What qualifies me to blog about movies and books? Well, the fact that they are a lifelong passion of mine. By the time I was 9 years old I was already an avid movie watcher. I would run home from school and watch movies all afternoon until it was time to go downstairs for dinner. I also was an absolute bookworm. Sometimes I would be reading 2-3 books at a time.
I've also always had a passion for writing. I've been writing creatively for years and years and always wanted to pursue it. Now that I'm a mother and only working part-time, I decided it was time to pursue my passions and expand my horizons. Thanks to internet, millions of people have an outlet that was never available before to pursue their passions.
I also review books and movies on epinions.com. I'm going to post a link so that you can read my reviews over there. I will not be duplicating on this blog any of the reviews I have on epinions. This blog is going to be centered on my favorite reads and watches and what I personally recommend.
I will always invite feedback and I hope you enjoy following my recommendations on this blog.
http://www1.epinions.com/user-tcbird
My first post is on a classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Amazingly, since this story is right up my alley, I actually just read this book for the first time. I have of course seen the movies and know the premise of the storyline, but there is never anything quite like reading the book yourself.
Anytime I read a book after I've watched the movie, I really make an effort to not let the images in my head dictate how I feel about the book. Instead I try to supplement the movie with the book so I get even more out of it.
We've all read books and then been so disappointed by the movie that it just ruins the experience for us. Too many things left out, too many actors that don't fit the character description, etc. In this case, I've seen more than one movie version of Pride and Prejudice but the one that was the freshest in my mind was the new one with Keira Knightley. I have seen the BBC mini-series version several times but it's been a few years.
PLOT:
For those of you not familiar withthe story, I'll give a quick synopsis:
Elizabeth is the second daughter of five in the Bennett family. Her mother is high-strung and socially inept and wants nothing more than to marry off her daughters to wealthy men. Mr. Bennet just wants to be left in peace and quiet with his books. Elizabeth is her father's favorite and her mother's least.
Elizabeth meets Mr. Darcy at a party where he has come with his friend Charles Bingley who has recently rented a large estate in the neighborhood. While Mr. Bingley is found to be a perfectly pleasant gentleman, Mr. Darcy is found to be boorish and rude. Elizabeth takes an immediate dislike to him because she overhears him insult her directly.
Elizabeth then meets Mr. Wickham, a very charming member of the militia stationed near their home in Meryton. She detects a dislike between Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy and because of her own dislike of Mr. Darcy, she lends a compassionate ear to Mr. Wickham as he tells his tale of woe that he blames Mr. Darcy for.
Upon meeting Mr. Darcy again while visiting a friend in Kent, they have the opportunity of getting better acquainted. At this time, Mr. Darcy admits his love for Elizabeth and asks for her hand in marriage. She comes back at him very boldly with strong accusations regarding his intereference in the relationship that had developed between Elizabeth's beautiful sister Jane and Mr. Darcy's friend Charles Bingley. He owns up to his interference and Elizabeth then confronts him with the ill treatment of Mr. Wickham. They quarrel and depart from each other in anger.
The next day, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter and lays out his side of both accusations. His well laid out, truthful letter made Elizabeth take a strong look at herself and realized she had judged him in many ways. Her feelings soften for Mr. Darcy and she realizes she's been very wrong about him.
Eventually, the two cross each other's paths yet again and seem very much on the verge of a real relationship when something terrible happens in Elizabeth's family. I don't want to give away too much at this point because it's really the best part of the book.
Of course it has a happy ending though and Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennett get married.
Let me begin by saying that the book absolutely lives up to the hype. It's a wonderful story with great characters. Mr. Darcy is of course the ultimate brooding, strong silent type and Elizabeth Bennett is a wonderful, multi-dimensional heroine. We like Elizabeth because she's feisty and opinionated, like most real women are. She also is hard on herself, like most of us. She forms an opinion of Mr. Darcy and is not shy in sharing her feelings with her friends and family. When she learns she's been misled and was wrong about Mr. Darcy, she's very candid with herself and takes a good look in the proverbial mirror.
It's hard to judge such an archaic, nearly alien form of life by today's standards. The Jane Austen era of British life when a girl's main objective in life was to find a husband, the wealthier, the better, is a little hard for the modern woman to relate to. In essentials, however, life has always been the same; we're all concerned about money, relationships, the next party we're going to, meeting new people, going dancing, etc.
Don't get intimidated by the old language, sometimes you'll have to re-read a sentence a few times, but it gets easier as you go along.
Movie or Book?
I say, both. The Keira Knightley movie version does an outstanding job of putting this story into a 2 hour movie. It's a lot of ground to cover and really I didn't notice any serious changes to accomodate the limited time frame. I understand sometimes movies have to change scenes a bit just to make it more visually attractive. They really didn't have to alter much in the movie version, they did condense time a little bit and worked around it by putting several conversations that in the book happen through the course of several scenes and they put it all in one scene in the movie.
One thing I will say about the movie is that they did an absolutely excellent job of casting the film: Brenda Blethyn, who is always fabulous, does a fantastic Mrs. Bennett. Donald Sutherland is great as Mr. Bennett. To me the absolute standout though is Judi Dench as the formidable Catherine de Bourgh. I cannot say enough about her. After seeing the movie and reading the book, she absolutely personifies the character.
Keira Knightley is very good as Elizabeth Bennett and I thought Matthew McFadyen was a great Mr. Darcy. I feel for anybody who tries to take that role on after Colin Firth who is the ultimate Mr. Darcy, but I enjoyed Matthew McFadyen's portrayal.
