#if darcy is simply awkward and elizabeth is just misunderstanding him: no | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anghraine · 2 years

Text

Every time I read P&P closely, I’m struck by how carefully constructed it is. The plot is deeply bound up in Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters, both supporting and reflecting their character arcs, and the overall story is precisely calibrated to give a sense of balance between them without forcing them to be too similar.

The centerpiece of this dynamic is the first proposal+Elizabeth’s rejection+Darcy’s letter. In this sequence, they both make major mistakes and are allowed to stake ultimately reasonable and moral positions.

Put another way, Elizabeth is clearly framed as right in rejecting Darcy’s awful proposal and denouncing his arrogance and selfishness. But she’s also wrong about his basic underlying character and it leads her into reductive and then outright false accusations.

This puts Darcy in a position to (also rightly!) defend himself, and he does it in a way which does show his faults—thus Elizabeth’s glorious rejection isn’t completely undercut—but also which gradually exposes how deeply mistaken she (along with many readers) was about him. On top of that, he ultimately takes the high ground of excusing her for the worst of her mistakes and wishing her well, so he comes out of the whole thing looking pretty good, too, without any need to sugar-coat his real flaws.

And yes, there are some people who resent the way this doubled structure complicates our sympathies; I occasionally see people arguing that, essentially, Elizabeth bringing up Wickham in her rejection isn’t fair because it gives Darcy a legitimate complaint when he’s the asshole. I think that drastically misses the point of the book and Elizabeth’s character arc (some people really want Darcy to be the only one who grows), but in any case, that definitely seems a minority view. For most people, it’s clear by the end of Darcy’s letter that Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters are balanced and bound together in a way that’s immensely satisfying to see wind out through the rest of the novel.

#anghraine babbles #long post #i think it's one of the reasons they're so iconic #and also why aus that upset the balance of their missteps feel so weird #like if elizabeth is largely righteous and darcy is just an asshole: no #if darcy is simply awkward and elizabeth is just misunderstanding him: no #probably also part of the reason that they're such a colossal juggernaut within the fandom #the entire structure is built from the ground up for them and their relationship #in such a neatly balanced way that tearing them apart can feel kind of intrinsically ooc #and i've done that! but at some level i can't /really/ make it work in my head bc they're such a matched pair in the narrative #austen blogging #otp of otps #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy

165 notes · View notes

josieandthepussycatsofficial · 5 years

Text

i have done my classic thing: i have started pride and prejudice 2005, i am 7 minutes in, and i am disgusting with this bastardization of the text

my liveblogs below the cut

elizabeth is a man-hating love-hater? not according to any book jane austen wrote!

elizabeth is too silly and improper, mrs bennet, kitty, and lydia are not at all silly enough

this sucks

lizzy is upset that mr darcy didnt find her attractive? that is a devastating mischaracterization and sets the whole plot and their relationship off on terrible and incorrect footing.

also wtf are they sitting under some benches at a dance?

hate that darcy immediately looks at elizabeth (in a way we’re meant to assume means he finds her attractive) as if his attraction to her comes from her initially from her appearance. he really was not interested in her until he began observing her behavior and interacting with he

when mrs bennet says, “it’s a shame [charlotte lucas] isn’t more handsome,” a terribly improper and humiliating thing to say, mr bingley snorts a laugh. mr bingley is not supposed to be improper at all. he has good breeding, he’s rich, he’s just also very nice and friendly. he would never laugh at that

i do not know enough about the regency era to comment, but it seems to me that there are certain liberties with historical accuracy wrt clothing and such in this film that you don’t see in the bbc miniseries. for instance, elizabeth coming to netherfield with her hair down? i don’t believe women ever wore their hair down at this time (*edit* the bbc series and this movie take place in different periods. bbc series: 1813, movie: 1797)

why is mr bingley so awkward? i mean i know why, it’s to make him seem charming and unthreatening and cute and relatable or whatever, but it’s just inconsistent. his character is extremely warm, friendly, polite, not terribly intellectual, but not a bumbling mess who can’t execute a thought without backtracking because he’s so nervous around his lady love

the book has comedy to spare, you don’t have to cheaply manufacture it in this way just because the director’s scared that his audience won’t understand the original humor/scared that he won’t have the ability to make the original humor understood/doesn’t understand the original humor himself because he doesn’t understand the source material!!

