"You seem to think if you shake me hard enough something serious will drop out," Mary tells Edmund. "But I assure you I am profoundly shallow."Having quoted that... I must admit that there are aspects to my character Capt. Red that I have shamelessly taken from Jane Austen...both Elizabeth Bennett...and of course the delightfully deceitful Mary Crawford. Unabashedly unrepentant about her vanity, shallowness, and selfishness she has all the best lines in Mansfield Park and you can't help but think she would be great fun to have around a rout, picnic, or house party. Imagine how much fun it would be to play her? Delightfully devoid of regret or that pesky nagging worrisome ethical complication of a moral compass...saying anything you like that stems from your desire to just "do what you want" But to be honest, I don't play Red with 100% Mary Crawford for Red is too impulsive, generous with her friends, and hotheaded....But the things Mary Crawford says in the novel (sadly cut out as mentioned) make me giggle.
Now, how did this all come to force? I watched again Mansfield Park last night after I came home from my Saturday night RL date...(see? i can be a good girl)...said goodnight from my doorstep I did...the prolonged departure was pleasant and seemly, I do assure you!
But , I was left restless...who knows why....and I had within my DVR the Masterpiece Theatre Classic...Mansfield Park...and of course I love/hate the Crawfords
"You know they are going be bad news, his cravat is unnecessarily flouncy and she wears very fancy hats." - Penny for Your Dreams
I've ranted about this production before..I don't care for Billie Piper in this (though i do for Dr. Who and Diary of a Call Girl)....in this she is too trollpy and toothsome.
On one of the Austen forums I blogged last year
"i thought the L.A. Times article was also quite good reviewing this...but i CANNOT like Billy Piper (formerly of "Doctor Who") as Fanny Price!...to seem as unrepentantly and "profoundly shallow" as Mary Crawford i could NOT like her mainly because she had such LARGE TEETH! she looked like a horse about to whinny at any moment!!! ...her lips stretching over them at all times with that simpering smile that did not reach her eyes ...again..shallow of ME to point this out but i couldn't get past it!!Like Chinese food, I find I was satisfied briefly but now I am hungry for more. More Jane Austen!...So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this new ITV production "Lost in Austen"....
....and i agreed with some of the bloggers and commenters out there...40% of the book was cut out to make the scant hour and a half... some of the best speeches were left out and what is left is a bare scratching of the surface of one Austen's most regarded novels...(though i do like others better) i'm still sticking with the series...very ambitious..and i will most likely buy the whole bloody boxed set in DVD when it's released....Persuasion so far being my favourite...but there you go....it's still better than ANYthing on the networks...../rant"
What!? Time travel mixed with Jane Austen? Pass me my salts and loosen my stays!
Being released soon on DVD....Pre-Order from Amazon!? Yes! Yes! Must. Have. NOW! WANT!
"Amanda Price is sick of the modern world. She yearns for the romance and elegance found in the books by her favorite author, Jane Austen. But she's about to get a rude awakening as one fateful evening, she is propelled into the scheming 19th century world of Pride and Prejudice while that book's Elizabeth Bennet is hurled into hers. As the book's familiar plot unfolds, Amanda triggers new romantic twists and turns within the Bennet family circle as she clumsily tries to help the sisters nab husbands and even captivates the tantalizing Mr. Darcy herself. But what about Elizabeth...and what will become of one of the world's greatest love stories?"
My favourite rendition of Pride & Prejudice is the Colin Firth BBC-1, A&E version...
But to be lost in the novel? And really, Ladies? Who does not want to see Darcy again in a wet shirt?
So, whether tis good or tripe....I shall order this and with the eager delight of a guilty pleasure watch a modern girl enter the pages of a beloved novel..and yes, kisses ....ardently so...with Mr. Darcy!
and to satisfy me until then....I shall continue with Little Dorrit
UPDATE~!! i got the DVD today! gosh i love Amazon! I shall try and watch it in between the many RL things i have going this weekend and report back to say whether it's a netflix queue item or a good buy!
Resources:
Jane Austen Today Blog
How Colin Firth Did NOT Really Jump in the Lake
Mr. Darcy Portrait Sells For Double the Estimate!
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2 comments:
Lost in Austen screened on the TV over here recently. I caught bits of it but I'm terribly with remembering free to air stuff. The bits I saw looked quite fun.
I watched that at the time it showed last year. It is quite enjoyable. Some highly amusing moments. I'm not sure how well it'll work for someone fully versed in Austen literature, I'll admit to being rather lax in this regard. But I liked it a lot.
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