Author: johnmwatford

Bride and Prejudice: A Lively Dance With Austen’s Novel on a Global Stage

            Movie adaptations that alter not only the time period of the source material, but the ethnicity and country of occurrence as well are not amply produced, so Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice is a refreshing take on an overly adapted Austen classic. As apparent throughout history, the emphasis placed on wealth and marrying your daughters off to a well-to-do groom transgresses cultures and time periods. In this film, there is an evident parallel between the Bennet family and the Bakshi family in regards to a universal ascension of the societal ladder and the traits of each character, minus a mirrored version of Kitty. While the overall plot of the movie shares similar traits with the novel, the representation of the characters and the delivery of the plot have drastic differences. While it is debatable which elements of the plot are shifted by modernity or by Indian culture, the story delivers a social critique of society’s unwritten social obstacle just as Pride and Prejudice, nonetheless.  

                The main difference between the film and Austen’s novel is the presence of multiple nationalities, of which include contrasting elements and intricate relationships.  By having Darcy as an American, there is an additional possible prestige associated with his character, much how his estate and wealth created for him in the novel. Instead of migrating back and forth between cities and estates within the same country, we have an exchange between a country with a history of colonizing and a country not long removed from a colonized state.  Besides a critique on global society, this film shows how different cultures can critique each other, such as the depiction of flaws observed between American or Indian societies. There is arrogance in the viewpoint that Will Darcy has towards Indian culture, and an equal critique of the ‘Americaness’ of Will Darcy, with less arrogance and more analytical criticism that results from colonization. When Lalita criticizes Will’s mentioning of plans for his family’s hotel expansion, the obvious similarity to colonization cannot be missed. Although the British colonized India, America exists as a colonizing force in the hindsight of Eastern civilization. With having the film version of Elizabeth being won over with an embrace of Indian culture through traditional dance (in addition to Will’s apology and effort to consolidate Balraj and Jaya’s relationship, it seems that Darcy’s departure from cultural reproach, instead of an exception to his class critique, is what wins him admiration.

Austen Behind Numerous Doors: A Response to Part One of Sense and Sensibility

When Jane’s fist published novel is read in accordance with what we know about the writer’s genuine life, as assessed in the BBC documentary Austen Behind Closed Doors, it is apparent that the two sisters, exemplifying personas of the often opposing sagacity and feeling, experience an ordeal not too loosely derived from that of Jane’s during her transition to Chawton Cottage. Similarities between the author’s life and this book include a focus on two close sisters, difficulty with relationships, and the value of money in order to maintain a less troublesome life.

            Just as the Dashwood sisters are required to move to Barton Cottage (after so many different attempts at settling in a satisfactory home, including Steventon, Ash, Dean, Lyme, Bath, Southampton, and London) Jane and her sister, Cassandra, must move to Chawton Cottage, though Barton seems to be a much more dramatized setting than the home Jane lived in. I find it to be of no coincidence that Jane wrote Sense and Sensibility while living in Chawton and I am sure she drew inspiration from that event in order to lay a foundation for her work, as she did with all of her writing. In the documentary about Jane’s life, we see that she struggled deeply with finding a partner for life partly due to a possible lack of physical beauty matched with a witty personality, but her options were most likely limited due to her own lack of wealth. Jane writes that Fanny tells her mother-in-law of Edward’s “great expectations, of Mrs. Ferrars’ resolution that both her sons should marry well, and of the danger attending any young woman who attempted to draw him in” (60 James-Cavan). It is clear that Jane’s focus on money throughout this novel, along with all of her works, is a result of the challenge she faced as someone not born into a necessarily well-to-do family of her time.