Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy

Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy, was released in 2003 with a cast including Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale. The film was adapted from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as a modern romantic comedy. It didn’t receive much praise from audiences, mainly for its poor editing and unsuccessful application of the original storyline. Critiques did however enjoy Heskin and Seale’s performance as Elizabeth and Darcy.

Figure 1 - The film cover
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_%26_Prejudice:_A_Latter-Day_Comedy

The film has basic similarities to Austen's original work like everyone's name, personalty traits, and suitor situations. One of the ways it referenced the novel was every so often the screen displayed a quote from the novel that related to the upcoming scene. For example, the screen showed the words, "Lydia and Kitty were ignorant, idle and vain," then the next scene cut to the two of them pampering themselves and reading a book on how to obtain a man.


The modern spin on the film was focused on the idea that the girls were not sisters, they were college roommates and best friends. Elizabeth was an aspiring writer and was not focused on finding love. Jack Wickham, a good-looking player, was interested in her, but she was too focused on finding a publisher for her book. Darcy was a successful businessman who also showed interest in her. The film depicts their love story as more of an internal battle within Elizabeth's self, rather than how the novel makes Darcy out to be more arrogant, causing Liz to question the chance of their potential relationship. Because the novel is longer, there is more time to draw out this back-and-forth battle between the two of them. The film's version is much shorter and almost seems as if a date to dinner is the extent of the conflict. This date is a great example of how hard Darcy fought for her feelings because he acted as a publishing company wanting to meet with her to discuss her book. When Liz found out what was really going on, she was disgusted that he would take advantage of her like that. She imagines herself throwing her glass of water in his face while walking out, only to have actually accidentally knocked it over along with an entire tray of food as she stormed out. The depiction of Darcy is decently comparable to the novel character in the fact that both men are deemed to be well-off and somewhat better than others. Liz's character is more similar because she is older than the average woman looking for a mate and turns down several men along the way.


The gender roles in this film are not as male-heavy as in the novel. After all, this is a modern-day romantic comedy, not based in the 1700s. Pride and Prejudice holds strong to the values of setting your daughter up with a wealthy man so he can provide for her, instead of marriage being based off of love. Now, marriage starts with romance and love, while finances fall into place later. The girls are much more independent and make their decisions for themselves. They do however, fall into the stereotypical role of girls where they spend all their free time gossiping about boys and making themselves perfect just to get their attention. The sisters in the novel don't have as much control over who they end up with and don't have magazines to help them decide their every move when talking to a guy. The female roles stand out much more, especially Elizabeth, for her commitment to her career and not letting her value to a man control her life.


Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy is not the best film in Hollywood, but it holds value in modernizing Jane Austen's classic novel and putting a comedic twist on it. Although it is a loose depiction of the original storyline, it is worth the watch if you find interest in other versions of Pride and Prejudice.