A Tribute to the Books and Characters of Jane Austen
To mark the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death (which was July 18), the current issue of the New Yorker predicts a variety of Austen adaptations that the next 200 years will bring. Writer Blythe Roberson imagines such delights as “Persuasion” with the naval officers alarmed by rising sea levels, and movies, plays, and miniseries starring Colin Firth’s hologram.
My personal favorite? “In 2158, the last remaining human who has ever heard of ‘Northanger Abbey’ will die.”
Good old Mary Bennet. Jane Austen treats her badly, her family treats her badly, her father embarrasses her—though not quite as much as she embarrasses herself. Austen didn’t even like her enough to make her deliciously awful, like Mr. Collins or Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mary is merely pathetic. She aspires to be what she is not: interesting, talented, pretty, smart, socially adept.
A number of writers, including “Thorn Birds” author Colleen McCullough, apparently think Austen was too hard on Mary. As an article in The Atlantic points out, Mary is enjoying a bit of a heyday thanks to several books (and books-to-be) that focus on her and her story, delving beneath the plain facade of the middle child in the Bennet family.
Well, why not? Even the Marys of this world deserve a life. And for what it’s worth, Austen at least paid some attention to Mary. Other than describing her as irritating and insipid, she almost completely ignored fourth-sister Kitty.
Good news: Bernie Su and Hank Green, creators of the delightful, award-winning online series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” are turning their attention to Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
A modern, technologically savvy retelling of “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” went viral as Su and Green not only posted 9 1/2 hours of video on YouTube, but created profiles for the characters to interact with each other and with their audience on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
Its modernization and high tech appeal aside, “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” stayed faithful to the spirit, characters and core story of Jane Austen’s most popular work.
Su and Green will take a similar approach to “Emma Approved,” which will debut in October. This Emma will be a 20-something life coach, entrepreneur and social media maven, who with her business partner Alex (Mr. Knightley, I presume?) manages her lifestyle brand, Emma Approved.
Interviewed in the LA Weekly, Su said he chose Emma for his next project because she is an ” ‘ends justify the means’ character with a heart of gold” who has good intentions, even if she’s clueless. “Given that she’s so driven and has a lot of resources, she’s incredibly powerful,” he said.
Especially with YouTube and Facebook at her disposal.
I realize Jane Austen is not everyone’s cup of tea. But feminist Caroline Criado-Perez’s success in getting the Bank of England to put a female—Jane Austen, to be exact—on its banknotes resulted in a campaign of harassment on Tweeter that included rape and death threats. Seriously.
Granted, there are plenty of sicko people out there, and the Internet brings them out in force. It’s also possible that some of the threats were coming from trolls, people who post obnoxious, over-the-top stuff online to get attention. These stunted human beings don’t seem to have caught on that the Internet is not one big anonymous swamp where you can post whatever filth you like without being caught.
In America, England and most other countries in the western hemisphere, anyone has the right to be a perfect arsehole (or asshole as we say on this side of the pond), but threatening someone with harm is illegal.
So far, the police have arrested one 21-year-old man in connection with the threats against Criado-Perez. Hopefully he and his ilk about to get a lesson in how dire actions can have dire consequences.
So, in case you haven’t heard the news, the Bank of England plans to put Jane Austen on its £10 note. She’ll probably make her debut in 2017 and will replace Charles Darwin. Apparently the Bank of England chose her partly in response to criticism that it wasn’t featuring enough notable women on its banknotes.
I’d like to think Jane would be pleased. No starry-eyed romantic, she knew the value of money. “Single Women have a dreadful propensity for being poor—which is one very strong argument in favour of Matrimony…” she wrote to her niece in 1817. She spoke from experience; as an unmarried woman, she was dependent on her older brother Edward.
The banknote will feature the only known authentic portrait of Austen (drawn by her sister Cassandra), and an image of Godmersham Park, Edward Austen Knight’s home. It also includes a quote: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading.” That’s from Caroline Bingley, of all people, Charles Bingley’s snobbish sister in “Pride and Prejudice.”
Surely they could have found a more interesting quote, maybe from Austen herself?