Alternative Mr Darcys & Elizabeths, and Pride and Prejudice question 29

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Well, we had some fun suggestions for Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, though I think we need new blood. The idea was that it would be younger versions of some of these actors that played the roles.


New input would be welcome. If you can think of other actors that would work, please don't hesitate to make suggestions, and I'll put them up on a later blog.



So here's what we have for Elizabeth Bennet: Zooey Deschanel, Scarlet Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet













For Mr Darcy we have Jude Law, Liam Neeson,


Adrien Brody, Richard Armitage, and James McAvoy.







Pride and Prejudice Question 29

Publishers tend not to publish too many sequels that are not Pride and Prejudice, because they say they don't sell as well. Why is it that people generally seem to prefer Pride and Prejudice to Jane Austen's other novels?

Comments

  1. Laura's Reviews29 October 2009 at 11:46

    Truthfully, I would like more sequels to the other novels as well. I think that all of the novels are excellent, I just happent to prefer Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion to the rest.

    Why do people prefer Pride and Prejudice? It is a timeless story about two people who shouldn't love each other, but do. They have to work through their own "pride and prejudices" in order to fall in love. All of the characters are relatable and people we could meet today. The humor is wonderful and witty.

    Truthfully I think the other characters and novels are great and witty as well. I am having a hard time here trying to write why I think P&P is above the rest of the novels and the only one that deserves sequels. I need to think about this some more . . .hopefully someone else will have a more conclusive answer then me. I think part of my problem is that Persuasion ties with P&P in my affections.

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  2. Jeannette29 October 2009 at 12:56

    I think Pride and Prejudice is the archetypal love story. Boy meets girl, boys loves girl, loses girl,.... You see this in books and especially movies over and over again. This makes P & P easiest to relate to and read. So, naturally, as a favorite, we want to see if they did live happily ever-after.

    Austen's other books are not as "timeless", in some ways. For example, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park are too heavily steeped in their times. Their romances typify the time period and don't translate as well to modern tastes. Plus, they are more single-themed, especially NA. Emma and Sense have many more threads for us to follow. I "want" to see how Marianne fares with Col. Brandon, and how Emma grows under Knightley's care. Pesuasion is perfect, in my opinion, so I don't need a sequel!

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  3. Jeannette29 October 2009 at 13:00

    Monica

    Thank you for the gorgeous pictures! I look forward to checking the blog often today! :)

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  4. Unknown29 October 2009 at 13:07

    Hmmmm. For me, it comes down to the heroines. I'm going to boil this down in a very pedestrian kind of way, to try to keep this short(-ish), but keep in mind that I love them all. I've always found the heroines in Persuasion and Mansfield Park to be maddeningly passive in some respects, so I don't reread them as much. Northanger Abbey and Emma include major plot points with heroines embarrassing themselves and being corrected by a dude. Marianne settles for a quieter, calmer love in Sense and Sensibility, which can leave the reader a little sad for her. And Elinor is so stoic, she's not as easy to relate to as Elizabeth or Marianne. Elizabeth is just such a wonderful heroine--she's strong, smart, and has that wonderful wit. She doesn't let people push her around. When someone corrects her, she corrects them right back. And with Darcy, she got it all--love, friendship, and the Big House. You can't help but want to know more about her.

    That said, I'd read a non-P&P sequel any day! How can you resist something with a title like "Willoughby's Return?"

    (I obviously can't--our movers have been grumbling about how many books I own.)

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  5. Libby's Library29 October 2009 at 16:42

    I think that it's just a matter of exposure. Almost everyone has heard of Pride and Prejudice...but others aren't as well know.

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  6. Jeannette29 October 2009 at 20:32

    Here is another photo of Adrien Brody

    http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41102000/jpg/_41102678_adrien_pa..jpg

    Probably from the same article as Monica's copy.

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  7. Elizabeth B29 October 2009 at 20:47

    In my opinion, although P&P is treated as the ultimate, quintessential Austen, it's actually the odd one out. It has all or most of the things that we look for in Austen, but . Some that spring to mind:

    (1) JA once said that she didn't care if her niece hated every character in the book as long as she loved Darcy and Elizabeth. P&P is the only one that puts the spotlight near exclusively on male-female romance.

    (2) It's not as obvious from the movies, but P&P is quite possibly the most cheerful piece of "meaningful" art ever created. Art = Angst, after all. Unless you're Jane Austen writing P&P, in which case Art = Fun.

    (3) Darcy, like Marianne, is primarily the one to drive the plot while other people react - but he's the hero. We get many passages from Darcy's POV, most of them long; we're told what he thinks, what he feels, what he feels about what he feels; he even gets what's effectively a huge monologue. And putting a massively complex hero right at the centre makes a love-story much more compelling.

    (4) There's wit and genius and all the sophisticated precision we expect of later Austen, but it has all the energy and vibrancy of her youth too. P&P is all about being young and brilliant and having the world at your feet and falling in love for the first time. Nothing is quite like that.

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  8. Milka29 October 2009 at 21:13

    Pride and Prejudice is a timeless story, it has great characters; a witty and beautiful heroine who makes her own mind and a gorgeous, handsome hero. The book is energetic and lively and filled with "action". The same things that happen is P&P can happen in everyday life.

    I would love to see more sequels of other Austen novels as well, especially of Mansfield Park since I love Edmund Bertram so much. :D

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  9. Laura's Reviews30 October 2009 at 12:56

    Tracygrrrl - I feel your pain. When we moved four years ago, I keep hearing the movers complaining because I had so many boxes of books!! :-)

    Neas Nuttiness - I think I agree with you. P&P certainly does get more exposure than the rest of the novels, especially my other favorite, Persuasion.

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  10. Jeannette31 October 2009 at 16:16

    I have another Darcy and Lizzie pairing to suggest: Richard Harris and Audrey Hepburn (in their youth).

    ReplyDelete

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