by Jack Wang, Holman Wang, and Jane Austen – A child’s board book with adorable felted characters
- 1932 by Karen M. Cox – Kentucky, during the Great Depression
- Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding – A classic novel set in 1990s Britain
- Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal – Modern-day Pakistan
- Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jallaludin – An Islamic community in modern day Toronto
- Pride by Ibi Zoboi – YA, based in Brooklyn, New York
- Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev – Indian immigrants in San Fransisco
- Pride & Prejudice: Marvel Adaption by Nancy Butler (Adapter) and Hugo Petrus (Illustrator) – Comic book
Film Adaptations Worth Watching
Since I actually had to watch all these, I didn’t watch any screen adaptations of books I listed above (Bridget Jones or the Zombies one). I did however, take one for the team and watch all of the movies below, most of which were fun!
Yes, I am aware that I missed one or two, but there are like 15 different adaptations, and I didn’t want my brain to turn to jello, so I narrowed it to ones that were on other “best of” lists.
1.) Pride and Prejudice 1995
This is the quintessential version of Pride and Prejudice, and I have absolutely no qualms in saying it is my hands down favorite version of Pride and Prejudice on film.
I honestly can’t say much about this, mostly because it is just wonderful, faithful to the book in the extreme, and while nothing can accurately portray the complexity that the novel teases out, Jennifer Ehle and Coin Firth do such a good job of looking at each other.
I might even like it as much as the book. I mean, the book doesn’t have Colin Firth.
2.) Pride and Prejudice 2005
This is also a great version! It has, by far, the best production value and the music is great.
Kiera Knightly’s Lizzie Bennett isn’t my favorite, but Jane is great, and believably beautiful, which isn’t the case for many of these adaptations. Darcy is almost as smoldering as Colin Firth, but less charming, and Mr Collins is the best version of the character.
Despite some historical issues, and overly dramatic scenes, what I loved the most here was the sense of family and “sisterly affection” that comes through with all 5 girls, as it makes the story have better tension, and is more enjoyable to watch.
3.) Lizzie Bennett Diaries (http://www.pemberleydigital.com/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries/)
This modern adaptation takes a considerable amount of time and effort, but if you want to make the effort, I highly recommend it! A modern vlog of grad school student Lizzie Bennett, this adaptation deftly modernizes the story of Pride and Prejudice without too much awkwardness, and had me up late multiple nights as I kept watching “just one more” video.
Make sure you watch all the associated vlogs as you go along, especially Lydia’s – there are a few YouTube playlists you can find that put them all in order, like this one.
The best part is that the heart and soul of this adaptation is Lydia, whose story is beautifully modernized. Her plot line is relevant and heart-wrenching, and her character has a level of depth that is lacking in every other adaptation and in the original book.
I also want to say that is is my favorite resolution of the Jane and Bingley story-line, and one that gave Jane a backbone I sometimes wish she had more of in the book.
4.) Bride and Prejudice
This was super fun, and I really like how the cross cultural thing helped make the Lizzie-Darcy relationship feel relevant and modern. The music and dancing were so much fun, and I liked the Jane-Bingley romance a lot, especially as there is an arranged marriage component that made it somewhat believable.
I do have one critique, and it is the only reason this wonderful film isn’t higher up on my list. The Lizzie Bennett character in all other versions bears some portion of the fault here – her assumptions and attitude help make the situation worse. In this one, Darcy pretty much chases her the whole movie, and so it makes their reconciliation feel more like a romcom “misunderstanding” rather than a result of soul searching and personal growth on both sides, as it is in the novel and the best adaptations.
5.) Pride and Prejudice (1980)
This is definitely the most faithful to the text of all the adaptations I watched, and it gets all the plot points in very competently. There are scenes in this adaptation that , but I don’t always know if that faithfulness led to a compelling show.
Darcy and Elizabeth are textbook, (Darcy is actually pretty great), but the pair lack chemistry. Mrs Bennett might be one of my favorites, and her meanness and partiality to Lydia is the best illustrated of all the adaptations. Mary gets more screen time with is sort of entertaining, and made me chuckle.
However, the letter writing and internal monologues felt a little forced, and there were lots of perms and paisley. I enjoyed it but would probably not rewatch it.
6.) Pride and Prejudice 1940
This came up on quite a few best of lists, and while I very much enjoyed the costuming (the HATS), I don’t know that it holds up quite as well as people seem to want it to. The plot was all screwed around and I didn’t feel like they did enough with the differences to earn the changes they made.
Darcy was more friendly than smoldering, and Lizzie was appropriately spirited but their interactions lacked any tension, antagonistic or sexual. In general, it lacked the drama of any other adaptation, and didn’t keep my attention in the least.
That being said, I liked the way they adapted Lady Catherine De Bourgh, and I was happy to see better ending for Mary and Kitty, but that was about it in terms of what I enjoyed.
Next book I am talking about will be Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen’s first novel, which looks at the lives of the Dashwood family, and two sisters, Marianne and Elinor.
