Good updates of Austen reflect a truth not always universally acknowledged: that a story needs a compelling conflict to be engaging. The situation is funny and entertaining regardless. When you watch Clueless, you don't have to know that the good-natured stoner Travis is too-hastily dismissed by Cher in a way that echoes humble farmer Robert Martin and Emma Woodhouse. You don't have to know that hapless Giles Benwick-whom Bridget converts to the self-help religion-is today's answer to James Benwick, the tragic naval officer mourning for his dead fiancée and whom only Anne can comfort.
They use her to elevate their own muddled romantic comedy storylines by highlighting faint parallels between modern characters and Austen heroines, as in The Jane Austen Book Club.Ī good update of Austen can stand on its own. They terrorize the Bennet sisters with attacks from the undead, in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Too many people use the same source material for the wrong reasons-taking advantage of Austen's renewed popularity and the fact that her books are in the public domain.
Anne and Frederick are initially separated after a friend advises Anne to reconsider his proposal-much like Mark begins to drift away from Bridget after her similarly self-help-addicted friends persuade her that he is, among other things, "a Martian rubber-band" (from Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus). But to a true Austen fan, it's hilarious, spot-on parody that both updates and celebrates the original. Okay, maybe not the most exciting stuff-and certainly nothing to Bridget's imprisonment in Thailand (a storyline that has no Austen precedent that I'm aware of). " "Had you?" cried he, catching the same tone: "I honor you!" If I loved a man as she loves the Admiral, I would be always with him, nothing should ever separate us. Darcy, after he expresses frustration with Bridget's self-help book collection: Here's Rebecca attempting to snare the unsuspecting Mr. For instance: Instead of Rebecca being presented as the schemer whom Fielding's readers know her to be (conversing with her, Bridget says, is like swimming with a jellyfish-"all will be going along perfectly pleasantly then suddenly you get a painful lashing, destroying confidence at stroke"), she was turned into an earnest lesbian whose unrequited crush on Bridget was played for laughs.
This probably went unnoticed because the film version of Edge of Reason went so far off the rails. Far fewer seemed to notice how Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason followed the plotline of Austen's Persuasion-the awkward silences and misunderstandings between Bridget and Mark threatening their future in a way that mirrored the story of shy Anne Elliot and confused Frederick Wentworth. The parallels and the in-joke of casting Colin Firth as Mark Darcy made it obvious even to casual observers. Many people noticed that Bridget Jones Diary was based on Pride & Prejudice. The Romance-Free Re-Invention of 'Wuthering Heights'