I guess it's weird for someone of my demographic to be into Pride and Prejudice, but I think what attracts me to it is the complexities of the issues discussed. Who's the proud one, anyway. Was it Mr Darcy, for the way he looked at those below his social rank; or was it Lizzy, who had her own pride to uphold when the world just wanted her to fold.
I also feel bad for women, in general, just from watching the movie. There's this neat scene in the movie about "accomplishment", and it basically details how, for a woman to be considered "accomplished", she had to achieve a lot of these things which seemed arbitrarily designated as "good qualities". They were kept out of inheritances, which I guess isn't the end of the world- except for the fact that they didn't have the option of proper employment, and so they would be destitute without income if they did not marry.
And the pressure of marriage! Holy shit, I think people still feel it today. It's like, your entire worth is based on who you can attract and who you can grab--- and I think that's terrible, that you are valued using someone else as the unit of measurement. How does that even make sense? It's ridiculous that a gentleman's daughter (as Lizzy was), who had some social standing, would be forced into that situation. Now imagine if she was a farmer's daughter. Is that just the end of it all for her, then? I also have this question at the back of my mind, thinking, "how far would Darcy have stooped, for love?" I mean, he already struggled greatly with Lizzy, so I have a hard time imagining he'd settle for any lower. I suppose if someone had a lower upbringing, it'd be less likely that they'd be well educated- and we all know that education is the one thing that changes your worldview and disposition like no other.
Then you have to reflect that Pride and Prejudice was probably the ultimate romantic fantasy of its time. Like, nowadays we think of Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey, where the main guy is filthy rich and incredibly handsome. Wait, that's also in P&P. They all seem to have questionable personalities, but redeem themselves for the female lead. Wow, we've gone full 360 degrees. Awks.
But what I was going to say is, our modern fantasies now are somewhat far-fetched, that you need a vampire or a boyfriend with his own private helicopter. But back then, the fantasy wasn't in Mr Darcy, per se, the fantasy was in the fact that she turned down Mr Collins even though she desperately needed to be married. Well, it didn't seem very desperate to her, but you can see through Lizzy's best friend Charlotte, how yes, it was a desperate ordeal. She would've had NOTHING. And people say they can give up all kinds of things for love, and young lovers often profess their love by saying "I'd die for you". Yeah but death is kind of like, one-off and very final. Consider saying, "I'd give my life for you, I'd be willing to work 3 jobs and come home close to midnight, I'll clean the house and cook and iron your shirts and change the crying baby's nappies". Like, fuck that life, ya know? That's what sacrifice actually looks like, There isn't always a very convenient situation where you romantically and tragically renounce your will to live, so that your lover can.
Back to the fantasy of Pride and Prejudice. So after the rejection of Mr Collins- she does it again, and this time, she rejects the handsome and rich (albeit very arrogant and condescending) Mr Darcy! Like, holy shit, if someone's worst flaw was that they were cold and stuck-up to strangers, I'd tie myself down with matrimonial bonds in a heartbeat, You can see the escalation game here, because she'd already rejected Mr Collins, so she's dug herself in. And by rejecting Mr Darcy it's sort of like, "please hammer in the nails of my coffin". Then the notion that Mr Darcy would go against his social standing, his family and propose to her- that's also fantasy.
Anyhow it's just a fictional novel so of course he proposes again after being coldly rejected, and they end up together. It's a happy ending, and you can see why people loved it so much, because it's all so ridiculous and unreal, but built with subtleties so that you could almost believe that it just might happen to you. We'd all like to believe we'd have the courage and conviction Lizzy had, and we'd be able to turn down something akin to Mr Collin's proposal. Then we'd like to believe that there is a happily ever after, and Mr Darcy is only waiting around the corner, and that he'll certainly "change his character" for us.
Fuck, now it's just left a bitter taste in my mouth, like I've just unraveled my favorite sweater and now I'm left with a messy tangle of wool. Moral of the story: it's fine to re-watch your fav movie if you want to procrastinate on a sunny afternoon, just don't overthink it because dayyyyum it'll ruin your mood.
No comments:
Post a Comment