By: Emma Jacklin
Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is an iconic work of literature that vividly depicts hard truths of Regency Era society with wit, humor, and irony. Austen’s clever characters and detailed demographics perfectly portray this society while holding a scrutinizing magnifying glass over the rigid social rules. Yet, in the 2005 film adaptation of the novel, director Joe Wright was unable to accurately depict Regency England which makes his critique of the society invalid and the entire point of Austen’s masterpiece mute.
The largest discrepancy in the film was the portrayal of the Bennet family’s class. In the novel they are not wealthy but they are upper-class citizens and members of the gentry. Mr. Bennet does not have to work and the Longbourn estate, on which they live, financially supports the family. In the film, the family’s home is shown to be an active farm. In one scene the father is seen working with a farmhand while surveying a pig. The building itself is that of a working farm, not an estate main house. Attached to the Bennet residence are an animal barn and pens. Historically, an estate like Longbourn would have had the livestock’s barns and pens in separate buildings away from the main house. These are key details that would make the Bennet family of a lower class than in the original novel. In the 2005 film, the Bennets are clearly not members of the gentry and are a class neither Mr. Darcy nor Mr. Bingley would be associated with. The two classes portrayed in the movie would not even be attending the same parties and balls so the three families would have never met.
Another inaccuracy that displays the Bennets as a lower class family than in the book is the costuming. Young women of the Regency Era who were in search of husbands and were part of the gentry would strictly wear light colors to emphasize their purity. Jacqueline Durran, the production’s costume designer, completely disregarded the historical facts and clothed many of the women in darker colors. Only lower class women would be wearing the color palette that she chose and no wealthy man would ever occupy their company. In the ball scene where the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy are first introduced the women are in dark greens or browns, their hair is undecorated, and a seldom few are wearing gloves. These garments give the ball a barnyard dance’s feel, not a comfortable party. Balls during the Regency Era were social get-togethers, and a way to differentiate social classes, not for classes to intermingle. The novel portrays these social restrictions of Austen’s time period to then critique the culture but the movie smudges the harsh structure of society and makes the plot unbelievable.
A further error in the movie’s retelling of this historic story is the portrayal of women in that time period. The regulations on females during the Regency Era were cold and unforgiving. Unmarried women had the only option of marrying a man who could take care of them. Married women had the responsibility of presenting the most flattering image of her husband and family to the public. Every detail of their appearance and actions would be scrutinized by the hash eye of the public. Yet the filmmakers blundered these simple historic facts yet again. Both Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs. Bennet wear dresses and hairstyles that were fashionable thirty years prior to the setting of the story, both of these women are frivolous females who pride themselves with their appearance and would certainly be wearing the most current fashions. A scene in the Bennet household shows the daughters and their mother baking in the kitchen, which no women of the gentry class would ever stoop to. Their tasks would consist of reading, playing the piano, or needlework; simple and unfruitful tasks that were deemed fit for a woman of their station. Another false portrayal of a woman is Mr. Bingley’s sister Caroline, who is dressed in a tight, sleeveless scarlet gown. Although Caroline flaunts her body and brags about her looks she is not a prostitute. At the time, only a whore would be wearing the costume she wore. A key theme in the novel is how women were unable to express themselves due to the society’s rules but the movie displays the women as free to dress and labor how they choose, and are uninhibited by the acute social decrees.
Joe Wright’s film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice goes beyond inaccuracy for it is completely implausible. The society that the film depicts is nothing similar to the time period that Jane Austen so sharply critiques. The hardships of the characters and the intricate plot which in the book are lifelike and relatable are presented as distant and impossible events in the film. By creating a non-existent era, the film diminishes the original story’s power.
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