Book
http://www.publicbookshelf.com/romance/pride-prejudice/
The book written
by Jane Austen, released in 1813.
The main
character is Elizabeth Bennet – described by the author “as delightful a
creature as ever appeared in print”. She is multidimensional – the reader can
see a great range of emotions and thoughts. Her mother, Mrs. Bennet’s greatest
goal is to give her daughters rich husbands and it is a source of many funny
and awkward moments.
The story
begins when Mr. Bingley, a rich bachelor, moved into the neighborhood of
Bennet’s family and Mrs. Bennet wants to marry him with her oldest daughter,
Jane.
The novel
is an image of the society in XVIII/XIX century. There are described and
discussed topics of marriage, wealth, class and self-knowledge. You can learn a
lot about the situation of women and how they were viewed by the society, how
they were supposed to act and think.
I read it
this summer and I loved it. It is easy to read and addictive. There are many
characters, so at the beginning there may be a problem with memorization of all
of them, but later it isn’t problem anymore. Thanks to great descriptions you
can move your mind to an English town and landscapes.
I highly
recommend it to anyone who enjoys fiction and historical novels.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bennet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bennet
Movie
I’ve wrote
about movie based on the book at our course and you can find it here: http://konwersatorium1-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2017/04/week-5-0304-09042017-costume-movies-you.html
Contemporary adaptation
https://www.sundowncinema.co.uk/event/bridget-jones/
I believe
that everyone has heard of “Bridget Jones's Diary”. But did you know that it is
reinterpretation of “Pride and Prejudice”?
Bridget is a
single, working woman. She’s got one problem almost always on her mind – her
weight. She is modern Elizabeth who doesn’t like the idea of marrying someone
just to be in marriage, conscious of her imperfection. She’s got a lot of
fights with her mother, who wants to convince her to marriage – just like Mrs.
Bennet wanted to extort Elizabeth to get married. In books and movies you can see her struggle
with finding love and her place in the world.
I love
books and movies about Bridget Jones - they are funny, moving and sometimes
they may make you think different about problems. I know that most of you won’t
read books, but I highly recommend watching movies – great comedies to watch,
alone or in company.
Extra
Some time
ago I found a movie which sounded interesting, so I watched it. This movie was
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies/250922/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-new-trailer-and-poster
The movie
is a good adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” – with extra words “zombie” and
scenes of fight. Oh, and the Bennet sisters were trained in martial arts in
China. This is quite funny and interesting piece of work. You can find in it famous
actors, Lily James (“Baby driver”), Sam Riley (“Maleficent”), Charles Dance
(“Game of Thrones”) and Lena Headey (“300”, “Game of Thrones”) – I was really
surprised when I saw such popular actors there. There was a rather high budget,
so movie and effects are nice to watch.
If you like
“Sharknado”, zombies and sword/gun fights this movie is for you.
Questions:
1. Have you ever seen any of mentioned
movies? If yes – did you like it? If no – would you like to watch one?
2. Have you read any of mentioned
books? If yes – did you like it? If no – would you like it? Why?
3. Is making reinterpretation of
books or movies a good idea?
4. Do you know any other
reinterpretation?
Comments
I haven't read any of mentioned book and I don't think I will - it's just not my cup of a tea. I prefer some fantasy books more, especially some epic book series.
"Is making reinterpretation of books or movies a good idea?". I will give most popular possible answers - it depends. There are cases like "Romeo+Juliet" with Leonardo DiCaprio which is settled in gangster city, more like "Godfather" than original work made by Shakespeare. Movie mentioned by me was quite well reviewed by critics and a lot of people found it fun. "Sherlock" tv series made by BBC is other good example that reinterpretation can be something fresh and well made. There are also movies like newest "Alice in Wonderland" that imo is bad movie, it does not create something new with that story.
I'm not sure if someone who is not interested with Japan culture has ever heard about Akira Kurosawa, but he is believed to be best Japanese movie director ever. One of his most popular movie called "Throne of blood" is his version of Macbeth. Actually a lot of movies that we would never think of that are not original stories, are reinterpretations of some book.
I didn't know that 'Throne of blood' was based on Macbeth, thank you for information.
Tell me, but honest, haven't you find Bridget Jones Diaries funny, even at some points? :)
If you liked Pride and Prejudice you will find this movie a good interpretation with some extras :)
I've never read them and I don't think I'll ever do. I'm not really into this genre.
I'd think about it if it had some fantasy reinterpretation, though. Generally speaking, I believe reinterpretations are very good idea, since it can provide story with similar message to different groups. This way, the creation of some authors may reach more people, which is usually a good thing.
I can't recall many reinterpretations right now but I remember I liked "10 Things I Hate about You" very much. It's movie based on the one of Shakespeare
I didn't read the mentioned book - I would give it a try though. I like reading and I don't see any reasons why I shouldn't read (or try to read) this one.
I don't like most of the reinterpretations of the already-existing stories because most of them are a total failures. They are completely shallow and seem to lack the deepness in the previous issues.
I haven't seen the new movie called "Murder on the Orient Express", but so far I'm pretty fed up that it has got much worse reviews than the original novel-based movie filmed in 1974.
It wasn't interesting for me but I love spending time with my parents and I think that wasn't waste o time!
I have never read any of those books and I don't want to read it. Why? Normally I don't read books but if I want to read something... I'm choosing Jo Nesbo books. I think that he is writing the best criminal stories on the world!
About making reinterpretation of books? In my opinion it isn't a good idea, maybe I have seen only bad reinterpretations... Of course it depends.. on director, movie budget etc. As I said, book is the book and movie is the movie.
I saw the new movie called "Snowman". It is reinterpretation which based on Jo Nesbo book with the same name. It wasn't good...
I can undersatand - bad experience make opinion. As it is said "what was senn cannot be unseen", and same thing is with opinion. It is easy to make one - one bad reinterpretation will be enough, buch change mind of rule depends much more good examples.
I tried to read this book a few years ago but I didn't succeed, because "Pride and Prejudice" is definitely women's novel and it's not for me.
There is nothing wrong with making reinterpretation of books or movies, if the final product is good - why not? There are a lot of great movies based on interpretations of old movies or books.
For example, "Ocean’s Eleven"(2001) - great example of recreating or rethinking an old movie(1960) as a new conception.
Let us know your opinion after watching the zombie edition :)