Great post, and great pic of Hathaway, but I have to say this Becoming Jane movie is really flipping me out (enough so that I never could have written this post with any semblance of calm; just ask my friends who had to sit beside me during the preview). The propensity to explain and even explain away Austen's brilliance by romanticizing her personal life offends me on so many levels. The movie is based on little more than a few offhand remarks in Austen's letters; she certainly gave no evidence that heartbreak was her primary source of inspiration, but so many critics can't seem to handle the idea that she was a genius, period.

/rant

Sorry! Nothing against your post, just had to say it (since I write about Austen as an academic I would've felt disingenuous keeping my trap shut). I actually adore some of the adaptations, especially Rozema's Mansfield Park (which borrowed from Austen's biography in a way I appreciated). The Keira Knightley P&P is low on my list, too—it was gorgeous, but while puffing up the romance they seem to have drained out all the humor.

Another great one is the 1995 BBC Persuasion; the casting is spot on, and Fiona Shaw plays one of my all-time favorite Austen characters.

Although I was disappointed by the Keira Knightly Pride and Prejudice, I thought they did a couple of things right. They made Jane sufficiently attractive. (In the BBC version, Elizabeth was so much more attractive, and that bothered me.) And they did interesting things with the father: they illustrated how unable he was to really take care of his family, and they showed an affectionate moment between him and Mrs. Bennet. I found his character to be refreshingly human. But Mr. Darcy was besotted from the first and brooded the entire movie. Ugh.

Although it has nothing to do with Jane Austen, I'm now having AP English flashbacks. My AP English teacher in California was thrilled to have an east coast Jew in the class and insisted that I read a lot of Saul Bellow in preparation for the exam. When it came to answering the open question, it was completely impossible to write about any Bellow novels. (The other student in the class who had also prepared him turned and looked at me in horror at that moment.) So I wrote a crap essay about Death of a Salesman, instead.

i had to do Emma for A level English. the only way i could get through it was to think of Emma Woodward as a proto-dyke - for god's sake, she was so obviously in love with Jane Fairfax. but actually, even that wasn't enough to keep me interested. i only read about half the book. not surprising i only got a D as i never finished A passage to India either. why couldn't we have done To the lighthouse or The good soldier like other schools using the same examination board did?

also, like, i know she's pretty but why have Anne Hathaway playing Jane Austen? weren't there any British actresses?

I don't understand. I saw this in the cinema months and months ago. Did we (UK) get it first? Why? I am awash in a sea of confusion.

I thought Becoming Jane was all right. I've loved Jane Austen's work for a long time so I'm, for lack of a better word, protective of her? and it didn't do anything to upset/disappoint me, but neither did I love it. I do however love Anne Hathaway. Mmm.

For my money the BBC's 1990s P&P is the best adaptation of all time. I start watching it thinking "Elizabeth isn't that pretty, and Darcy's kind of annoying" and by the end of it (6 hours later -- another good point!) I love them both and the way they love each other. Plus it's hilarious in just the right way, and their Elizabeth seems closest to Austen's. I agree with the person above who said their Jane isn't pretty enough, though I've often wondered if the actress they cast would have been considered much more attractive than Jennifer Ehle by the standards of Jane Austen's time? That would be a very BBC thing to do.

I had a similar experience with the same test just this year, only instead of forgetting one name, forgot everyone's name in The Kite Runner. They gave us a list of books that we could write an essay on, but we could also write about a different book (the list was more of a suggestion than anything else). I tend not to read directions all the way, so I didn't know that I could have written an impassioned essay about the wonderful, beautiful The English Patient, so I picked the book off the list that I knew best. I had to make up names for the characters in The Kite Runner, and it was awful. Consequently, I only got a 4 on that test. :/


Oh yes, and on the AP U.S. History exam the previous year, I got so frustrated during an essay that I actually bit myself on the arm and it left a mark for hours. I don't pretend to see any logic in biting myself, so I can't really expect you to, either. xD

great bbc film, and also my favorite book of them all. love how everything is unspoken, but still completely obvious.

and bbc's pride and prejudice starring colin firth and jennifer ehle is a real classic. so great.