Scene: The Uborka sitting room, Saturday morning. Pete is playing GTA, as usual.
Karen: Do you want to go and see the new Keira Knightly film?
Pete [scornfully]: It’s Pride & Prejudice. I know it is.
Karen: Drat! Foiled again.
September 24, 2005
No.
Ha. Sly, but not sly enough. I am with Pete on this one, I don’t get the Jane Austen thing. Like AA Gill says, I bet you see a horse and carriage within 10 seconds of the film starting.
We were forced to read some Jane Austen for English at school, probably GCSE. In retrospect, I’m able to think of a million really awesome things that I should have said to my English teacher at the time. Spritzer Scallywag.
I know what I’m getting Pete for his birthday now. 🙂
His birthday’s at the end of November, Adrian.
Damn, it may not be out on DVD then. (It could be anything, not saying what)
Should have mentioned that it had Matthew Macfadyen in it, and that it was really just like Spooks in period costume. Ish.
Sadly the mention of period costume would constitute a major flaw in the plan. It’s not just Jane Austen he won’t tolerate; it’s period drama. Period.
That’s not entirely true, and you know it. It’s just that period dramas are a bit like blogging – it’s a format, not an objective. Period dramas for their own sake are incredibly fucking boring.
Does LotR’s count as a period drama?
Exactly, Adrian. Does Casanova count as a period drama? Does Sherlock Holmes count as a period drama? Does CSI count as a period drama? Does Slashdot count as a weblog?
What does it all meeeean?
Hmm… I’m not normally a fan of period drama either, but Pride and Prejudice is an excellent piece of storytelling; it’s period for the sake of drama (and characterisation et cetera), rather than period drama for its own sake.
Although I bet the new film isn’t as good as the 1995 BBC effort.
I have been reliably informed that the film is simply not a patch on the Colin Firth version
Thank you, QE. I hardly think Jane Austen sat down and thought, hmm, I think I’ll write a period drama.
No, but I think that some production company sat down and thought “Hey, let’s make another film out of a Jane Austen novel. Let’s do Pride and Prejudice… again! We’ll put Keira Knightley in it, because the guys think she’s hot, and then because it’s a period drama we’ll get loads of women turning up! It’s going to be huge!”
Jane Austen’s novels were the Neighbours of her day. Really, I’m not exaggerating. Even my English teacher concurred with me on this one.
Wasn’t Keira Knightley’s character meant to be ugly anyway?