Becoming Jane
I just watched Becoming Jane and I thought it was perfectly lovely. Anne Hathaway was very well cast, I think. I don't know too much about Austen, so I can't say that she was perfect, but she did a fantastic job in a way similar to an Austen heroine, so I imagine her performance was pretty good. And the fellow they chose to play Tom was surprising. Not good looking in a conventional sense, but he was *very* good at showing emotion in his face and won me over completely. Mostly I was distracted by Jane's brother, Henry. He was played by the same man who played Max in Across the Universe and I was generally sucked in. ♥
But now I'm curious about Austen's life. I know the bare-bones stuff that every English major absorbs in college, but this attachment was hardly the sort of thing professors talked about. I want to know how accurate this is. Purely speculation, or is there enough evidence to call it probable? Or even known? Either way, it made for a beautiful movie.
I was happy to see that, in addition to the very obvious parallels to Pride and Prejudice, connections were made to Sense and Sensibility as well, putting Jane in Marianne's role. I confess, I prefer to see Austen-as-Marianne rather than the traditional Austen-as-Elizabeth viewpoint. Probably both are partly true. It's hard not to put yourself and your feelings into any character, after all. Still, if the story of this this film is true, it sheds new light on the Willoughby/Wickham characters. ^_~ Most of her books have foil love affairs that go awry, don't they?
But now I have to go to bed. I have to be up by six-thirty. >_< There were a dozen things that I didn't do tonight that I ought to have, but I don't regret indulging in the movie instead. Now I will quite probably dream of deliciously witty girls who, while endeavoring not to, will fall hopelessly in love with the perfect husbands. At least I hope I do. ^_^
But now I'm curious about Austen's life. I know the bare-bones stuff that every English major absorbs in college, but this attachment was hardly the sort of thing professors talked about. I want to know how accurate this is. Purely speculation, or is there enough evidence to call it probable? Or even known? Either way, it made for a beautiful movie.
I was happy to see that, in addition to the very obvious parallels to Pride and Prejudice, connections were made to Sense and Sensibility as well, putting Jane in Marianne's role. I confess, I prefer to see Austen-as-Marianne rather than the traditional Austen-as-Elizabeth viewpoint. Probably both are partly true. It's hard not to put yourself and your feelings into any character, after all. Still, if the story of this this film is true, it sheds new light on the Willoughby/Wickham characters. ^_~ Most of her books have foil love affairs that go awry, don't they?
But now I have to go to bed. I have to be up by six-thirty. >_< There were a dozen things that I didn't do tonight that I ought to have, but I don't regret indulging in the movie instead. Now I will quite probably dream of deliciously witty girls who, while endeavoring not to, will fall hopelessly in love with the perfect husbands. At least I hope I do. ^_^