One of the most memorable opening sentences to a novel, the infamous first line to the spectacular literary classic Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally
acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in
want of a wife.”
The opening line to the 2016
cinema movie, Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies, is almost identical to the original first sentence of the book by
Jane Austen, but with a wry and humorous twist: "It is a truth universally
acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more
brains."
Let me say
how delightfully comedic it was to watch this film after I finished reading
Jane Austen’s original text in its entirety.
I had been on the fence for a while with this particular adaptation,
mostly because I surmised it would be better worth my while if I were to
actually read the classic Pride and
Prejudice, and I am so glad that I went with my gut and did just that!
Wickham is
set up as an evil antagonist, not just a third-wheel love interested for Lizzy,
with the end-goal of becoming king of the zombies! He is more willful in his
demeanor and is obsessively determined in this adaptation to wed Lizzy—which he
abandoned in the original for money and then unexpectedly for Lydia, which I
feel he keenly knew that he’d somehow be absolved of his debt. He still tried
to pin the blame of his plight on Darcy’s refusal to give him his “due payment”
when in both versions, he gambled it away.
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| Mr. Darcy on a Friesian, Your argument is invalid. |
Darcy’s
horse is a Friesian, a beautiful black steed that was used in the Middle Ages
as a War Horse. Today, this breed is viewed as a luxury breed and is the
generalized “every little girls’ dream horse”. I feel that his riding a
Friesian while everyone else rides different breed, none of them black in color,
points a finger at his rank of superiority.
Darcy’s batman voice is a funny shout-put to pop culture that had me
tearing up almost every time he spoke. Mrs. Bennet being eavesdropped by Darcy,
a nice contrast to the earlier eavesdropping of Lizzy on Darcy, was a positive
touch on the director’s part. The proposal scene set as a literal fight, with
unnecessary fanservice button popping, was both pleasing and humorous to watch.
Darcy did not have the same level of anxiety in the original, not even close as
he is quick to spill his feelings to Lizzy, but this is drawn-out in their
physical and verbal duel.
The main zombie
plot overriding the romantic tensions was a bit much, but necessary to the
theme of the movie—unlike the original, there is a zombie crisis that must also
be dealt with and our main characters have to combat zombies. We also do not go
to Pemberley or meet Georgianna in person as in the original.
I was
delighted when the character of Catherine de Bourg was presented as strong,
independent female. Being a Game of Thrones
fan was a bonus, being able to identity Tywen Lannister, played by Charles Dance,
as Mr. Bennet in this movie and Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey, as
Catherine de Bourgh. Catherine is portrayed as younger than she is supposed to
be, in Zombies as a spritely,
bad-ass, but still curt as Hell middle-aged woman rather than an older, greying
lady, and through a duel with Lizzy, comes to respect and appreciate her and
even helps her family and gives them refuge during the zombie war. She becomes a nice supporting deuteragonist
instead of a spiteful aunt. I really enjoyed this change.
Mr.
Collins is set up as comical relief, as I believe was intended in the original
text as well, but he is too grabby-hands and dense toward Lizzy, and simultaneously
klutzy that I was disappointed. This movie went a bit over the top with his
character as a fool. Funny but too exaggerated. Nonetheless, his untimely
chuckles were a blast. He definitely pulled off the creepy/ nerdy priest
aspect.
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| Yum yum brrraaaaaiiins! |
Overall, I
know that if I hadn’t read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice first, I would not
have enjoyed this movie as much as I did—and laughed! I recommend this
outrageous film to any and all readers who have dipped their eyes into the
original text, and even to those who have not, because there are zombies and a
love story, but what more could you ask for?
I enjoyed your recap of the film, as I completed my blog on the same material. However, I do not agree with your sentence describing the physical brawl between Elizabeth and Darcy "with unnecessary fanservice button popping". I did not find anything about that to be useless, as it vocalizes the severely sexual, and, for lack of better terms: hot n' sweaty, tension between Elizabeth and Darcy. The fact that the film applies this tension into its narrative, and with this sexual tension being one-hundred percent absent from the original novel, is an interesting consideration for this film. The creator of the film, Burr Steers, chose to include this tension between these two characters, which only drives the conversation further of these characters being so resentful towards each other to begin with but slowly gravitating towards each other.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I did not find much analysis on the treatment of gender in your blog. You discuss the importance and agency of Lady Catherine, which is great; I, wholeheartedly, agree with you, she is pretty badass. I just do not think you drove the conversation further than just saying how cool Lady Catherine is. Elizabeth and her sisters are another clear-cut example of being badass women; these women reject the societal norm for women. Distinctly, this portrayal of these female characters show how this adaptation is giving more and more agency and importance to female characters.
Hey Liz! I did the same adaptation as you, and your descriptions of the movie's choices for Darcy are eye opening! I didn't really think of how his horse and his color scheme greatly differed from everyone else! I totally agree with you that they pinned Darcy as "Mr. Dark and Mysterious"! He probably had all the emo girls in the theater wrapped around his finger. I definitely think the movie catered to their audience well in that way. It's a romantic zombie apocalypse movie, so of course they molded the emotionally unobtainable Darcy into a dark, cold, and mysterious zombie killer. Your post talks about some great details that I didn't notice while watching it myself. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be fun to watch this movie, and maybe even read the og Pride and Prejudice Zombies book by Seth Grahame-Smith. I love that you pointed out the importance of getting to know Austen's novel first before watching the movie. It is true, that it enhances your love of a film/adaptation.
ReplyDeleteI was laughing out loud when you mentioned how they enhanced Darcy's voice as that similar to Batman's, I can't.
I have enjoyed getting submersed into the P&P fandomship like this. In the words of Dr. Francis, "Jane Austen could have never conceived of this." I can honestly say that I see myself appreciating this movie, although I am squeamish.
It is also pleasant to see that there are several strong female leads played in this film, and they seem to support each other. Catherine de Bourgh being more empathetic and kind to Lizzy in this adaptation is also interesting.