swisheywishyoverlord

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Longbourn critics

While searching for something to write on for my tumblr this week I came upon a reddit thread of people dissing Longbourn. I felt that this post by FinnemoreFan encapsulated the general ideas that were being presenting in the thread. A lot of individuals focused on the anachronisms present in Longbourn, a critique that I feel is well warranted. In class we talked about how much more detail oriented Jo Baker is than Austen was, and I feel as though this is the sad truth. Austen chose to omit many truths about reality to construct the worlds of her novels. Slavery is never spoken of. World wars are ignored. Servants are rarely mentioned. This leaves room for people such as Baker to come in and tell Austen's stories from a whole new perspective. However, Baker also decided to write in a style very different from Austen's, which is completely fine, but the addition of several details which Austen would generally omit created more opportunities for historical inaccuracies. Furthermore, Austen was talking about her present time whereas Baker is looking to the past and it does not seem as though she adequately prepared herself for the historical undertaking that task would be. Austen omitted details from her stories allowing people like Baker to write as well, but I think Baker would have done a better job if she had been vague similarly to Austen, emulating some Austenian style as well.

Of course, is the purpose of the story even to talk about the past? That seems to be the most frequent critique. Moments like when Sarah was cut off from the Bennet's conversation by a closing door when the reader recognizes that the conversation also takes place in Pride & Prejudice suggest that the purpose of the story is to have fun speculating what it would be like to watch the drama of the upper class as a member of the lower class. There is no need to include a romantic triangle between Sarah and two men. Everything is purely for fun to see what would happen. In this way, I don't think that historical innaccuracies should diminish enjoyment of Longbourn, but can be acknowledged imperfections of the work.

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I may not be a fan of Bridget Jones's Diary, but I do love seeing the bits of Austen so explicitly thrown into the story. I mean... this line is obviously a version of "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife," also given right before she sees her mother, a stereotypical character of the Austen Universe who would hold that ideal. It's change to apply to Bridget's life is extremely important, as Bridget is hardly a good representation of Elizabeth Bennet. Other than the relationships she has (Darcy and Wickham, her mother and father), it is very hard to see much of Elizabeth in Bridget. However, perhaps that is the point. Austen's characters lived within a world alien to our own, so who knows exactly what would have transpired had they existed in modern times. For example, the Elizabeth-esque character actually having sexual liaisons with the Wickham-esque character would never have happened in the source material, but the reduced societal expectations allowed for Bridget to get entangled with a man who she would have been better off staying away from. I think a lot of people love the character of Elizabeth Bennet because she seems so strong and compassionate. Yes, she has her flaws, but ultimately she is someone to look up to. The appeal of Bridget Jones's Diary is bringing the character down to the level of the reader by putting her in a much more complicated world with endless options and decisions as a result of technology, increased women's rights, and modernity. People read about Elizabeth and Darcy to look at an idealistic version of enemies to lovers, but look to Bridget and Mark for a chaotic but somewhat relatable modern romance. As I said, this book is proving difficult to read (mostly due to the lack of complete sentences at certain points), but I can recognize its appeal and think it is a creative use of the characters Austen put into the world.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

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This tumblr post will be a continuation of the ideas I presented last week on fan fiction as a way for fans to continue telling the story. Similarly to a limited body of work for fans to work off of, in the case of authors of the past a lot of information gets lost. This compilation of six funny facts by LovelyDeception34 on reddit and the ensuing discussion shows the interest in the life of their favorite author. Zooming in on number four, there has been a good amount of scrutiny into the reason Austen never married although she had love interests. This provides an opportunity for fans to treat Austen like they treat her books; they take the little they know and run with it. 

Secrets in the Snow does a wonderful job of combining the facts of Austen’s life with a murder mystery that 100% did not happen in her life. However, with the small bits of truth, MacColl set up a plot that filled in gaps with what she wanted for Austen’s life: for example, Tom kissing Jane and his disgust with her actions pushing him to leave her explaining her marriage-less-ness. This temptation by fans to explore both the author and her work further incorporates her into the world. Already Austen was an enigma. All we have for her portrait is a silhouette and, as established, little is known about her life. Yet, her voice comes through the narration of her novels in her scathing remarks and purposeful plots. Books like Secrets in Snow serve as prequels to the Austen that is seen in the books. This is especially clear considering the explicit references to Austen’s writing of Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice in the novel. At a certain point, Austen becomes a character as well and fans are left discussing the “what-ifs” in reddit discussion threads.

