Pride and Prejudice discussion

Since so many people like the BBC series, what I dislike it is the actor selection, from my point of view, it is way too exaggerated. :)

1. Miss Bingley
Was this Miss Bingley good looking?
[image error]

2. Mr. Collins
Was Mr. Collins really that ridiculous?
http://catholiccravings.files.wordpre...


3. Mr. Wickham
Was this Mr. Wickham very handsome?
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/Pri...


4. Mary
Must Mary wear glasses to show she was a bookworm? Didn't she look like an old granny??
http://austenacious.com/wp-content/up...

1-The Miss Bingley was not good looking at all :P

2-I kinda like how he was so ridiculous, but i waaayy preferred the 2005's version of Mr Collins, with his 'excellent potatoes' :')

3-I don't think Mr Wickham was handsome at all, nope, just really creepy ;)

4-That really irritated me too! :P

To be honest i preferred the 2005 film, it's casting and pretty much every thing about it compared to the 1995 tv series... Colin Firth was great, but I just hated Jennifer Ehle's monotone voice and the way she portrayed Lizzie was just so reserved and proper got on my nerves so much! i've only watched the 1995 version once because i cant get through two minutes of her :O

Another thing i didn't get in the 1995 version was that the actress who played Jane was not good-looking enough... In both the book and the adaptations a MASSIVE deal is made about how she is the most beautiful and 'handsome' of the sisters, however the actress simply isn't!

Wow, that felt good to get off my chest!

Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen did a much better job! It's one of my favorite movies and i've watched it at least 20 times :D :D :D


The Lizzie Bennet Diaries are also awesome! :D :D xx

Rosie wrote: "1-The Miss Bingley was not good looking at all :P

2-I kinda like how he was so ridiculous, but i waaayy preferred the 2005's version of Mr Collins, with his 'excellent potatoes' :')

3-I don't thi..."

Agree. :)

Don’t want to talk about Jennifer Ehle any more. :p Jane wasn’t gorgeous, but it’s fine, I mean better than Elizabeth.
Collin Firth might be the only actor that’s good.

The series gave me the feeling that “good” persons must be good looking, the “bad” persons must be bad looking, Miss Bingley was a narrow minded girl, she was the biggest competitor of Elizabeth, so she had to be weird looking!
You will know who were “good” persons who were “bad” persons at the first glance. But the audiences of P&P are not simple little kids. :(

thesilentgirl wrote: "I agree about the "good "looking good" "bad 'looking bad". Not very cool in the 1995 series...

... but I love Jennifer Ehle's Lizzie. My favorite Jane Bennet, thought, is Rosamund Pike (from 2005)..."

Thanks.
Mr. Darcy is not a problem, both Collins Firth and Matthew Macfadyen are OK.
The biggest problem is Miss Elizabeth, both Jennifer Ehle and Keira Knightley are not good enough, or put it this way, half people HATE Jennifer Ehle, another half HATE Keira Knightley.
HATE here means "hate to death". :p

I've had this conversation with my friends before, and we came to the conclusion that amongst us, we believe that since people who read Pride and Prejudice tend to put themselves in Elizabeth's place, it's hard to find a representation of her that everyone agrees on. Either you see yourself in how the actress is portraying Elizabeth (which makes you happy, because you would end up with Mr. Darcy too), or you don't (which makes you perhaps dislike the portrayal a little bit more, since someone unlike you is the heroine). Does this make any sense? :/

Laura wrote: "I've had this conversation with my friends before, and we came to the conclusion that amongst us, we believe that since people who read Pride and Prejudice tend to put themselves in Elizabeth's pla..."

That's an interesting conclusion. :)
But how does it explain half of the people LOVE Jennifer Ehle, another half LOVE Keira Knightley?
Or why do most of us love the heroines in those classic movies?

lol no clue. Maybe half identify with a more subdued Elizabeth like Jennifer Ehle and others with one who is differently quirky? I don't know if that's even a phrase, but I suppose it is now! :) Maybe since Elizabeth is such a beloved character in such a beloved book, we are much more critical of who plays her than other heroines. Perhape we all love the heroines in classic movies because they provide some connection with that time period or the ideal that the characters represent. If it's a character that we don't like as much or can't identify with, maybe we are less particular about when it's a 'second favourite' character. To use another book's characters as an example, I'm really picky about who plays Jane Eyre or Heathcliff because they are some of my favourite fictional characters, but I couldn't care less about who plays Linton. If my favourite characters don't match up between the screen and what I have visualized in my mind as I have been reading, then I am more critical.

Maybe since Elizabeth is such a beloved character in such a beloved book, we are much more critical of who plays her than other heroines.

Love it. <3

I didn't like the looks of Mr Wickham in the series at all. How Lizzie could fall for him is beyond me. I found Rupert Friend in the movie a lot more convincing. Even the actor playing Denny would have been better.

Nobody mentioned that the most esteemed Colin Firth made an excellent Mr. Darcy!!! This is where I was first fell in love with Colin Firth's acting. I love the BBC edition of Pride and Prejudice.

OK. I stand corrected. Someone did mention Colin Firth, but not in the best light.

Colin Firth was great, of course! But I also liked Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. Keira Knightley wasn't a perfect Elizabeth, but I liked her much more than Jennifer Ehle. "Her" Elizabeth was too quiet and mousy.

Altogether I prefer the cast from 2005.

i agree :) i just loved the listening and giggling at the door so much too ;) x

Elizabeth wrote: "OK. I stand corrected. Someone did mention Colin Firth, but not in the best light."

Collin firth is good. But there isn’t a single girl who is pretty in the series, do you agree?

Jane was not bad looking. I don't think that Elizabeth is classically beautiful, but I don't think that she is ugly. The other female actresses, I agree are rather plain.

Elizabeth wrote: "Jane was not bad looking. I don't think that Elizabeth is classically beautiful, but I don't think that she is ugly. The other female actresses, I agree are rather plain."

Same feelings. :)

Couldn't disagree more!!! Adored the BBC miniseries and loathed the 2005 movie. Thought the BBC casting was wonderful but not 100% true to the book... Mr.Bennet was too sharp in the BBC series and Mr.Collins was too much of a buffoon.
I only saw the 2005 version once so I can't really comment on it. The one thing that I do remember was that the Bennet house didn't seem right at all.

but you have to take into account what was beautiful then, is not necessarily what we would consider beautiful now

Dee wrote: "but you have to take into account what was beautiful then, is not necessarily what we would consider beautiful now"

Unfortunately, nobody can tell us what was beautiful then...

Actually we are not quite in the dark about what was considered ideal beauty in the early 19th century. They did leave paintings and writings, and beauty has always been a fascinating topic in the history of mankind.

cloudyskye wrote: "Actually we are not quite in the dark about what was considered ideal beauty in the early 19th century. They did leave paintings and writings, and beauty has always been a fascinating topic in the ..."

Totally agree. The examples (Miss Bingley and Mr. Wickham) are obviously very obvious. :p