Comments on: Becoming Jane: Now I’ve Experienced It http://www.theottery.com/2007/08/becoming-jane-now-i%e2%80%99ve-experienced-it/ "If an otter can't have fun doing something, it just simply won't do it." Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:47:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Dormouse http://www.theottery.com/2007/08/becoming-jane-now-i%e2%80%99ve-experienced-it/#comment-851 Dormouse Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:01:15 +0000 http://www.theottery.com/2007/08/becoming-jane-now-i%e2%80%99ve-experienced-it/#comment-851 As far as the writing thing goes, first of all, they portrayed her writing <i>Elinor and Marianne</i> and <i>First Impressions</i> simultaneously, which is not entirely accurate, but they were written so closely together that it's possible she began one, wrote the other, and then went back. However, I agree that having her copy down people's words in RL was kind of irritating. What I thought the movie showed about her as a writer, an artist, and a woman, however, was that when she was older, she was able to look back on her youth and see the real flaws and folly in Tom. B/c who was he most like? Willoughby, with a dash of Wickham and Frank Churchill. The real Darcy character in the movie is not Tom Lefroy. It's Mr. Winsley. (I loved him, by the way.) He's misunderstood and far more passionate than he seems, but Jane, unlike Lizzie, doesn't figure that out until it's far too late. The more I think about the movie, the less annoyed I am by it, b/c I think it does a good job showing her drawing on real life, as all writers do, without necessarily copying it. None of her characters is a true portrait of any of the people in the movie--not even the Maggie Smith character. (Except for those 'borrowed' lines, as you rightly pointed out.) Also, this: <i>Jane wants Lefroy because of sex, but she ultimately chooses not to marry him because of mud</i>? Funniest summary of the movie EVER. And so true. As far as the writing thing goes, first of all, they portrayed her writing Elinor and Marianne and First Impressions simultaneously, which is not entirely accurate, but they were written so closely together that it’s possible she began one, wrote the other, and then went back. However, I agree that having her copy down people’s words in RL was kind of irritating.

What I thought the movie showed about her as a writer, an artist, and a woman, however, was that when she was older, she was able to look back on her youth and see the real flaws and folly in Tom. B/c who was he most like? Willoughby, with a dash of Wickham and Frank Churchill. The real Darcy character in the movie is not Tom Lefroy. It’s Mr. Winsley. (I loved him, by the way.) He’s misunderstood and far more passionate than he seems, but Jane, unlike Lizzie, doesn’t figure that out until it’s far too late. The more I think about the movie, the less annoyed I am by it, b/c I think it does a good job showing her drawing on real life, as all writers do, without necessarily copying it. None of her characters is a true portrait of any of the people in the movie–not even the Maggie Smith character. (Except for those ‘borrowed’ lines, as you rightly pointed out.)

Also, this: Jane wants Lefroy because of sex, but she ultimately chooses not to marry him because of mud? Funniest summary of the movie EVER. And so true.

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