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Why Fanfiction?

I did a good amount of exploring and perusing different fanfictions this week and came across a lot of… interesting ones, but also some very sweet fanfictions. While I do think that it would be fun to do a deep dive into some of the bizarre worlds that I read about (like the post apocalyptic one where Darcy is the only man alive), I want to focus on the type of fanfictions that I saw the most of. 

“The First Kiss” is a fanfiction by April V that tells the story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s first kiss together. While the writing style was not a perfect replication of Austen’s own, it was pretty clear that was the intention of the author and it was partially achieved with the dialogue. Not to put words in April V’s mouth, but it seems that the purpose of the work was self-gratification: extending the source material to include a moment that makes the fan happy. This is the case with many of these fanfictions. They add to Austen’s work while maintaining her characters. In “The First Kiss,” the events all take place after the end of Pride and Prejudice and give a look into Darcy and Elizabeth’s life after Austen’s last chapter. 

This is possible because of the depth of Austen’s characters. They live and breathe on their own and Austen let them run rampant on the page. That’s why in movies like Lost in Austen, adding one character completely changed the plot while maintaining the characters’ personalities. Fanfictions also allow for fans to give more background. In another one I read called “Caroline Is Matchmaking (A Missing Link?)” by Ariane, Miss. Bingley is seen as the catalyst behind Lady Catherine’s interrogation and reproach of Elizabeth. Through fanfiction people are able to get extra time with the characters Austen created, and even if they are imperfect replicas of writing style, the content of the characters remains. In many ways, it is as though Austen’s work keeps growing with every new creation of a fan.

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Perhaps I am a romantic fool, but I did enjoy Pride and Prejudice more than the other Austen novels we read this semester, probably because of the stronger romantic plot lines. While everyone does end up married in the end in Austen’s work, I feel that the pairings in this book make a lot of sense for all the characters involved. 

Starting with the most obvious, Elizabeth and Darcy are both characters that are extremely prideful and prejudiced, yet they level each other out. At the beginning of their relationship Darcy’s flippant, prideful commentary creates a bias for Lizzy disposing her away from him (Austen, 9). When Wickham enters her life, she quickly allows his manipulation to reinforce her negative opinion, boiling over when she rejects Darcy’s marriage proposal (Austen, 134). Darcy’s pride is usually very blatant. He has a cold exterior at almost all times and he does things like write letters to get the final word in so that Lizzy cannot wound him again (Austen, 141). However, these elements of his nature melt away when he is able to truly converse with Lizzy. During their walk in the garden, her expression of affection caused a visceral reaction in him: “heart-felt delight, diffused over his face, became him” (Austen, 250). This shift away from his usual prideful demeanor toward a contented, at ease persona shows the balancing act for both of them. Darcy in turn checks Lizzy’s prejudices and pride. It was after reading the letter that she exclaims, “‘I have courted prepossession and ignorance’” (Austen, 144). Their relationship is mutually beneficial because it helps them be more aware of themselves. It is exactly as Mr. Bennet expressed when he said Lizzy would not survive in an “unequal marriage,” she needs a relationship of equals which she gets in Darcy, flaws and all (Austen, 258). Their relationship is brilliant.

Jane and Bingley are the gold standard. They are both doofuses in love. The only reason they were not together sooner is because of the interference from other characters like Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bingley. Other than their rather pure relationship, Jane and Bingley share other similarities. Jane is the eldest daughter and responsibility falls to her to secure a good marriage that is advantageous enough to aid in marrying off her sisters. A similar sense of responsibility weighs on Bingley as one of the young men of large fortune who has to attain a good wife and have an heir. They are a sweet couple and I like their simplicity in contrast to the darker love between Lizzy and Darcy.

This meme was created by me and I am very happy with it. Of course, as I explained above, I love the two obvious romantic pairs in this novel, but I am especially appreciative of Mary remaining alone. Yes, it is tragic for her, but her character could not have been in a happy romantic relationship from my perspective. It is not because of her lack of beauty compared to her sisters or anything. She is too selfish. At one of the first balls we see Mary “eagerly succeeded” her sister and she was described as someone who “worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments,... impatient for display” (Austen, 18). As the only plain one of her sisters Mary was definitely dealt a harder hand, but she goes through the world demanding attention and for skills she does not have to compensate, hurting everyone else in the process. Her lackluster playing was an embarrassment to her entire family and yet she persisted. I think she needs to take a good long look at herself and spend some time alone. Her apparent plainness is not a complete detriment. Plain women get married all the time. However, she holds herself back. That is why Gru is just as eager with Mary’s lack of marriage as he is for the previous two. Mary being alone is the right thing for her right now.

