Austenlicious: Confessions of a P&P Junkie...

This past weekend, hubby and I laughed ourselves silly at the wonderful antics of the cast of Cleveland Play House's production of "Pride and Prejudice." I sat down in the darkened theater with a few doubts - already summoning the Colin Firth version in my head as a ready counter to anticipated distress and boredom.

But...

Quite the contrary! Absolutely delighted by Chaon Cross and Jason Bradely as the society-crossed couple-to-be Lizzie and Darcy, and the INCREDIBLE Judith Day as Mrs. Bennett, the loudest literary mother-in-law in existence. Yes (vapours!) the novel was chopped up to make for a more lively play. The moving roundabout stage, lovely costumes, and the narration-within-narration were all effective in bringing this story alive for fans....and the (don't deny!) significant others who were dreading a wordy introduction.

The stage experience of P&P does bring to mind how I've enjoyed the huge Austen multimedia blitz in pop culture over the past ten (twenty? I'm getting old) years, kicked off by BBC's Firth version, redone in Hollywood froth (and Hugh Grant muttering as the modern-day Wickham) in the Bridget Jones books/movies (I liked them - I am not ashamed of loving Helen Fielding's heroine or Renee's spot-on portrayal of the accident-prone "very important journalist and girlfriend to human rights lawyer."), and receiving added gloss with Keira's big screen Liz. There are also the "spin-off" versions - not quite as successful. (The "Jane Austen Book Club" - *koff, koff, SCREAM* - caught on a plane back to Cleveland, still haunts me**).

Why are we so in love with Darcy and Liz's (archaic?) mating dance, to the point we would see the same story reborn and reinterpreted, again and again and again? Unlike many Austen afficionados, I read the book AFTER seeing Bridget Jones, quite the P&P Philistine until I saw in my own mind's eye the intricacy of their protestations in the text itself. Wickham is so much more the villain in the book, just as Darcy's coldness fairly stings when one first encounters his first incarnation penned by Austen's witty hand. And those sisters! "Saffy" of Ab Fab fame still resonates as my ultimate Lydia, but now the stiffness of the pedantic Mary and Jane's quiet beauty are now claimed by the Play House thesps. How fickle the fan's imagination! (Don't ask me who my best Darcy and Lizzies are - I am frightened to say the Beeb's pair has been unseated by Cross and Bradely...fluttering ensues...)

What would be next? The P & P video game seems like something SIMs would take on - if they had a market for people remaining clothed throughout their virtual lives. Hankies dropped and picked up by blushing swains grants the lady the point, doubles for those who are able to dance a jig, read the classics outloud AND play the piano altogether (yes, geek reference to the word battle between Miss Bingley and Lizzie, obviouslY). Maintaining one's haughty distance and foiling the red-coated Wickham could be the Darcy thread of such a game, with Lady Catherine lurking with her cane in the cultivated shrubbery of the English country estate mazes.

(If there are gamers actually inspired by this exercise in the ridiculous, remember where you saw it first. And for heaven's sake, make sure the Mr. Bennett avatar is equipped with ear plugs...poor fellow!)


Why am I about to watch my Netflixed copies of the Beeb's version right after dashing off this entry? Why do I have a (very dogeared) library copy of P&P next to my bed? Why does it matter if hubby knows who Mr. Collins is? Who knows why this fascination continues throughout my lifetime. Is it the idea of those lost days when letters and dances could make one fall in love - without even the merest whisper of human touch? Is it the flowery language? Firth in a wet shirt? Or am I just a hopeless P&P consumer, bound by a Jane (Austen) Addiction so far gone, I will continue to pour time, money and my reluctant hubby into these recurring versions of the classic? Perhaps all. It's one of the world's most successful chick lit formulas still in rotation today - discovering one's self through human relationships...and falling hopelessly in love, despite all events and protestations to the contrary. I'm still hooked.

"In vain I have struggled. It will never do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
-- Mr. Darcy

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** To be fair, "The Jane Austen Book Club" spans the whole Austen anthology, and must be watched/read as that. The book by Karen Joy Fowler has a sort of "Ya Ya Sisterhood" meets "The First Wives Club" feel to it, and I must say it wasn't a terrible read. The movie, however, grated on me immensely - perhaps because I read the book FIRST, and then saw it Hollywoodized (ie. younger characters rendered much more glamorous through the lens) before my jet-lagged eyes. Again - I'm willing to do a re-watch.


And yes, I am still going to Netflix "Becoming Jane."