Giggly Austen quote of the week

Oh my – this made me more than giggle! Guardian writer Tanya Gold saw the new Keats bio-pic Bright Star over the weekend, dropped her popcorn, and then remembered why Hollywood should stop making films about our great writers. Among mention of the highlights of past blunders were Hugh Grant and his handkerchief in Impromptu (1991), Renee Zellwegger’s and her pout in Beatrix Potter (2006) and one rippingly funny analogy of a recent Austen bio-pic:

And it isn't just Keats who gets monstered. Do you remember Becoming Jane (2007)? "Society expected her to marry," said the unforgettable trailer, "but Jane Austen had ideas of her own." You think? Austen was played by Anne Hathaway, a skeletal actress with a big smug grin. If Austen had looked like her, she would never have written a word – she would have been staring in a mirror, saying, "I am hot, I am smoking, I am babelicious." I remember the anger still. I remember thinking, Hollywood has raped Jane Austen. They have turned the patron saint of celibates into a hottie. Austen's writing was incidental, a stuck-on accident that unfortunately had to be mentioned. "What is Jane doing?" asks a character. "Writing," was the reply.

That’s right. Our doe eyed babelicious Jane. Such a hottie.

I had mixed feeling about Becoming Jane. It was a good movie, but had little to do with the Jane Austen I knew and loved. Unlike writer Tanya Gold, I do appreciate a good bio-pic on writers and artists – or at least want to – I just can’t think of any!!! Can anyone remind me of what I have forgotten? Which movies do you fondly remember that did not spoil your vision of what one of your fav’s life should be? I am hard pressed for an example!

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Help Becoming Jane Fan Site Celebrate Its First Anniversary, and Win a Becoming Jane DVD !

Our colleagues over at Becoming Jane Fan Site are holding a contest in honor of the blog's first anniversary. The winner will receive a new Becoming Jane DVD delivered to anywhere around the world!

If you want to participate, click on this link to take the short quiz. The deadline is May 31st.

Congratulations, y'all, for having survived one year in the blogosphere!

Posted by Vic, Ms. Place

WINNERS of The Jane Austen Regency World Awards

Winners announced at the first annual

Jane Austen Regency World Awards

Presented last night at a ceremony in Bath, there are (in our minds) some surprises. Janeites had their say, and the votes have been tallied, and the winners are



BEST NEW FILM: Becoming Jane

BEST ACTOR: James McAvoy



BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway



OUTSTANDING JANE AUSTEN CONTRIBUTION: Andrew Davies



BEST ‘KNOW HOW’ BOOK:

101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen,

by Patricia Hannon

BEST NEW FICTION: Me and Mr. Darcy, by Alexandra Potter

Posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Becoming Jane DVD Release: Becoming Likeable

Becoming Jane, the 2007 biopic on the early adult life of English authoress Jane Austen, (that was popular with the general public, but irritating to Janeites), will be released today for sale in the US.
Ok, call me an incurable romantic, but if you close one eye, and turn off the voice in your head that questions the producers promoting the script as a true story with taglines such as, “Jane Austen’s greatest love story was her own”, then I really liked this film!

Here is the plot lowdown. Anne Hathaway stars as the young, spirited Jane Austen compelled to write, but expected by her family and society to marry. When she meets the brash and arrogant young lawyer Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy, she is at first repelled by his proud and dismissive manner. (Sound familiar?) First impressions can be deceiving for both parties until romantic sparks fly, and they must accept the love that they are bound by duty to resist. Family, fate and finances are against their plan to marry. They must part inspired by their experience together, to achieve success in their professional lives, and reflect upon a love that could not be.
To insure that you enjoy the movie, be sure to let go of any ill will that you may be harboring against the producers for expanding the known flirtation into a secret love affair. In addition, with a little bit of mind bending, you will be able to accept Becoming Jane as being based on true events in her life, that an American actress could play our favorite author quite well, that Regency ladies did not really need to wear bonnets, gloves and shawls outside in the cold English countryside, and that Tom Lefroy was Jane Austen’s inspiration for the character of Mr. Darcy, and the reason why she wrote everything to begin with!
Otherwise, I loved the striking beauty of the English countryside (filmed in Ireland), the accuracy and detail of the costuming (sans bonnets), and to be taken away in spirit to Regency England for 120 minutes of bliss. Get your DVD before another Janeite talks you out of it. Mine is on its way!

Posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Becoming Jane and Goo Goo Dolls

A Becoming Jane Tribute set to Goo Goo Dolls? This person did it and somehow it works. Click here to view it on YouTube.

Becoming Jane: Two Interviews

In Anne Hathaway's Jane Austen Nightmare at Askmen.com, Anne Hathaway describes a harrowing time during the Becoming Jane movie shoot. Bitter cold weather, and the pressure to "become" Jane and speak with a British accent took their toll. She had to return after the movie was shot to dub her voice because she was unable to consistently hold her accent during filming. The second interview from Brit.film discusses the movie with James McAvoy, as well as Julian Jarrold & Robert Bernstein.

