There are so many things I wanted to post/say in regards to it being Pride and Prejudice’s 200th anniversary, but I thought rather than over-inundating you (is that a word?) I would just write one post—a sort of scrapbook post. By that I mean that this post has several parts which are more or less only related in that they relate to Pride and Prejudice.
First. We had a party.
My housemate and I did a 12+ hour marathon of Pride and Prejudice movies. We had a few friends over, had snacks, and played the 1980 BBC mini-series, the 1940 Laurence Olivier feature, the 1995 BBC mini-series, and the 2005 feature. Granted, we weren’t sitting there actually watching every moment…we were making yummy snacks, cleaning, chatting, etc. But the movies were on…and we did watch a lot of them :) A better blogger than I would have taken tons of photos, but really all I got was this one.
Second. This JUST in (as in, while I was writing this post).
I’ve been re-tweeting tweets from @PenguinClassics all last week and today, in hopes of winning a free copy of Pride and Prejudice (pictured right) in their celebratory giveaway. And GUESS WHAT?!?! I won one!! What a special piece of memorabilia!! I am so uber-incredibly thrilled!
.
Third (which was formerly Second. Until This Just In Came In). A Thought.
It occurred to me, as I was watching one of the movies yesterday (I couldn’t possibly tell you which one), that it’s actually a little funny (ironic, even? the world may never know) that Pride and Prejudice is so popular—at least among people I know. As amazing as it is, it’s also basically the embodiment and fulfillment of what a lot of us fear (or, rather, used to fear, when we were young) (and maybe it was just us, not some universal fear). We were all so concerned that we would ending up having to marry someone we hated. Even worse: ending up in love with the person we hated. As if it were some kind of cosmic trick or joke, some kind of scam. Of course, none of us were ever fool enough to hate someone who was dazzling and worth a fortune. And anyway, all our disdain, all our dislike, all our prejudice wasn’t erroneous, like Elizabeth’s. She obviously needed to get over her concepts and see the real Darcy. We, on the other hand, are so much more intuitive. In fact, we’re psychic.
.
I like how your third, which was originally your second, where you credit us (I’m going to pretend I was included) with being not just intuitive, but psychic. :)
Hehe, you can definitely be included if you want, Veronica!
Your marathon sounds like so much fun!! And that’s a really interesting point–how falling in love with someone you thought you hated is something it seems like we would fear. (Though, I think, it may not be so very unlikely to happen in real life…) Maybe that very fear, and the fear of being so mistaken, is why we love it. Hmm.
Thanks, Susan—yeah it was super fun! This blog hop idea was awesome, too! Such a great way to interact with new blogs and bloggers!
What a super idea, having a P&P marathon! I wonder if there was any consensus among you as to the most meritorious film adaptation? Or was it justa shoo-in for Colin firth? ;-)
Hehe :) I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a landslide for Colin Firth…but I WAS pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed the 1940 (Olivier) version. I had seen it when I was very young, before the Colin Firth version ever came out, but I had completely forgotten its charm. I think other people enjoyed the Keira Knightley version a lot, too. No one was that impressed with the 1980 version.
stop posting awesome things & making me procrastinate with studying! lol! :) :) :)
hehe–thanks, becky :) glad you like the posts. xo