Okay, I know this is going to be an annoying post for those who are much wiser and mature than myself. It’s like that college student who has taken their first Austen class and tells all Janeites ‘Did you know that the lake scene never happened in the book!’
However, I need to talk about two texts that are based in our reality, where Austen novels exist, that aim to celebrate Austen but - imo - they fail to either understand Austen’s original works or execute their mission statement poorly. These two texts are Lost in Austen and The Jane Austen Book Club respectively.
In Lost in Austin, Pride and Prejudice avid-fan Amanda Price, who is unsatisfied with her modern life and romantic prospects, switched with Elizabeth Bennett. She finds that not all her favourite characters are what they seem and unintentionally changes the plot to her favourite novel.
I didn’t mind the set-up. Actually, I found it quite enjoyable. However, some things were forced. Amanda, knowing Darcy’s arc, falls for it. By that I mean while before entering the world is in love with the character and wishes her boyfriend was like Darcy, when meeting him she instantly dislikes his rude behaviour, however then gets to know him and falls for him. THAT IS THE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BOOK. So, as a fan - how can you not see this rude behaviour as just an exterior coping mechanism. Though I haven’t watched this series since it aired, that was something I remembered not understanding from a character point of view.
Though the series explored several secondary characters well, the main issue I have with this text is the ending. Amanda has taken Lizzie’s place and therefore her and Darcy have fallen for one another. Knowing the this is not how it supposed to end, she tries to get Darcy and Elizabeth together. Elizabeth this whole time has been living in the modern world and knows her existence as an Austen character who marries Darcy - umm... hello? this could have been a great existential crisis narrative, but lets ignore that for Amanda’s self-fulfilling prophesy. So, instead of ending up together, Elizabeth and Darcy decide to go separate ways and Darcy ends up with Amanda (leaving her modern day life), while Elizabeth goes to present time as a modern woman.
Contrast Amanda’s arch to that of Catherine in Northanger Abbey. Amanda is obsessed with P&P to the point where she compares all men to Darcy and rejects living a her life to instead read about Lizze’s. This is similar to Catherine who is obsessed with gothic lit that is all she talks about and has not knowledge of what is happened in the real world. She also projects her knowledge of gothic lit (tropes and plotlines) to her love interest’s life - which cause a rift between the two and others around them. In the end, Catherine learns that she should not live in the fiction world and accept the reality of life. She grows mature and marries said love interest. While, through Northanger Abbey, Austen tries to illustrate the downfalls to individuals who engross themselves in fiction and encourage them to instead accept reality, Lost in Austen encourages audience to submit themselves into fiction and reject reality. I believe that the creators of Lost in Austen - or maybe just Amanda - has never read Northanger Abbey. In my opinion, Amanda should have returned to her reality and understood that while fiction is enjoyable, it is not where she belonged. Amanda crashes into fiction, makes many mistakes - derailing the original story - yet gets ‘rewarded’ by ending in her favourite novel and male hero.
What about your career Amanda? What about your right to vote? What about any autonomy or agency you will get in the modern world?
In all honest, I would love to see a sequel where Amanda misses internet, electricity and Independence; or where Darcy thinks about what could have been with Elizabeth. I mean they were, in the world of Austen, created for one another. I dislike the ending and therefore dislike the series as it’s thesis statement is... Why can’t I be Elizabeth!
It’s funny how this text wants to celebrate Austen by creating something that she would not agree to. Not because of the liberty they took with her text, but with the message they are trying to send.
The second text, which I recently viewed, is the film The Jane Austen Book Club. I had previously seen it, but didn’t remember it or why i didn’t enjoy it. I chose to re-watched it because of my love for Hugh Dancy and how his relationship was shown in trailer made me want to see it again.... yeah... not good. It feels the mission statement was ‘Friendship, Love, and Jane Austen’, but really it didn’t do any of it right.
The issue I have is that there is so much going on... but nothing at all. It is all surface level. Most characters are also unlikable, except for Grigg (Hugh Dancy) - mainly because I like the actor. None of the romances were appealing, the friendship was told not shown, and Austen was discusses on surface level as if just in background... like a jukebox musical. Again, the best one was Grigg with Northanger Abbey because he actually put effort into it and I did like the Henry Crawford discussion because I agree with it. FannyxHenry Forever!
The friendship between the women, and the men, were so weak that I’m not sure why they are all hanging out after a year. Was the club that impactful to your life? This film was based on a book - which I haven’t read. However, here are some changes I would have made.
1) Have it a mini-series rather than a film. Consisted of 8 Episodes. First episode called Juvenilia, introducing all the character and getting the book club set up. Each following episode is titled by the Austen novel and focuses on the person hosting the bookclub for that month. Giving the characters a whole hour to explore themselves and the novel, whilst building the over arching plot. And the final episode titled Love and Friendship, concluding each character’s arch.
2) Have it more with strangers rather than friends. Or maybe even friends that have been out of touch - who got together because of an Austen class or something. Oh, maybe a recent death of a friend - therefore leaving the sixth place empty for Grigg. By having familiar friends talk about these books, there’s no character building - because the character known each other for a long time. The film also doesn’t given enough time for Prudie or Grigg to feel apart of the core-group.
3) Focus on female friendship. Prudie is an outsider and other often make fun of her or judge her relationship with her husband. I expected to see a scene where the friends help her out - like in Skam when the girls help Vilde and the iconic imagery of Sana carry Vilde. Have Prudie throw away this image she has and talk to the ladies about her fears and past. The girls talk to her and make her feel better and they all bound. But nope. Prudie’s arch was to make her husband read Austen... ehhhh....
4) Have someone else, other than Jocelyn, be the one to introduce Grigg to the group. From the trailer, it seemed that Grigg was someone Jocelyn didn’t want in the group because he was a man, but then saw him as a rebound guy for her friend and then end up liking him. I wanted that rather than Grigg clearly being interested in her and her stringing him along. I did LOVE the Grigg moments about science-fiction and Jocelyn’s arch of reading the sci-fi books as a symbol for letting him in. However, if we get this disinterest for one another at the start it would be similar to Pride and Prejudice, therefore fitting into the Austen theme. Though I liked Jocelyn as the Emma character, the P&P romance would have worked too.
I don’t know... I just want to re-work this whole thing. Ideally a Sunny meets Jane Austen. Old friends, that have been out of touch for years, come together after the death of a friend and decide to re-connect through what brought them together... Jane Austen.They find that they no longer connect with the character/book they once love and instead connect to different characters and book. Dead friend’s younger brother, feeling he never knew his sister, joins the club to understand his sister more.
Oh man I want to write this mini-series now!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed my rant. If you feel the same or even disagree, comment! Let’s talk!