i also hate the sharpness and vitriol that this darcy puts in his language. he’s supposed to be uber-polite but cold and haughty. propriety doesn’t permit active hostility (such as when he’s bemoaning the liberal use of the word “accomplished” when applied to women) in regular conversation. that’s intense and insane

why does he speak so quickly? also they really should not have cut the whole netherfield drawing room scene, at least not the conversation between darcy and elizabeth about teasing and pride. they actually now that i think about it cut his whole thing on how a great man can never be too prideful. that’s really fuckin important character stuff! for both of them!

the comedy in this mr collins scene is not landing. they’re like laughing at him before he’s gotten too outrageous. and the actor is such a quiet, mild-mannered dude that he’s not really grating as he should be. this is supposed to be an extraordinarily annoying character, so annoying that the bennets can’t stand him for literally one meal.

ugh they have mrs bennet suggest to mr collins that he should pursue lizzy instead of jane. that’s not out of character for her at all but it misses the opportunity to show how scuzzy mr collins is, and also how fucking little he cares about who his wife is, assuming she meets the criteria of lady catherine de bourgh

ew mr wickham is so skeevy! lizzy’s into him because he’s hot and picked up her handkerchief? that’s it? is she an idiot? he’s not charming or good-natured or fun or funny at all. lydia: he’s a lieutenant! wickham: an enchanted lieutenant (referring to being enchanted to meet lizzy). like scream! what a gross pick up line!!!!)

and their flirtation is based on banter (no!) and him being self-deprecating (maybe, but not in such an obvious way “ignore me i’m next to nothing” what a fucking weird thing to say)

he literally charms her by pulling a quarter out of her sister’s ear. are you kidding? is she 8?

this dance scene btw elizabeth and darcy is all wrong. she immediately jumps on him with “it’s your turn to say something” after it’s been .1 seconds since he last spoke, and he spoke way more amiably (”indeed, most invigorating”) than would be his wont.

oh my god they’ve stopped dancing to angrily talk to each other in the middle of the dance floor? this is so incoherent with the characters (so improper!) and the time period. just cultivating more drama. this scene’s already juicy, they don’t have to be spitting angrily into each other’s mouths for it to come across

so silly and melodramatic that twice in this movie the entirety of a loud crowded drunken ballroom has screeched to a halting silence immediately for some minor drama. the first being the bingleys and mr darcy simply entering the room. the second being mr collins introducing himself to mr darcy (that one is especially ridiculous)

oh god why are they portraying mr collins as so sympathetic and sweet? he’s a fucking asshole! he’s not just annoying he’s a dick! that’s important, otherwise elizabeth is really unjustly mean to him, especially while she’s rejecting his proposal

oh i disagree with the way they play charlotte’s reasons for marrying mr collins. instead of her just not being romantic and marrying for practical reasons because that’s her nature, they make it a biiig thing like she has to marry because she’s old and ugly and otherwise she’ll go to the poorhouse

it’s not surprising that a lot of my critiques have to do with them pumping drama that doesn’t make sense into the story. making characters shout or spit words etc, because of course that’s what a hollywood film was going to do with a 19th century novel of manners

i guess i should say some good things about this movie. the cinematography is very lovely, obviously. i think it’s well cast, especially judi dench, with the exception of kiera knightley and the actor who plays mr collins. i think matthew mcfayden could’ve been a great darcy had he actually known anything about the character beyond the script

actually i take it back, judi dench isn’t quite amping up the ridiculous nature of this character like she should. they keep a lot of her silly lines but she doesn’t hit them to emphasize just how silly they are. she’s almost too stately to play this woman who, despite her great rank, enjoys spending her time being condescending to lower rank people

here comes my agreement with the grand critique of this movie: they make darcy out to be socially awkward rather than a haughty ass. he’s leaning in and whispering that he has trouble conversing with people, as if he means he has social anxiety and doesn’t mean, “small talk with simpletons bores me”

oh no they cut the delicious piano practice scene! they rewrote it and lizzy just says, “you should practice,” and we don’t get to have this famous, witty misunderstanding that elucidates darcy’s character so well!!!