It is interesting to get a take on the film from the stars, as well as the film's producer and director. The interviews are dated, but well worth the read.

Becoming Jane posts on this site.

More on Becoming Jane: Quotes From The Reviews

Once you admit that the Jane Austen depicted onscreen bears scant relation to any person named Jane Austen, living or dead, the film fulfills its purpose. I had never before considered her as a cricketer, for instance, and I am fairly sure that she never sought to elope, but I enjoyed both inventions—the one bucolic and triumphant, the other sodden and frustrated, and presumably meant as a precursor to Lydia’s running away with Wickham in “Pride and Prejudice.”

Lover Beware, Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, August 13, 2007

Becoming Jane is based on a chapter in Jon Spence's 2003 critical biography, Becoming Jane Austen. In the book, Spence does identify Tom Lefroy as the love of Austen's life and her relationship with him as the origin of her genius. But he never suggests that there was an aborted elopement (much less subsequent reading sessions with any of Lefroy's children). And he is careful, as the filmmakers are not, to clarify that in speculating about Austen's romantic experience he is reading between the lines of the family records and of the three rather opaque Austen letters that are his principal sources.

Deidre Lynch, See Jane Elope

I am listing only those reviews that reflect my take on the movie:

• Jane Isn't Quite Austen, But It is Quite Becoming

• See Jane Elope

Illustration by Lara Tomlin, New Yorker

Becoming Jane

I'm still digesting the movie and reading Jon Spence's Becoming Jane Austen. Of the four of us who saw Becoming Jane, the one who knew almost nothing about Jane Austen enjoyed the movie the most. Her reaction was curiosity. She wanted to go home and reread Jane's novels and to learn more about her personal life. She was also the only one of us who cried towards the end when Jane met Tom's daughter. To me the scene seemed contrived to provide a neat, pat ending to a rather trite tale.

After the lights turned on in the theater, my fellow Janeite, Lady Anne, and I exclaimed (almost simultaneously), "Nice movie, terrible biography." Two women in the row in front of us turned around, smiled, and agreed. We then briefly discussed "Amadeus," which was also a good film, but which portrayed Mozart's and Salieri's relationship inaccurately.

Click here for my other post about Becoming Jane, and to access other sites about the film. I'll write a more detailed critique about the film later, after finishing Spence's biography.

Becoming Jane

This weekend I am going to see Becoming Jane, which has finally come to our city. In my small Janeite group people are skeptical about the film. "What are the chances that Hollywood's take on her life will be accurate?" asked one. "I don't see how they can make an entire movie about a minor youthful romance," said another. "I didn't like that last (2005) interpretation of Pride and Prejudice," remarked a third, "so I don't hold out much hope that this movie will be any better."

"Anne Hathaway?"" I asked, my artist's sensibilities slightly ruffled and offended at this mismatch of visual cues. Seeing Anne's dramatic, gorgeous features disguised as Jane Austen, and watching her romp about the country side like a frisky young filly and making moon eyes at the actor playing Tom Lefroy in previews, well, it all seems anachronistic to me. In fact, to my eyes, watching Anne as Jane is like watching a parrot disguising itself as a thrush. Both birds are beautiful in entirely different ways.

I like my Jane Austen just as she is, thank you, no more and no less. In fact, I rather like the quiet, mysterious side of her and I don't need to see her life glammed up by Hollywood types whose main mission in creating a film is the bottom line. So I will see this movie with some trepidation.

Nevertheless, I'll try to see Becoming Jane with open eyes, since so many people are reporting that they like it and because it has garnered a number of good reviews, but something deep inside tells me to remember as I watch, "It's only a movie." As for my review of Becoming Jane, don't expect to see it soon. I intend to see the film twice and will take my time digesting what I have seen before writing my opinion.


Links to Becoming Jane

Did you intend to jump onto the Becoming Jane bandwagon, only to have stumbled across my quiet site? Here are some important links:

• Austen Blog: My touchstone Jane Austen site. Find a compilation of information about Jane Austen and Becoming Jane, and links to the other juggernaut Jane Austen sites.

• Becoming Jane Fansite: An unabashed fan site of the film that contains an enormous amount of information about the movie and actors, and speculations about Jane's romance with Tom.

• Following Austen: A site maintained by Lori Smith, author of A Walk With Jane Austen. Lori posted her take on Jane and Tom Lefroy's romance, The Truth About Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy, which was written well before the movie made its debut.

• Becoming Jane Austen icons: for those who just can't get enough images of the movie.

• My first post on Becoming Jane

On Becoming Jane

This review on Becoming Jane is rather long but interesting. Be aware there are spoilers.

Here's the trailer.


And here is the URL to the movie's site: http://www.bvimovies.com/uk/becoming_jane/

If you haven't visited the Discussion Board titled Jane Austen Fans, it's worth a visit as well.