I’m going to keep Lydia and Wickham short. They are both manipulative and immature in their own ways which leads to their forced marriage. Yes, it ended up being more than Wickham should have hoped for with Darcy’s interference, but they are clearly still poor as Lydia asks Lizzy for aid at the end of the novel (Austen, 264). Gru looks so down in the meme because their pairing is a result of their negative traits condemning each other to their fates. It is sad. Lydia is impulsive and immature and Wickham is impulsive and greedy. They are well matched like the other couples, but their bad traits build up together instead of evening out like Darcy and Lizzy.

Sorry this is long winded, but as the Gru meme suggests I can talk about this for a while. I am Gru and this is a short synopsis of what he ranting about in his presentation. Thank you :)

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Other than making me laugh out loud in the middle of the dining hall, this tumblr post by medievalthymes perfectly ties into the ideas of the purposes of marriage in the 1800s. The first sentence of a the book, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife," reflects the overlapping ideas. I think Austen meant many things from this: the ardent belief of society mothers that men needed wives and just didn't know it, and men wanted heirs to inherit their wealth to prevent it from going to sniveling cousins. Regardless, Mr. Darcy is in the grocery store and, whether he wants to be or not, he is both a shopper and the food. However, his prideful disposition pushes him away from tolerance of such things. On page 9 Mr. Bingley is trying to get Mr. Darcy to participate saying, "'I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner.'" Because of his wealth and his general aloofness to everything, Mr. Darcy sets himself apart, simultaneously drawing attention to him while keeping everyone at arms length. Mr. Bingley references his stupid manner, which I think is aptly shown in the photograph provided by medievalthypes: straight backed, in a high collared shirt, not talking to anyone, and with a look of maximum displeasure on his face. Everything about him oozes pridefulness, and while his station may allow him to stand apart, he is still seen as the nicest slab of filet mignon in the meat section. Because it goes against his nature to pursue and be relentlessly pursued, Ms. Elizabeth Bennet's obvious dislike of him must be very pleasing, giving him a reprieve. On page 19 her continued refusal to allow him to dance leading him to desire her more and more. Darcy and Elizabeth getting together is going to be a direct result of their combined pridefulness in response to the grocery-store/marriage-market they are a part of.

As I already said, this post is hilarious. The picture is perfect, everyone else blurred out and Mr. Darcy clear as day, both a reflection of everyone's eyes on the single man of good and large fortune and a highlight of him uncomfortable amongst a throng of people with no faces or, in many ways, no personality. The tag line connects the ideas of a grocery store to the marriage market, items are for sale because marriage is an economic endeavor where character doesn't matter, only utility. I love everything about what medievalthymes did here and I'll keep an eye out for future tumblr posts.

girls when they get overstimulated in the grocery store

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Edward being goofy

Similarly to the dynamic between Marianne and Willoughby, Elinor and Edward are cut from the same cloth. Edward is more introverted, hides his emotions, and does not always show his plans (Austen, 14) similarly to Elinor especially when she was interacting with Lucy Steele (Austen, 104). It is only when Edward comes to talk to Elinor at the end of the book that we see him finally let his emotions out and explain what happened. The sheepishness in the image of Kevin James is reflected in this free indirect discourse from Edward, “He could only plead an ignorance of his own heart, and a mistaken confidence in the force of his engagement” (Austen, 260). Edward, in true introverted fashion, was unable to understand his emotions and convinced himself that all he felt for Elinor was a friendship rather than anything romantic. The result: Elinor is heartbroken and Edward was trapped in a doomed engagement. From the beginning the couple did not always know where they stood with one another. This is clear from the beginning of the book when Elinor tells her sister that Marianne and their mother’s assumptions of engagement are false (Austen, 18). It is only in this moment when Edward appears with his tail between his legs that both open up, stop screening their own emotions, and get out of each other’s way. They marry shortly after. 

Lucy Steele can be seen as the more conniving character of Sense and Sensibility as she gets in the way of the ultimate match of Elinor and Edward, however, her ultimate decision to marry Robert because she believes there is a chance of love there (Austen, 258). Though her relationship with Edward started out of love and turned into obligation, she was simply a woman in a difficult situation, trapped within a society that provided no sympathy.