oh no no no in this scene where colonel fitzwilliam tells lizzy that darcy split up bingleys attachment he tells her that the problem wasn’t the lack of fortune but the family! why?????? that’s half of the big reveal of darcy’s letter????? it’s when she realizes that oh his intentions weren’t so bad

i know i already said it but fuck darcy speaks fast. it sounds like shit. why doesn’t he just shut the fuck up and slow down? it’s weirdly inconsistent with his character. though i guess if they’re trying to rewrite him as socially awkward this could be part of that. but they shouldnt be! because it invalidates the whole premise of the story, their romance, and his character arc!

whoa whoa whoa and in the proposal scene when she says “why did you propose by telling me you’re doing this against your better judgement” he interrupted apologetically, trying to explain. what!!! no!!! he is an asshole! he’s insulted that this low rank woman would dare reject him. he didn’t suspect for one instant that she would. he’s fucking fuming from her first word

wow they’re chopping up this iconic proposal scene huh. i guess to make darcy still seem like a Nice Guy. he didn’t get to accuse her of only rejecting him because she was insulted by his proposal, she had to say that line. this movie is like, let’s make lizzy seem as insane as possible, and darcy as sweet as can be.

you’re not supposed to realize how wrong lizzy is, it’s supposed to creep up on you very slowly. youre supposed to feel like she’s been very reasonable up to this point, and you’re as shocked as she is when she reads the letter.

even his face! so shocked and sad like a kicked puppy standing there in the rain (we won’t even touch why the fuck they’re standing outside in the pouring rain). he’s angry right now! he’s so mad! he’s supposed to be fucking mad, because he’s a proud, arrogant, asshole!

oh my god and look he’s saying the lack of fortune of the bennets had nothing to do with it, and lizzy wow she’s sooo crazy for suggesting it, even though 20 seconds ago he just said it sucks that i’m in love with you ‘cause you’re so low class. god this scene sucks

there’s a reason this is all written in a letter in the book, it works much better that way. this is not a back and forth, lizzy doesn’t get to ask questions and poke holes. he offers his defenses and is still kind of a dick, and lizzy has to read it all without responding or rejecting it, really has to sit with it, the way you can’t do in a fight

oh and he just apologized for accurately noting that elizabeth’s family is often really disgustingly improper! how fucking out of character! both in general and in the scene because, and i can’t stress this enough, HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ANGRY

oh ok i have to redact some of my former criticism. he finally gets mad at the very end here, and makes the comment about “did you expect me to rejoice in your low birth?” though he still didnt say the crucial “perhaps you would have accepted had not the manner of proposal offended you”

wait what the fuck??? did they just lean in for a kiss and lean away?? like a whole, i’m angry at you i’m hot for you let’s fuck thing? what the fuck? not only is that cheap romance melodrama but also lizzy HATES this man. not like oops i love-i mean hate you but really hates him

why do they choose to have elizabeth not tell jane about the proposal? i can’t imagine there being any reason? except of course that’s she’s secretly already in love with him and doesn’t want to admit it! gag

this scene between elizabeth and mr bennet about lydia going off with the forsters is well done imo

ugh god but they’ve given lizzy’s “what are young men to rocks and mountains?” line to mary, making it seem stupid and platitudinal, because that’s mary’s character

oh good, elizabeth is going on another “all men are trash” rant that is a thinly veiled reference to darcy. they’re just fucking taking a wrecking ball to this character’s credibility and intelligence huh?

this is really devastating actually because at this point the movie is telling us that lizzy is fighting through the anger and hate and realizing she loves darcy, after their sexy confrontation and his letter. in reality, she’s realized she was wrong and is doing some deep self-reflection.

