Opening Line

Donat ¡Opening Line Wendy J. Donat VVJDonat@aol.com Opening Line Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield editors. Jane Austen in Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. (240 pages; $27.50) It is a truth universally acknowledged that film adaptations of classic novels reflect the society of the time as much as the society of the novel's setting. This collection of essays examines why Jane Austen's novels are so popular for visual adaptation in the 1990's. The result of this new-found popularity is that although more people would recognize the appropriate style of dress for Austen's time, the films cannot guarantee that more people would recognize the source of this article's opening line. Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield have collected a set of essays that will interest the neophyte as well as the devoted Austen enthusiast. The essays cover a variety ofmaterial, but tend to focus on the most widely released films—Emma Thompson's adaptation ofSense and Sensibility, the most recent BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice and Amy Heckerling's Clueless. What is missing is a detailed discussion ofthe two most obviously comparable adaptations—the two miniseries based on Pride and Prejudice. Such a discussion would have produced more evidence for the oft-repeated thesis that key male roles in Austen's novels (Darcy in particular) have been adapted to suit the "Sensitive New Age Guy" ofthe 1990's. Lisa Hopkins examines this changed vision in the aptly titled "Mr. Darcy's Body." The "fleshing out" of the male leads is also articulated by Cheryl L. Nixon in "Balancing the Courtship Hero." Thompson and Davies add an "extra Edward" and an "extra Darcy" to their adaptations to create a sense of emotional balance for the male characters. The advantage of Thompson's approach is that readers of Sense and Sensibility finally understand why Eleanor would fall in love with Edward. Nixon notes that there is too much sensibility in the film adaptations. In Austen's novels those who exhibit emotional extremes (especially the men) are punished in the worst way—they have unfulfilling marriages. These writers also note that in the Hollywood photoplays, Austen's men are played byvery attractive actors, which makes them more aesthetically and emotionally appealing. In "Jane Austen, Film, and the Pitfalls ofPostmodern Nostalgia," Amanda Collins discusses the impact ofmarketing on motion picture adaptations. Perhaps Persuasion lacked an audience because its actors were not physically beautiful enough. Thompson's Sense andSensibilitywas certainly not guilty ofmat error. Deborah Kaplan utilizes a romance novelist's "tip sheet" to analyze the changed roles of men and women in the recent adaptations of Emma and Sense and Sensibility. In all of these works the courtship plot takes precedence over Austen's complex female characters. As a result, considerably less attention is given to the casting ofAusten's women. Rebecca Dickson's "Misrepresenting Jane Austen's Ladies" notes that Nick Dear's Persuasion turns the elegant Elizabeth Elliot into a slouching spoiled brat. One topic that should have been addressed is the vastly different interpretations of Harriet Smith in the two recent Emma versions. And the question must be asked, was no one else bothered by the fact that the beautiful and charming Harriet Smith in Douglas McGrath's 1996 production was portrayed as clumsy and plain? (a fault of the production and not the actress, Toni Collette). Elinor in Sense and Sensibility is also nearly unrecognizable . As Dickson observes, Elinor evolves into an overly emotional creature, even crying in public. In the novel, Marianne learns from Elinor. The film reverses the process. This author observes that Andrew Davies provides a similar disservice to Elizabeth Bennet in his adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The key scene at the end of the book, when it becomes clear that Darcy first fell in love with Elizabeth because ofher lively wit, is cut. A line that has long symbolized Elizabeth's common sense among snobs ("Keep your breath to cool your porridge") is transferred to her flighty sister Lydia. Not only have Austen's men become more emotional , her women have traded sense for sensibility. Clueless is considered by Suzanne Ferris in "Emma becomes Clueless" to be truest...