The stupidest and most pointless adaptation ever

[dangermousie]

Saw the trailer for the Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightley. Ugh. Ugh. UGH!

Not only is the overexposed KK way too modern and skinny to be Elizabeth (in Regency terms, she is a starvation victim), they have also switched the period to 1790s (!!!) and the way the movie makes it look, if I didn't know that this was Austen I would have thought it was a Bronte adaptation: full blown romanticism, crumbling buildings, wind and rain everywhere. Horrible. Don't even get me started on whoever is playing Darcy. If he is a dreamboat, I am a Chinese acrobat. Also, it looks as if they made Lizzy a modern woman. She was not.

More importantly, why? There was a perfect, popular and widely acclaimed adaptation in 1995. Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle were perfect for their roles, the script was accurate and literate. Ugh. Stop the madness, people!

Comments

[meyerlemon.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! I'm totally offended by it, and their Darcy is NOT Darcy-ish.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I don't know who they think their audience is going to be?

Period movies are a niche type of thing anyway, and there is no hot guy to draw women in or a hardcore fan group that would spread the word (most Austen nuts I know are displeased with this).

If they want to adopt a literary classic, there are plenty good and unadopted ones (I would love to see Burney's Cecilia on screen).

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Did they really switch the period?

I was worried about Keira myself--I like her a lot, but when I first heard she would be Elizabeth, I also thought, "are you kidding? Elizabeth was not a waif." (Also, if Keira plays Elizabeth, exactly how skinny is the "thin and small," "pale, sickly" Anne going to be?!)

But I dunno, Keira is fun. I saw the trailer, and I like her face well enough for Lizzy.

But Darcy... yeah. I want rather more mature brooding and smolder and less backstreet boy with sideburns.

The modern woman thing I don't mind--Lizzy was hella more empowered than all the chick lit heroines of today--but if they've done away with Austen's biting, cynical wit in favor of sappiness, I shall want to kill.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they did. Their excuse is that it was originally written in 1790, even though not published until over 20 years later. I think they just wanted to romantic atmosphere. Either that, or they had left-over costumes they had to use.

But Lizzy is supposed to be sparkling. I cannot imagine Keira is sparkling. Tomboyish? Yes. Witty and fun Lizzy? No way. She just doesn't look very intelligent.

I want rather more mature brooding and smolder and less backstreet boy with sideburns.

ROTFL.

Lizzy is liberate but she is a very Regency woman. She is a woman of her time. Independent and strong but still not a 1990 woman sent back 200 years.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

>> I cannot imagine Keira is sparkling. Tomboyish? Yes. Witty and fun Lizzy? >>No way.

Ah, this is where we differ. I actually perceive her as witty and fun. :-P

Though the 1790 excuse isn't THAT bad. AFter all, it's probably true that this WAS the timeframe Austen originally conceived her characters in... I don't remember if there's anything IN the book that dates it, though.... Unless... I'm hazy on my chronology here. Did she write it and then simply publish it later, or did she do a re-write? If it was rewritten in the 1810s, then yeah, it's stupid.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It is a very dumb excuse as a quick google search revealed that:

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice had a long and varied life before it finally saw publication on January 28, 1813. Austen began the book, originally titled First Impressions, in 1796. Her father submitted it to a London publisher the following year, but the manuscript was rejected. Austen continued to work on the book, and scholars report that the story remained a favorite with the close circle of friends, relations, and acquaintances she took into her confidence. She probably continued working on First Impressions after her family relocated to Bath in 1801 and did not stop revising and rewriting until after the deaths of both her father and a close friend in 1805. After this point Austen seems to have given up writing for almost five years. She had resumed work on the book by 1811, scholars report, and the final product appeared anonymously in London bookstalls early in 1813.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

I have great misgivings about KK and lesser ones of Mathew McFadyen. I liked him in Spooks (aka MI5 in the US), but a historical role??? He isn't as charismatic as Colin Firth which is why he will never surpass Frith as Darcy.

I find Keira Knightley mostly annoying, so I'm pretty sure that I won't like her as Elizabeth.

This new adaptation is just so idiotic. There already exists the perfect adaptation of P&P, which means that all adaptations are just bound to be inferior copies...

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

The A&E version is so perfect, they're just messing with something that was already done. I don't think I will ever get tired of Colin Firth, he's just so spot on,and Jennifer Ehle isn't super skinny, she still looks great, and the script is fantastic. There is literally nothing bad I can say about the 1995 version. I am sooo pissed off at Kiera Knightley.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

>>I am sooo pissed off at Kiera Knightley.

Why?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't know what she meant by it, but for my part it's because she is starring in a role she is utterly wrong for.

I rather dislike KK as she is ver limited and I think she should just finish POTC and retire forever.

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

I get annoyed at actors that make movies I don't like. It's not rational and it isnt' the actor's fault, but still. You just can't touch Lizzie Bennet!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Am I the only Austen fan who doesn't like the Colin Firth Pride & P? Or more accurately, blasphemously thinks it was merely "ok"?

[rowanna73.livejournal.com]

Exactly my thoughts! I find Keira just annoying and self-centered, like a spoiled child who thinks too much of her own wittiness and intelligence. She is very much a woman (girl, I should say) out of her own time period.

(And my first ever post to your lj *shakes hands* I've been too timid to follow my friend Johanna's/yavannie77's example and comment anything before - but I've been a regular follower of your lj! You have verrry interesting interests and very good taste in men ;) Loved your comments about Kingdom of Heaven and ROTS before!)