Before the Fall [Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice]

Figure1: Before the Fall cover
 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/410742428505608941/?lp=true

         Turn "Pride and Prejudice" into a gay romance they said; it will be great they said... and it was! As most avid readers know, Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice has set a trend. Writers, artists, and producers from all over have taken it upon themselves to try and recreate this masterpiece. Producer Byrum Geisler makes a brave attempt at directing this film and allowing his audience to picture Elizabeth Bennett's role in Pride and Prejudice played by a man. 

          In this 2016 film adaptation, we are introduced to Lee Darcy, our Elizabeth of this story, who is played by Chase Conner. He plays a raggedy welder and a drunk at the beginning of the film who has an unfortunate aggressive encounter with his girlfriend.  We then meet Ben Bennett, our Darcy, played by Ethan Sharrett who is perceived as a high-end arrogant attorney in a small backwater town in Virginia. He indirectly makes the statement "some drunk beat up his girlfriend" in court one day not knowing that Lee is behind him and overhearing his preconceived idea of who he is as a person. While these two continuously have awkward interactions throughout the whole movie, we still get to slightly enjoy the relationship between Jane Gardiner, our Jane, played by Brandi Price and Chuck Bingley, our Mr. Bingley who is played by Jason Mac. Following in the original footsteps of Pride and Prejudice, these characters all meet at a business party Ben throws at his home. Ben's two gay best friends Kitter Frost (Bryan Pridgen) and Lyle Jennings (Daniel Wallen) tell him beforehand that he needs to get himself out of there and find himself a romantic partner. They were under the impression that Chuck Bingley was gay and decided they would throw the party to test the waters. At this point, Lee attends this party with Chuck but is struggling with his sobriety. Ben sees Lee and admires him and continues to admire him from a distance, but recognizes as Lee is about to depart from his home that they have seen each other before. He then recalls the rude comment he had made in the courtroom that day and understands how awful he must look to Lee.

          While Jane and Chuck's relationship grows a bit we get to infer on some of Lee's internal challenges. The audience is aware of his alcohol abuse, but it took time to truly understand why he was abusing. We come to find out that Lee is using alcohol to try and suppress an essential part of his identity that he had not come to terms with yet: the fact that he is gay. I thought that this addition to the film and Lee Darcy's character created such a deep relationship between him and the audience. His situation allowed us to sympathize with him and enjoy this particular dynamic.  It presented us with more unique self-reflective, self-overcoming trials for this storyline and it truly assists in the paving of Lee and Ben's relationship. 

Figure 2: Lee and Ben
https://www.filmdoo.com/blog/2017/08/31/interview-byrum-geisler-talks-before-the-fall/


Although Ben and Lee started out rocky they gradually bond over multiple hiking trips, along with Chuck and Jane. As both relationships progress, we notice the accuracy of Pride and Prejudice when lee overhears Ben speaking to Jane in his office hallway talking about why Jane and Chuck shouldn't be together. Ben questions Chuck's way of life, his living arrangement and his status and did not approve of it for Jane. This gives Lee another reason to pull himself away from all dealings with Ben seeing him as a terrible individual for separating two people who seemed to be happy with one another. Lee confronted Ben after Jane left and told him that he was the person he thought he was from the beginnings. Ben feeling regretful, he tries to undo his wrongs and make some rights. He speaks with Jane, telling her to go back to Chuck. Best of all, he threatens to blackmail a lawyer named George Wickham (Jonathan Horvath), a man who was a potential love interest to Ben. Until he found out that Geroge was still in the closet with a wife and children. Ben forces Wickham to represent Lee Darcy in court due to a false report Lee's neighbor made about him saying he was going to "kill" his girlfriend. Essentially, Ben, had all of Lee's chargers removed out of the love he had for him. 

Figure 3: Love

 http://celebrategaylove.tumblr.com/post/161654081679

Throughout the film when it comes to Lee Darcy Ben has been nothing, but kind, nervous, passive, and willing. The sweetest part of this movie is when Ben is trying to return Lee's AA journal. In the journal, there are three lines that say: I am an alcoholic. I love myself.  I need to care for myself. Underneath each of those sentences Lee wrote I hate myself. When Ben found his journal he wrote under each sentences saying " You are a recovering alcoholic, You are loved, You need to learn to forgive yourself. Towards our end, Ben and Lee end up meeting at a tree at the top of their hiking path. Ben openly confronts Lee about his feelings and ask for his in return. Lee lashes out and tells Ben that "[he isn't] that way". Lee turns around and heads back down the hill in deep thought while the camera faces itself back to Ben standing at the top of the hill left lonesome and hurt that his feelings were not reciprocated. The camera flashes back to Lee, holding for a minute, while we watch Lee with this pondering look on his face. There, at that moment we as the audience come to understand that Lee finally accepts himself for who he is and goes back up the mountain for a powerful kiss with Ben. 

This adaptation alone is so profound because of its delivery and representation of the male gender. Even within this movie, there was no overlapping of power between them. It purely represented both journeys for self-growth as captured in Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. This film provides us with solid implications of genders roles and the experienced and expressed levels of cognitive dissonance males face when coming to terms with who they really are in society or should I say how they allow others to perceive them in our society.