Pride and Prejudice and What I See

The Extra Penny ~ Pride and Prejudice and what I see…

Ok, so I have a confession to make; if Pride and Prejudice is on TV, I’m a total slave to it. I can’t turn away. It is so incredibly well written, so well-acted… I just become engrossed. My loving mother might say that it is the idealist in me that can’t turn the channel. It might be the historian in me. I’m not sure. But here’s my take on it… It is how incredibly sensual and loving it can be without being, well, tacky.

Here’s what I mean… So many of the movies today seem to really reveal (REALLY reveal) to us more and more to get us to “feel” because we have become so overly stimulated with media (games, computers, beeps, buzzers, the lack of clothes and the show of skin on TV). It seems to take more and more to really make people aware of feelings. To me, that’s pretty sad. When I watch Pride and Prejudice, I see humor, sadness, frustration, anger, passion, faith, hope, passion (did I say passion twice??)… all fully dressed and with witty tactful humor. I see heated sensual sarcasm. I see respect, tremendous respect. I see gentlemen who may lose their cool, but never, ever their composure; women who may be of lower “class” but not “classless”.

My point is this, throughout the movie Mr. Darcy is rather awkward, terse sometimes, meaning well, but rather pointed. He knows Elizabeth is from a class “below” his (sorry, but let’s face it, in this time, it was), he knows she is spirited, smart, independent, funny, wise, and loving. After much, much mulling, even his own awkwardness cannot keep him from her and (spoiler alert) when he is walking through the morning mist, there is nothing, NOTHING that will keep him from her… the adoration, love and confidence he exudes at that point is beyond anything I have seen on the screen in …. Well… forever. He knows what he’s in for with her. He knows what he wants. He is sure. He is a gentleman. She is there also…. And that is better than anything I have ever seen on a screen. There isn’t even a kiss at that point. There isn’t a need for one. The commitment is there. The certainty is there. The love, the passion, the drive to make sure this works out. THAT is what makes me plant myself in front of Pride and Prejudice when I see it. I am sorry for the flittering things of today that base themselves on less substantial things. Idealistic? Maybe… But I’ll risk that.

Becky W.
Nov. 19, 2011