NonChapel Miscellany

[steve (steve)]

Notes on recent social outings:

1) This past Sunday I went with my wife and daughter to see the newest film version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is the shortest of the three relatively recent adaptations of the book, the other running four-and-a-half hours (the 1980 BBC version) and five hours (the 1995 A&E version). We all agreed that this version was very good, but still fell a little bit short of the 1995 A&E version. (We haven't seen the 1980 version from the BBC but after coming home Sunday evening we ordered it). We did however like the ball scenes in this newest version better. There was an immediacy and an intensity to them that the 1995 version lacked.

It is apparent to me every time that I see formal ball scenes from Jane Austen that something incalculable has been lost since the times when people got together for entertainment like that. There is something about them that is so ordered and refined and yet so much more intimate than anything we experience in social life today.

2) Tonight I got together with Calv for burgers and a few Porters (he had Hammerheads) at McMenamins, our standard hangout. We talked about Montana, Theodore Roosevelt, Chapel folks we knew, and other stuff. A good time was had by all.

[movinon (movinon)]

I'm jealous...burgers and Porters sounds good, but the company would have been the draw! Glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. We've got some friends coming over later this morning for brunch. Nothing fancy, but everything is always better when you're with friends.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites, too, and I want to see the new one coming out. Thanks for the review, now it won't be such a gamble to see something new. I,too, have always been very drawn to those types of films and the lifestyle and times they represent. Your observation about the social setting of a ball and its refinement, order, and yes, intimacy is very interesting.

One of our chiefest complaints today about much of the entertainment is that it leaves nothing to the imagination...as the old saying in the 60's went, "let it all hang out." Life needs some mystery, some things that are not readily apparent and given so freely to all. I think that during the era of P & P, the refinement and orderliness of the times and the social moors of the day kept a sufficient amount of mystery in regards to certain areas of life and interaction; not to say that there was no immorality or such, because people are people regardless of the time they live within, but they just weren't so obvious and flaunting of those things as our societies are today.

mo

[steve (steve)]

I hope you know that you & your spouse have a standing invitation to join us anytime you're in town. That of course goes for One and Mrs. One also, as well as Roz. We could all have one big dissident's meeting. It would be a blast.

And, commenting more on P&P, your remarks hit exactly what I was trying to get at. The greater restraint in behaviour imposed by the customs of 18th century England allowed other forms of more indirect interaction (conversation and formal dancing) to be developed to heights that are unknown today. I find the skill and expressiveness of these forms much more satisfying than the informality and coarseness of the freer, "uninhibited" approach that has entirely displaced those older ways.

Jane Austen, by the way, was a committed Christian. Her father, two of her brothers, and four of her cousins were pastors. She moved in a society in which Christianity was implicit, but not nearly as superficial as it is wont to be depicted today. Among the writings she left behind are three formal prayers she composed. After seeing the movie on Sunday I did some browsing on Amazon.com among the biographies available there and ordered one called Jane Austen and the Clergy. It arrived Thursday and looks to be very well written and thorough, but I haven't actually started reading it yet.

[movinon (movinon)]

Thanks! We will,with pleasure, avail ourselves of that invitation when we are in town! The same goes for you and yours if ever in our town.

Sometimes, when the world gets just too overwhelming and yes, to crass and vulgar, I love to retreat for a little mental vacation to films such as P & P, and some choice ones like it. For awhile, you can step into a time that couldn't be more different than our own. When instead of cell phones going off everywhere, people actually used nice stationery and actually took the time to write their thoughts to others, travel wasn't at the speed of sound, and life wasn't either.

I'll be interested to know how your new book reads.

mo

[steve (steve)]

A little more on P&P--

Last night, between 5:00 and 10:00 we watched the entire BBC version. (It turned out to have been made in 1985, by the way, not 1980 as I said earlier.) My wife, daughter, and I were again agreed on our rating - it is definitely in 3rd place behind the 1995 version and this year's version of it.

For one thing, the colors looked a little washed out, perhaps because of the digital transfer of film (or video tape?) to DVD. That is unfortunate and should not really affect one's judgment of the production itself but it is hard to ignore nevertheless.

For another, the key roles of Elizabeth and Jane seemed weak in comparison to the other two versions.

On the other hand, many of the other parts were done very well. In particular, I think the parts of Mr. & Mrs. Bennet, and the way their relationship is shown, are truer to the book than in the other two versions. Also, as one might expect, this version differs somewhat in scene selection, including a few parts of the book that the other two don't.

There were even a few scenes, common to all three versions, that I thought this version did the best. For example, the scene in which Elizabeth reads the letter handed to her by Mr. Darcy explaining himself the morning after she had rejected his proposal with her accusations against him. He meets her on the tree-filled grounds that surround the house where she is staying. After handing it to her with the words, "Please do me the honor of reading this letter," he simply turns around and slowly walks away across the meadow while she sits down on a large boulder-like rock and begins to read. The camera stays mainly on Elizabeth reading the letter while we hear a voice-over of Darcy's words from the letter as well as her own reactions, but it occassionally cuts to a wide view of the meadow in which we can see both Elizabeth and Darcy. He is receding further and further into the distance toward his aunt's house, where he has been staying.

All in all, though I was a little bit disappointed, it is still a good Jane Austen movie and I am glad I watched it; in spite of some weaknesses, it is a worthy addition to the video libray of anybody who appreciates the works of Jane Austen.