she feels a little sheepish about how she boldly she accused darcy of things she was so wrong about but she still isn’t in love with him because he’s still a fucking proud ass! he just happened to be right about some shit that she was too prejudiced to realize

it doesn’t make sense if she falls in love with him before he grows and becomes a good person. it shows a weakness of character on her part and makes his eventual character growth just a cherry on top. oh that’s nice, they’re in love *and* he’s not gonna treat her like shit. totally invalidates the whole point of the story, overcoming personal defaults and finding healthy love that way

wow they make lizzy so stupid! she objects so stupidly to visiting pemberly! oh let’s not. he’s so…. he’s so… he’s so rich! wtf are you talking about? in the book she’s just kind of like eh idk…. do you really want to go? i guess if you think we should go… oh he won’t be there? oh cool let’s do it

ok so i’m 1:21:54 into the movie. i have 45 minutes left. i’m stopping. i’m angry and getting no joy from this so. this was a humiliating project for me, thinking i could enjoy this movie. never again

#pride and prejudice

24 notes · View notes

halfagony-halfhope · 7 years

Note

Hi! I love your blog! Would you mind sharing some of your favorit fanfics? I have nothing to read ☺️

hi! these are some of the excellent fics i've been reading lately:

Stranded with Mr Darcy: That awkward moment when you tell a guy he's the last man in the world you'd ever be prevailed on to marry, and then you get stuck with him on a deserted island... This is Pride and Prejudice if it had happened in 1816 (which it didn't) and if Mr Bingley had returned to Longbourn and asked Jane to marry him after Elizabeth's stay in Kent. Mr Bingley marries Jane, and the two set off for a honeymoon, with Elizabeth for company. Except that the ship they take to get across the channel belongs to and is captained by Mr Darcy. And then the weather goes berserk, the ship is wrecked and everybody nearly dies. And the next thing they know, Elizabeth and Darcy are alone. On an island. With nobody but each other to depend on for survival. I don't know about you, but I think it's going to be awkward.

Mending His Pen: Ill-conceived letters and a misunderstanding send Elizabeth and Darcy on missions of virtue throughout Meryton.

The Time-Traveller's Portion: Darcy always knew she was to be his wife. He simply had not known she was poor.

Lady Catherine Heading for the Hedgerows: Rosings is entailed and Lady C will be forced to the hedgerows if Anne dies without an heir. Anne conceives a plan using D&E to keep her estate in the family.

A Dishonorable Offer: Darcy was raised by his uncle to be charming, flirtatious and keep a mistress. However he wouldn't let his uncle pick his next mistress for him. This time he'd find his own girl. Elizabeth was poor after her father's death and barely respectable after Lydia married a thickly muscled blacksmith. But Elizabeth always believed she and Jane would marry for love...

Mr Darcy and Mr Collins's Widow: Mr. Bennet died when Elizabeth was fifteen and she married Mr. Collins to protect Jane and her family. Now, years after he died, will unpleasant memories stop her from finding happiness with Mr. Darcy? One violent event described.

All Dogs Go To Heaven: Overworked business owner Fitzwilliam Darcy meets Liz the dog walker (and student) whose sass & eyes he finds both compelling & a breath of fresh air. She appears to have a busier schedule than he, & Fitz feels cheated by time & circumstance. He is ready for romance, but Liz seems hesitant.

The Unreformed Mr Darcy: What if Elizabeth Bennet had accepted Mr Darcy's proposal in Kent? What if they married before he stopped being the proud, arrogant man she detested? What if, in order to avoid the ruin of her beloved sister, Elizabeth chose to swallow her pride and say yes to a pre-reform Darcy?Mr Bingley has left Netherfield, and in his stead a rich but unscrupulous man takes residence of the manor. While Elizabeth is in Kent, visiting her recently married friend Charlotte, she receives letters, which tell her how Jane is soon to be wed to a man Elizabeth can't stand. And then, unbelievably, Mr Darcy, the last man in the world she would ever choose to marry, proposes to her. If she accepts, she could introduce Jane to all the eligible men in England, and rescue her from the clutches of despair. Even if the man offering, has just insulted her entire family and seems to assume that now that he has proposed, he must be accepted. Elizabeth longs to put him in his place, but thoughts of rescuing Jane make her do something that will change the course of her life forever...

Talk Any Louder: Transparency proves dangerous when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy face life-changing consequences as a result of his defense of Lydia.

i also have a fic rec tag.

#Fic Rec #Anonymous

102 notes · View notes