Analysis of Pride and Prejudice. Final Project

Ana Clara Fay

Professor Vincent

Sociology

June 9, 2012

Final Project

The movie that I chose is the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. It was directed by Joe Wright and had Keira Knightley for the lead role, Elizabeth Bennet, along with Matthew Macfadyen as her romantic interest, Mr. Darcy. The movie was produced by Studio Canal and Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The main plot follows the lives of the Bennet Family and their five daughters, as they progress in life and find proper husbands. The story begins with the arrival of Mr. Bingley, his sister and his friend, Mr. Darcy, to the city where the Bennet family lived. The oldest sister falls in love with Mr. Bingley and he seems to correspond her affection, but after some misunderstandings Bingley, his sister and Darcy leave the country and go back to London. Elizabeth had a very bad impression about Mr. Darcy, but once he leaves she does not think of him again. It is just when she visits her recently married cousin, and his benefactor Lady Catherine de Bourgh that she meets Darcy again, and discovers that he not only was guilty of separating her sister of her love, but that he was in love with her, Elizabeth. The plot continues as the girls find their ways to be happy, while conforming to the complicated aristocratic English life.

Pride and Prejudice is based on the homonymous book by Jane Austen, and is an amazing portray of the life in the 1810’s. The culture represented in the movie is the minor English aristocracy during the reign of George III. The main character, Elizabeth, is very critical of the society in which she was raised. She is confused by the fact that it is unfair that her sisters and her are forced to get married in order to guarantee their future. Since there are no male inheritors all the patrimony of her family will go to her cousin when her father dies. Elizabeth believes in love and true feelings and not in the marriage for convenience, so common at that time (and even in our time). Elizabeth is what could be interpreted as “too smart for a girl” at that time. She was always questioning the ways things are what is considered normal, but also understands the need to comply, in order not to be marginalized from that society.

Mr. Darcy in the other hand was the character that represented what a person should be, and how should they behave. Very formal (one can’t miss the fact that his first name is never mentioned in the entire movie) and sober (he smiled just once in all the 122 minutes) he knew how, where and what he should be. It is interesting to see how that changes throughout the movie. In the scene where he declares his affection for Elizabeth he says that he loves her even with his common sense and his position. That is when he transitions from the taciturn proper posture to one that is guided by affection and though. That is when the pride and the Prejudice are over. He starts to think about the motivations of people and not to judge them by their actions. The movie itself is very ethnocentric, since there are no other cultures to contrast with the English there. The discussion in the movie is about the evolution of the characters and how much does the society weigh in our life decisions.

I believe that the biggest examples of material culture in the movie are the spaces, the houses and scenarios. One can clearly see the difference between the Bennet’s house and the rented house of Mr. Bingley. The ostensive ample spaces make it clear how different were the lives of the wealthy. They are used to draw the line between classes very clearly. Another element used to create this line is the manners, a big part nonmaterial culture. The richer characters had not only very clear notions of what is proper or not, but they had a pose and an attitude that made them different, superior. Their way of speaking was always polite and very formal (despite the fact that they used language differently in past times). One can perceive how different the cultures of the wealthy by observing the two balls in the movie. The common, public ball, was a ritual at that city. It was dark, noisy, messy and very energetic. Couples danced freely and restrictions were suspended for some hours. In the other side we have Mr. Bingley’s ball, a well-lit and very ordered ball. The music was more toned down and the dances calmer and more complex. The guests followed a strict dress code and the talk was polite and not loud. The difference between today’s norms and yesterday’s is that there used to be a very clear formal and proper way to behave, that today is not that clear. Values were strict and sometimes condemning. There was a proper way to live, and just one: to get married, to have children and to be able to live without many complications. Anything biasing from that was considered wrong and shameful. One should know how to dress, talk, and walk and many other things. There is an interesting scene when Mr. Bingley says how hard it was to be a woman and Darcy gives him a list of things that a woman should be in order to be proper. Elizabeth then says that such woman does not exist and if she does she must not be pleasing to the eye. Elizabeth is always breaking the norms of what is expected from her during the movie. She walks instead of using a horse or carriage to visit her sick sister in Mr. Bingley’s house. She talks alone with Darcy a couple of times in the movie, and above all, she refuses a marriage proposal when she does not have any other option to be self-sufficient in life.

I believe because of the nature of the movie there are few American values that apply to this movie. The ones that are easy to recognize are also the more universal ones. Material comfort is expressed in the movie but in a slightly different way. It is purposely shown by the exaggerated proportions of the houses of the wealthy aristocratic characters. It comes more as an accessory to the main plot than as a main issue. It does not come in a personal level, of compulsively having stuff, but in a way of showing status. I think the American approach to material comfort goes beyond actual comfort or even status. It comes from a search of identity and an attempt of expression in material objects. Another typically American value that can be observed is conformity. The intense demand to conform to very strict rules is shown throughout the entire movie. Pride and Prejudice is all about status and how to deal with it, how to not bias from it.

The Bennet family is big, messy and mostly happy. They are responsible to socializing their girls and making them acceptable parts of the society. Mrs. Bennet is a “big hen” mother. She loves her daughters deeply and is really concerned about them and their capacity to survive in a world that is hostile to females. That basically meant being obsessed with finding husbands to the five Bennet girls. She could sometimes be a little futile but that was part of being overly concerned with making her girls seem appealing to the man to choose. The dad and only male in the house had his voice a little toned down by the mother. He was present, but had interest that differed so much of their wife’s and most of his daughter’s that he was somehow absent of the education of the girls. One thing that can be observed is how the older sisters were very educated and had good manners and as the size of the family grew, the younger sister became more wild, uneducated and with poor manners. Other less important agents of socialization were the community on the city where the Bennets lived. They served to make the girls experiment and put in practice all the norms that they had learned at home.

This movie means a lot to me in many ways. My mother was to one that showed me it for the first time, and since then I have watched it for at least fifteen times. It has always been a mother and daughter thing to talk about every aspect of this, and any other Jane Austen movie (or book). It meant for me the beginning of understanding a little bit more what are social expectations and how oppressing they can be. I think analyzing the movie further made it even better. There are many layers to it that can only be observed if you look with a critical eye. And to look with a critical eye is not always natural, so it is good to have encouragement (such as not failing the class) to do so. For me the overall message of the movie is that the society can be questioned, and that love will change the way one interprets things. I do think those are important values to be passed on as a movie. They help people to be critical and look beyond the expectations of others.