Here we are, a ramble about Pride and Prejudice.

To be honest, prior to this assignment I had never read, or watched any form of Pride and Prejudice. After reading the book I decided to watch the movie starring Keira Knightley and I even tried a little bit of the 1995 BBC (thank you, Amazon Video). I think it was necessary for myself to see multiple interpretations because I have a sort of humorous bias about life. Sometimes it takes me a bit of effort to see past my own feelings. But in that case, I have this to say:

No matter what we have a tendency to super impose our personal ideas onto what works we see. It's for the same reason that art is most often only determined by opinion and cannot produce a definite answer. And in this situation I think the relationships presented in Pride and Prejudice are very much relevant to our generation. It is not uncommon now for families of many social statuses to push expectations and assumptions down on their members.

Relevant to Elizabeth's cause, I have been in similar places in my life. Perhaps not to the same degree, but some people expect so much out of a person. They nitpick about appearance, or attitude despite there being no real issue. It can still be tough to be yourself without others pressuring you, and in that pursuit I feel Elizabeth is an important role model.

Romance in more socially developed areas may not function as it does in this book, but we can still see similar common worries between any gender today. Of course today’s society has become more accepting and people are more likely able to partake in what feels natural to them without ridicule. Not that society is perfect yet, and that is another reason why the lessons in Pride and Prejudice still apply. Without observing habits of our past, how can we take the first steps to changing them?

            My final opinion on the book is that I am glad to have finally read it and in comparison to the movie, or the TV series, of course it was better. Though I didn’t mind either of the film productions. The series was obviously less dramatic, a bit hokey to me, but that’s what made it fun to watch. And I suppose it some sort of way it made it easier to “chew”.