20s | only people who know me carnally are allowed to experience my gender | I have decreed that I need another side blog to write down my thoughts about the media I consume.
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I don't know if it is that I am getting older, but I found Emma so silly and snobbish (i write this with only affection in my heart). Of course, it is the natural consequence of her upbringing and age. However, I thought of her much more fondly when I first read the book as a teenager (or maybe it's nostalgia clouding my judgement). Her point of view seemed so right and matter of fact at the time. The limited series does such a good job of leaving Emma's point of view and showing her actions in context. Looking at it from the outside (and especially from today's lens), her behaviour towards Harriet is so condescending and entirely classist. For all of Austen's critiques on Regency society, the classism is truly baked in there.
I would say the book is a romance so I found it an interesting choice for the series to linger on Emma's flaws so much (or maybe I'm just very sensitive to noticing such things), her condescension towards the people she interacts with and her immaturity. The series also employs stylistic choices that show Emma's interioty: her insecurities and daydreams.
This really highlights for me what that 16 year age gap of Emma and Mr Knightley truly means. They might be matched in intelligence, status and other qualities, but their life experiences inform their behaviour. Emma's blunders can all be traced back to that. It makes me kind of sad for her: that she got to live so little before marrying (even if it will be a very happy marriage).
Still, the depiction of Emma's and Knightley's relationship was very beautiful and especially the last minutes of the 4th episode were such a nice way to show what a great match they are.
You cowards. Make Mary Bennet completely in love with herself.
She is the smartest and funniest. It's a travesty no one has realized this! Of course, men should throw themselves at her feet! Finally, someone has noticed!!
To get Caroline Bingley's character right, you have to understand that she is a foil for both the Bennet sisters and Mr. Darcy.
She is the more rational choice for Darcy vs. the Bennets. She has education, manners, a fortune, and clearly, relatives that he likes. So many fan fiction authors make her vulgar and/or unfashionable, but she isn't! That is why Darcy enjoys hanging out with her in the beginning; he would not have her at his house if she was embarrassing. Even when angry with Elizabeth, Caroline does not dare go further in attacking Elizabeth at Pemberley. She has self control. She understands boundaries, which Jane and Elizabeth mostly do, but the rest of the Bennet family struggles with. This is why she's a foil for them.
As for Darcy, at the beginning, Caroline is a nearly perfect mirror of his opinions and snobby attitude. She is doing this on purpose as a way of flirting, but it's probably pretty close to her real personality anyway. She's right that Darcy looks down on Elizabeth's uncle being a lower class lawyer. She's right that he finds the Bennet family intolerable to marry into. However, as Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth and then reforms, Caroline's mirror distorts. That shows his growth in the novel. She, like Elizabeth, fails to update her priors, though to be fair to Caroline, she didn't build her knowledge of Mr. Darcy on first impressions. It's harder to change her mind because she did once know him very well.
Side note: this is also why people woobyfying Darcy hurts Caroline as a rational character. They start in a very similar place and love mean girl gossiping together, then he changes. When Darcy's flaws are erased, it makes Caroline look super irrational and much crueller.
Lastly, Caroline is above all else, pragmatic and strategic. She does not hold grudges once it becomes more advantageous to drop them. She would never, ever, now that she is connected by marriage to the Bennets, mock them in public. Because that reflects on her! Caroline would be in London talking up that the Bennets are a very old gentry family with an ancient estate or something. She's going to be giving them a PR makeover to all her fancy friends because they are HERS now, for better or for worse and whether she likes any of them or not. Yes, in private she might be mean, as she is in the novel, but again, she's not vulgar and she has nothing to gain in public. She has manners, she has self-control; being a mean girl doesn't override that.
I wasn't interested in the book based on its reviews and blurb, but I was convinced by two YouTube video essays to give the series a chance. To hear it said, Mary Bennet is an awkward protagonist. We must question society for only giving beautiful girls who possess this characteristic the spotlight. Doesn't it seem strange that only "plain" men get the privilege of being a complex human being? Why should the prerequisite for women to have their stories told be that they are conventionally attractive? Of course, unlikable and not especially pretty women deserve to be heroines. This gap in representation just skews the perception of boys to not acknowledge the majority of women as people.
thoughts may contain spoilers:
The series plays with canon a bit, the timeline of pride and prejudice isn't exactly adhered to.
Mary, for sure, is a different person than Jane Austen's Mary. (I was looking forward to having an oblivious, self-righteous, confidently wrong, obnoxiously religious Mary; alas...)
Instead, she is kind of a cross with Elizabeth. Just a bit too insecure with a dollop of melodrama + that ephemeral plainness (very pretty in a bookish, girl-next-door way lol)
This Mary's story is that of self-confidence. Accepting that she is worthy of love and choosing it for herself. Standing up for herself against her mother. (A mother that is nagging and spiteful; just the worst qualities of Mrs Bennet without the good)
It poses that she is worthy of love as she is (which is true enough.. kind of.. because every person is worthy of love).
The series (and by extension the book it's based on) just reframes Mary's actions of lecturing the family or tactless behaviour in company. It begs us to perceive Mary as having different motivations. We aren't invited into experiencing the process of a change in Mary's character. We do not truly get to see how Mary feels about Fordyce's sermons. She just remembers them as being more sensible the first time she read them. And then magically ends up as some kind of proto-feminist.
So, I'll ask you this: how can a deeply religious person with rigid ideals with no room for situational context just take Mr Ryder's libertine notions at face value? Shouldn't such a person instinctively react with disgust? Shouldn't becoming more open-minded be a hard earned process?
And, this is the letdown of this adaptation. It doesn't commit to Mary's flaws. The love interests only ever see her good traits (somewhat understandable, but there is no conflict where there should be some).
The other thing I didn't like was Mrs Bennet. It's true that every sibling (no matter how close in age etc.) experiences a different version of their parents. This is also starkly visible in the Bennet family. I like that it is explored, but this Mrs Bennet is just horrid to Mary (while Mr Bennet ignores her entirely). Mrs Bennet is shown as a loving mother in canon and I choose to believe she wouldn't be so cruel to Mary.
In conclusion. I would like a heroine whose character flaw isn't just being too insecure.
some other thoughts:
Mary Bennet: love her looking vaguely disgusted/concerned/confused while men are just throwing themselves at her (as she should!)
Mrs Gardiner is a legend (and to a lesser extent Mr Gardiner + Elizabeth)
Charlotte: honest and a bit snakey at the same time (babygirl, run away from your husband and have a lesbian love affair with me. Give me one (1) chance 😩)
Anne (love of my life)
Ms Bingley (we love to hate you)
Mr Ryder: that is a bisexual polyamorous disaster if I ever saw one (knockoff patrick zweig lol)
Mr Hayword: he just makes sense (watch SAS rogue heroes and bawl)
Mr Collins: he should be tall, you cowards from casting
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
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