Pride and Prejudice

Somewhere between 6 months and a year ago (I don't remember specifically) I finally watched the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice. You know, the A & E one with Collin Firth that's supposed to be this majorly big deal.

I think I mentioned it in some posts, but I was just talking about it with a friend and decided to expound.

The first thing you have to know is that, out of all the Jane Austen stories that I have read/listened to/watched/heard of, Pride and Prejudice is probably my least favorite.

Why?

There are two likely reasons. A) Because it's everyone else's favorite, and therefore severely overdone. B) Because I had to read it for 11th grade AP english. Summer reading, no less.

As for A, it's partly just my nature. The ones that everyone likes the most automatically get points against them. Weird, maybe, but that's how it's always been for me. Sense and Sensibility is also one of my least favorites.

As for B, well, that's not so unusual. A lot of people have trouble enjoying things that they are forced to read, even if it's something they'd like otherwise.

The second thing you have to know about Pride and Prejudice is that, even though I read it and watched a movie (the Laurence Olivier version I think), and even saw the Wishbone episode of it, I didn't understand it. I had no idea what the story was even about until I watched the Keira Knightly one that came out in 2005. Therefore, that one out of all has a special place for me.

Now that I know the story I've watched several other versions, and even read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Anyway...

As I said, I was discussing the 6 hour movie that was supposed to be this big deal. I really only watched it just to see what the hype was about.

Conclusion:

There are several good things about it, I admit. For one, it is the version in which I am least annoyed by Darcy. Colin Firth does a really good job of playing the softer side of him in such a way that it's easier to forget the previously annoying stuff he did. Most of the other Darcys don't really succeed in that regard. At least not for me.

(I've been told that this is because I am the same as him. Good opinion, once lost, is lost forever, and all that jazz.)

But it was kind of disappointing, altogether. For two main reasons.

1) It was so long... oi. LOTR I can handle. Because there's lots of stuff happening. But 6 hours of a super mellow romance? No. Way. I very seriously doubt that I will ever sit through the whole thing all at once, ever again. I mean, there were so many scenes that were in there for realism or whatever, like that part when he's sitting in the bathtub. But were those really necessary? All they did, for me, was make it longer.

2) Lady. Catherine. As I said before, the first one I watched where I really got what was happening was the Keira Knightly one. In which Lady Catherine is played by Judy Dench. There is no one in the entire world who can play the regal, severe, intimidating older lady like Judy Dench does.

And so, when I saw the 6 hour one, Lady Catherine was just so.... disappointing. She was so weak and not at all intimidating. Therefore, the conflict was weak. I wasn't ever worried about what would happen because Lady Catherine was wussy.

VS.

No Contest.

So, as I said, all in all the 6 hour one was a bit of a disappointment, despite the couple of good things about it.

For anyone who cares, I like Emma and Persuasion the most so far. (But I am about to tackle Northanger Abbey, which I hear is darker and a little creepy, so I am quite interested.) I think that this is probably because the guys are just cool. Not secretly cool, so you have to dig away to find it, as in Mr. Darcy. And not cool but with certain frailties that are annoying and must be overlooked. As in Mr. Darcy. But just plain cool, end of story. You don't have to get over any weird issues before you start to like them.