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zdashamberI got to the airport Monday in fine time for my 5:30 flight, to find that it had been pushed back to 6:20. I'd been on the edge of "stare blankly into space" or "get something to read", and that decided it... I swung though Powell's like an errant comet and picked up _Pride and Prejudice_. I'd been interested in seeing the movie (the reviewer spoke of how it emphasized the class issues [which it turned out, not so much]), and I wanted to read the book first.
About 30 pages in I was like, "This is really good! Damn! And there are 300 pages more! Sweet..."
So I didn't get to sleep when I ought to have for making up for a con, and so the next day I felt illish and took the afternoon off to read... :)
Wednesday I went over to Kevin's house and watched the first half of the 5-hour BBC miniseries, and then carried away the DVD so they could sleep and watched the second half until 2. Thursday was an entirely P&P free day. Today, I caught the matinee of the most recent movie version.
What do I think? I really liked the book--1813! And I recognize so many of the personalities! I recognize myself as well, sometimes to my amused chagrin. It moves at an easy pace, and covers the story at a good solid depth at each step. There's a lot to read under the surface, and you've got time to be inclined to do so. The embarassing bits are embarassing, funny bits are funny: many a time I laughed out in delight.
The BBC miniseries was likewise good, covering the book faithfully. I enjoyed the costuming and location shots: they set the show firmly in 1812-ish England. Seeing it acted embroidered my understandings of some of the characters, like Lydia (who was great!), and of the world.
The latest movie wasn't much by comparison; far too modern. The costumes looked generic, different for each month such that there was no feeling of poorness in the Bennet house, and there were silly modernisms like having Lizzie alone without a bonnet (I imagine because she's the leading lady). The dancing looked Hollywood fake; I'm not sure if it was, but c'mon, even on a crowded modern dancefloor the standers aren't being shouldered against by the dancers. The world was unnecessarily boisterous.
Most importantly, there was far too much shouting at each other. Tight control of emotion and eternal appearance of politeness are two of the things that particularly recommmend Jane Austen to me... (Aside from the obvious denials-of-proposals scenes, there was irritating 2005ishness in the Charlotte-telling-of-her-engagement scene. They threw away a chance to flesh out the P&P world for silly emotional drama.)
However: Matthew MacFayden: far hotter than Colin Firth. And in keeping with the overwrought emotionality of the film, the romance dial was turned up higher, so that wasn't all bad. :) Also better cast were Miss Bingley, Mr. Wickham, and Lady Catherine de Bourg (though directors should be far less loathe to make a fool of Judi Dench; she particularly needed it in this film).
I regretted the loss of a lot of the subplots, and I missed Crispin Bonham-Carter as Mr. Bingley (hot), and David Bamber as Mr. Collins (perfectly, unselfconsciously, ridiculous!).
I'm delighted to have found a brand new good author to read... There's, what, 6 books ahead of me that probably don't suck? Such riches! Hurrah!
About 30 pages in I was like, "This is really good! Damn! And there are 300 pages more! Sweet..."
So I didn't get to sleep when I ought to have for making up for a con, and so the next day I felt illish and took the afternoon off to read... :)
Wednesday I went over to Kevin's house and watched the first half of the 5-hour BBC miniseries, and then carried away the DVD so they could sleep and watched the second half until 2. Thursday was an entirely P&P free day. Today, I caught the matinee of the most recent movie version.
What do I think? I really liked the book--1813! And I recognize so many of the personalities! I recognize myself as well, sometimes to my amused chagrin. It moves at an easy pace, and covers the story at a good solid depth at each step. There's a lot to read under the surface, and you've got time to be inclined to do so. The embarassing bits are embarassing, funny bits are funny: many a time I laughed out in delight.
The BBC miniseries was likewise good, covering the book faithfully. I enjoyed the costuming and location shots: they set the show firmly in 1812-ish England. Seeing it acted embroidered my understandings of some of the characters, like Lydia (who was great!), and of the world.
The latest movie wasn't much by comparison; far too modern. The costumes looked generic, different for each month such that there was no feeling of poorness in the Bennet house, and there were silly modernisms like having Lizzie alone without a bonnet (I imagine because she's the leading lady). The dancing looked Hollywood fake; I'm not sure if it was, but c'mon, even on a crowded modern dancefloor the standers aren't being shouldered against by the dancers. The world was unnecessarily boisterous.
Most importantly, there was far too much shouting at each other. Tight control of emotion and eternal appearance of politeness are two of the things that particularly recommmend Jane Austen to me... (Aside from the obvious denials-of-proposals scenes, there was irritating 2005ishness in the Charlotte-telling-of-her-engagement scene. They threw away a chance to flesh out the P&P world for silly emotional drama.)
However: Matthew MacFayden: far hotter than Colin Firth. And in keeping with the overwrought emotionality of the film, the romance dial was turned up higher, so that wasn't all bad. :) Also better cast were Miss Bingley, Mr. Wickham, and Lady Catherine de Bourg (though directors should be far less loathe to make a fool of Judi Dench; she particularly needed it in this film).
I regretted the loss of a lot of the subplots, and I missed Crispin Bonham-Carter as Mr. Bingley (hot), and David Bamber as Mr. Collins (perfectly, unselfconsciously, ridiculous!).
I'm delighted to have found a brand new good author to read... There's, what, 6 books ahead of me that probably don't suck? Such riches! Hurrah!