Lack of Pride

Since I have already mentioned my love for the work of Jane Austen I am sure there is no need for any repetition of those former sentiments. I do however feel that I need to express my deep disappointment in my hopes of another adaptation of a remarkable novel done well. Sadly, the newest attempt of Pride and Prejudice falls extremely short in being faithful to the story created by Jane Austen. So many changes were made in this “fan fiction” that it was hard to see much included of the wonderful, original story. Then I must ask myself, how can one take such a great piece of literature and condense it down into a mere two hours? This particular adaptation was missing so much of the rich language, with characters shown in a vastly different style, and attempting to hurry a story along by sacrificing much of the important “meat” of the book. It is easy for a person, such as myself, to be able to put in the missing pieces of this puzzle, but I wonder what it would be like for a person so wholly unfamiliar with the novel. I tried to think back over the movie and see what it would be like to fresh eyes (which I must say is difficult). Some parts seem to make little to no sense to me. Without the background I have how would I know why out of the clear blue Mr. Bennet seems so worried about who his daughter marries when through the whole movie he seems to be very distant and unfeeling towards them. There are several more instances I could share, but in the slight chance that someone reading this wishes to see the movie, I will refrain so I do not give away too much.

There are a few good points to this movie and I will try to leave this post on a high note. The casting of a few of the characters was closer to the novel then previous attempts (more on the physical appearance and age aspect). The music was very complimentary and pleasant to hear. Perhaps by making this movie in more of a contemporary way will encourage some of the younger generations to read a wonderful example of English literature, which in my opinion is always a capital idea!