Umm... maybe women see themselves in Lizzy because she's mediocre. Most of us are, you know. (Though I'm really not sure it's true that Miss Eliza is strictly "mediocre"; she's "not a great mind, not a great wit, not a great beauty" in the view of people like Caroline Bennett, not exactly the most trustworthy source. In terms of her attractiveness, especially, we're dealing with a very different view of what's considered beautiful. Elizabeth's brown-haired and tall and athletic and tan. Today, she'd probably be considered a fox; back then, they went more for waifish, ethereal blondes whose idea of exercise was writing a long letter to Lady Snobbington-Noseintheair.)
...I thought about all of those women who see themselves in Elizabeth Bennett or in her modern update, Bridget. Even Keira Knightley, in an interview with Empire Magazine, stated the reason she wanted to do the movie was because she saw herself as Elizabeth Bennett.
Isn’t the point of Elizabeth Bennett that she’s completely mediocre? Not a great mind, not a great wit, not a great beauty—something every adaptation except for Bridget Jones seems skip over. Can’t someone adapt a book like Jane Eyre, where the title character actually makes a decision and does something? Jane Eyre has yet to receive even a slightly acceptable adaptation, what with the great beauties that keep being cast in the role.
And Jane Eyre? Make a decision? You mean like an aimless and planless walk through the countryside without a penny to her name until she stumbles across someone who takes her in? You mean like marrying a fellow who locked up his crazy wife in the attic, but only after he's been rendered emasculated by a fire? Yeah, all women should aspire to that kind of decision-making skill...
(Via Bookslut)
2 comments:
Thank you, yes! Nicely put and absolutely correct.
Jane Eyre gives me the creeps. But Elizabeth Bennett, ahhh. She is the only sensible woman in the book. I have to say "Pride and Predjudice" is perhaps my favorite book. But, I haven't been able to read the other ones by Austin either.
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