Thursday, February 5, 2015
Women's personalities/actions like a cliche Fairy tale in Pride and Prejudice
As we talked about Miss. Bingley, I could help but to develop a certain image of her actions. If anyone is familiar with the plethora of Cinderella movies, or "good girl vs bad girl" movies in general, that's the image I'm getting. Miss. Bingley acts like the ugly step-sisters in Cinderella, or like the snooty popular girl in high school. She thinks she has it all, and flaunts things not worth flaunting. She thinks she is deserving of attention because of who she is, but she over-does everything to an extent that makes her uninteresting, especially to Darcy. Elizabeth, however, is like Cinderella, or the good girl in high school; no one notices her, except the hot, popular guy, which is how these movies always go. The bad girl, Miss. Bingley, tries to compete with the good girl, though she doesn't stand a chance and, ultimately, only makes herself look like a fool. Hopefully this makes sense. If you just think of the trouble the ugly step-sisters, or bad girls, go through to try to make the popular guy fall in love with them, it's funny, yet frustrating, to envision their actions. All the while, the unnoticed girl is winning the man's heart nonchalantly.
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Paige, I love this comparison. _Pride and Prejudice_ is totally the original romantic comedy (or at least 19th century romcom). I think you point out some undeniable tropes of boy-meets-girl that have honestly lasted over the centuries.
ReplyDeleteSomething I'd like to point out about this classic romantic comedy situation, though, is the stereotype of the "unnoticed girl. . .winning the man's heart." Why must it always be the girl winning the man's heart? What does it say about gender relations, over time, that *often* the woman must prove herself to the man in order to secure his trust? For Elizabeth, this means "overcoming" her birth/class circumstances and lack of connection. It is as though Darcy, and other men in romantic comedy, love the woman "despite" xyz, and until this woman overcomes those obstacles, she cannot have her secure and seemingly infallible love connection. (Admittedly, this is a bit of a tangent but a frustration I have.)
Paige, your theory is so entertaining and fun! I definitely see the "Cinderella" and mean girl vs. nice girl in the novel. However, one thing I find particularly interesting is that the mean girl and nice girl in the case of "Pride and Prejudice" are not "competing" for the same guy. I think it would be interesting to keep this comparison in mind as we move through the novel.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting note, but I wonder if Elizabeth is the only one who needs to overcome obstacles to find love? Perhaps Mr. Darcy will have some obstacles as well.
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