Let's step into the past...I discovered Pride and Prejudice at the tender age of twelve. I remember it vividly...it was summertime, and I was staying up really late just because I could. No school the next day, right? My parents had recently purchased a satellite dish for the first time. Now take in mind, this was 1994, so this was not the little DirecTV dish one would see nowadays, but rather this monstrous object that made contact with space. To this day, I seriously have no idea how a 12-year-old was actually able to operate the controls to tune that thing in, but that is beside the point.
So, I was surfing channels and discovered this wonderful period piece playing on A&E....low and behold, my first time watching the full-length BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (the 5-hour long edition). I was instantly hooked! The picturesque English countryside, the elegant period wardrobe...oh and the way that Elizabeth shot Mr. Darcy down when he first tried to propose to her. Every woman wants to have that kind of backbone (no one wants to be a pushover, in my opinion)....that big, "fuck no, you snob...I won't marry your ass" attitude.
Who was this Jane Austen? The lady that wrote the book this movie was based on, and I would later find, many other books that were made into movies. She would end up being my favorite author of all time. I don't think there is a woman I know that doesn't like her, or doesn't identify with one of her books in some way or another. She always finds her way back into popular culture, even when you least expect it. In the 90's the movie Clueless is based on the book Emma by Jane Austen. And in more recent years, the Bridget Jones movies speak directly to the Pride and Prejudice audience, hell, even one of the characters is named Mr. Darcy.
But, it's been a couple years since then , and our culture just can't live without her, so what is the latest? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
A couple of weeks ago I was preparing to leave on my long roadtrip down to Phoenix and back. I was in need of a couple pairs of cheap flip flops, so I walked downtown during lunch to Old Navy. On the way, I pass this massive Barnes and Noble store, and decide, "You know, I'm going to be on the road for awhile, with some free time at hotels and such...I should probably grab a new book since I'm almost finished with my current one." In I walk, and BAM! Right there on the shelf, staring at me in the midst of the "summer reading" pile, there it is. I'm not much of a sci-fi/horror type reader in general and the cover of the book is quite startling, but the idea of combining two such ideas has piqued my interest, so it must be read.
I've since read the book in it's entirety and I'm quite impressed. Halfway through the book, I think to myself, "Shit....WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS?!" All this other writer had to do was take out bits and pieces of Jane Austen's work and sub in zombie gore, ninjas, plagues and katana swords. Makes me wonder how much money this Seth Grahame-Smith guy is making off of this.
So, I Google the guy...just out of curiosity. I must say that I am impressed by his very outward opinions, but that's irrelevant.
At some point I cringed at the thought that this could happen to my beloved Austen's book, that a guy like this could be allowed to mutilate (pun intended) it, but I thought over it some more and finally settled that if it brings her to the masses, I'm all for it. All in all, I'm a firm believer in the fact that everyone could use a little Austen.
Especially all you dudes out there. Every girl loves one of the Austen characters, whether it's Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Edmund Bertram, or Captain Wentworth. Take a lesson from those guys, and you will have the ladies eating out of the palm of your hand, TRUST ME. I'm still looking for my Austen guy....wonder where he is?
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