Jane Austen's Pride following

I knew I had stumbled upon some sort of undocumented social phenomena when, in my writing seminar last semester, my innocent comment about how men should be more like Mr. Darcy met exclamations of "Mr. Darcy!", "I love him!" and "I love 'Pride and Prejudice'!", etc., while the male population stared bemusedly — one asked, "Who's Mr. Darcy?".

In the males' defense, that question is harder to answer than one might expect. Although Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is above all the hero of Jane Austen's 1813 novel "Pride and Prejudice," he has subsequently enjoyed a long and varied afterlife of film and literary reincarnations. Among the more well known iterations are Lawrence Olivier's performance in a 1940 silver screen version and, most recently, Mark Darcy, the love interest of everywoman Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding's "Pride and Prejudice"-inspired "Bridget Jones' Diary."

But I think, for better and worse, the Mr. Darcy who comes first to most female — and some male — minds (and hearts) these days is the one portrayed by Colin Firth in the 1995 BBC miniseries, "Pride and Prejudice." Though it hardly seems possible, this five-hour adaptation starring mostly unknown British actors in Regency costume has a cult following on and off-campus. And there is far more to it than the most famous unauthorized wet shirt contest of any film adaptation of a 19th century novel.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. For those of you who have yet to discover the joy, "Pride and Prejudice" tells the story of Elizabeth Bennett (superbly acted by Tony-award winner Jennifer Ehle), the second eldest of five Bennett sisters, who has "pert opinions and fine eyes." She is destined by some unfortunate and vaguely chauvinistic 19th century legality to be penniless unless she can find herself a husband, a fact that often drives her hypochondriac mother to conniptions. Enter Mr. Darcy. He is rich and handsome, but, unfortunately, also proud, rude, and tied to the social structure of his time, which theoretically does not permit him to marry below his station.

After Darcy famously pronounces Elizabeth, "tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me," and Lizzy later retorts she will "never . . . dance with Mr. Darcy," we know it can't be long before they fall in love. Of course, there are twists and turns on the road to a happy ending, including heartbreak, scandal and a healthy number of rejected marriage proposals. But, ultimately, there is self-realization. While I obviously can't tell the story with Austen's talent or even approximate Andrew Davies' sparkling script adaptation, you can all (even the boys) now say you know who Mr. Darcy is, at the very least.

The Princeton campus boasts a substantial "Pride and Prejudice" fan base, many members of which have been followers since the series originally aired on A&E. Christine Murphy '07 "fell in love right away...I would watch it every single day after school," she said. The duration of the movie was never a deterrent for Murphy: "I can watch this completely straight through," she added.

"Pride and Prejudice" buffs often see it as their missionary-esque duty to enlighten those unfortunate enough not yet to have seen the film. Meg Gallagher '07 is a recent convert. She said, "at least four or five people [at Princeton] told me that the movie would change my life," which inspired her to find out "what could incite such fanaticism."

"The answer," she said, "is 'Pride and Prejudice' . . . and Mr. Darcy!"

Of course, it is often difficult to explain what makes Mr. Darcy such an attractive character. For the first half of the movie, he is haughty and bordering on offensive. But as Bridget Jones explains, he "was more attractive because he was ruder."

Alex Adams '07, who said, "Austen is a guilty pleasure if you're a guy," is one of the few males that will confess to being a fan. He admires Darcy's "take no crap attitude" and added, "Colin Firth is the man!"

This sentiment is echoed in a more feminine way by Teresa Velez '07, who has both read the book and seen the movie upwards of 15 times. When asked what makes the film so appealing, she asked "besides Colin Firth?"

Liz Abernathy '07 put it in the simplest terms: "Colin Firth is hot."

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Of course, "Pride and Prejudice" is about far more than just Colin Firth managing to look attractive in a ruff and breeches. Abernathy quickly noted the film's greatest appeal comes from the fact that "Lizzy changes [Darcy] with her strength of character...it's about the power of the woman." Velez agreed: "Lizzy is such a lovable character," she said.

That the characters are genuine and interesting people who change and evolve seems to be one of the things everyone admires about the movie.

"The characters are very real, witty and funny," Gallagher said.

This realistic aspect, when combined with Austen's talent for telling compelling stories, also helps save "Pride and Prejudice" from becoming what Velez referred to as a "sappy romance."

One of the more frustrating aspects of writing this article was coming to terms with my interviewees and, particularly, my own frequent inability to separate the book from the movie. While I thought this showed disloyalty to Jane Austen, I ultimately decided it wasn't the case: I decided the movie's effectiveness is largely due to Austen's incredible prowess as a writer. Her compelling story and well-developed characters lay the perfect groundwork for translation to film. The BBC adaptation also shows love and respect for Austen and includes much of her own beautiful prose as lines.

But the film also succeeds due to its own commitment to excellence outside of its faithful and clever adaptation of the book.

"It's a perfect film," Murphy exclaimed. "Everything is extraordinary...the quality of the casting, the sets, the costumes, the music," she said.

Apart from Austen's masterful talent as a writer, "Pride and Prejudice" remains popular because, as Austen said in appraisal of the finished manuscript, "it is rather too light, bright, and sparkling." Yet this quality is in part what makes the book so appealing and what the film so successfully captures. While Firth's Darcy brings obvious attractions, he alone does not explain the film's universally acknowledged appeal.

Although almost everything about the film is wonderful, what often resonates most strongly is that both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are changed by their interactions with and developing love for each other.

While Murphy said it's important "Lizzy . . . realizes she's changing," what probably made all those girls in my class cry out at the mention of Mr. Darcy is, as Velez eloquently put it, "[Darcy's] love for Lizzy overwhelms his idea of what is right and proper."

Regardless of the differences in time and dress and the fondness for bird shooting, that is an aspect of "Pride and Prejudice" to which we can all relate and over which we all swoon.