Tuesday, February 14, 2006

came late, left early

in oscar-movie-mania updates...

i saw pride & predjudice last night. i hated it. i actually left before the end which i haven't done in a long time and haven't even felt tempted to do since breakfast on pluto. i left right after lady catherine comes to find out if lizzie & darcy are engaged. judi dench was fine and leaving after her big moment seemed like a good time to get on with my evening. keira knightly was a major hurdle i wasn't able to get past, but my issues with the film went way beyond that. as a huge fan of not just the the bbc series but the book - i took issue with a number of ways the characters were portrayed.

1) donald sutherland as mr. bennet was just unfortunate. i can't even get into it. it just was.

2) georgiana as a silly giggling teenager? no. she was a refined young lady very wary of others and still getting over the whole wickham incident. darcy loves his sister but also respected her class & sophistication. i didn't buy little tamzin merchant for a second.

3) i didn't appreciate charlotte lucas' little speech about how she was "27 and desperate". very poor taste. very.

and finally -

4) one of elizabeth's greatest virtues was the way she never let on to any outsider how ridiculous she thought her family was. it was a quality that defined her as a person and made her sort of "transcend her class" so to speak - a major quality that darcy fell in love with. keira didn't play lizzie that way. i felt uncomfortable in the moments you saw her getting visibly annoyed with her family... she was like a trashy elizabeth bennet.

demon spawn


i could go on and on... but i suspect i'm annoying most of you. lastly though is a point my dad brought up: pride & predjudice isn't just a love story - its a comedy. unfortunately, i wasn't laughing last night.

-------------------------

anywho - i was planning on going off next about march of the penguins (an interesting enough story but i didn't buy into all the whimsical nonsense about penguins being "devastated" and such) but i'll save it and instead wish you a happy valentines day... and share the valentine i got from gwen.

rad.


3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow. Impressive. You are totally a for-reals scholar! Loving the commentary and insight into the story. You really know your stuff!

Maybe I should put down my copy of US magazine and read the copy of Hamlet that Justin continually pushes on me...

Cara

10:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jane Austin + Jen Hen = BFF


Gwen is such a great typer!

Love you
Annie

12:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am impressed too Jen! I mean, maybe you should have been an English major? You have a lot of good insights...

And Cara - I'm right with you, I think my US is making me more stupid by the week. But I can't stop. Help!

Maggie

12:36 PM  

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