Thursday 5 April 2012

Miss Austen

So today I finished and handed in my final assignment for this half of the semester. It was a 2000 word essay discussing the representation and ideologies relating to gender in the 1975 film The Stepford Wives (a movie exponentially better than its remake). To sum up my argument: the film critiques patriarchy and the ideology of female domesticity...blah blah blah...men suck.

Reading so much feminist rhetoric lately has actually been really interesting and has made me come to terms with my own views. Something that stuck out to me was a quote that I came across:
"Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked" - Jane Austen (1817)
This stuck out to me not only because I love Jane Austen's works, but also because it shows how she had to contend with unrealistic media images even back in her time, and that she's not afraid to articulate how such images made her feel.
And on the subject of Jane Austen quotes....
"I believe I drank too much wine last night at Hurstbourne; I know not how else to account for the shaking of my hand to-day. You will kindly make allowance therefore for any indistinctness of writing, by attributing it to this venial error." - Jane Austen (1800)
^^ This quote of hers makes me laugh.
"My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company" - Jane Austen (1816)
Agreeeeeeeeed!! This quote makes me like her even morebet she woulda been a freakn cool chick. My theory is that Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice is based on Austen herself, as reading through her quotes gives a real impression of the type of person she was; witty, independent, headstrong (Just like Lizzie).


Thank you, Miss Austen, for your legacy. I admire you greatly.
xx

3 comments:

  1. Really like this post. Thoughtful with a bit of depth. But what does venial mean?

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  2. Also, can you clarify that 1st Austen quote? Sick & wicked? Waddya rekon she means by that?

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  3. Venial means a sin. I take 'sick & wicked' to mean that they bring out less than favourable characteristics (jealously etc) in her.

    ReplyDelete

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