Christina Dodd confesses I’M JANE EYRE (OR MAYBE ELIZABETH BENNETT)
In the autumn of 1994, there was a television show called SHE-TV. It was SNL-type comedy by women for women, and my family thought it was screamingly funny.
We were apparently the only people in America to think so, because it was cancelled after a month. But one of the sketches we still talk about was the one where the women have a book discussion group, and the only book they ever read is BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. Endlessly they talk about the love affair, the hero, the bridges, the hopelessness, how much they cried at the conclusion … and when they’ve hashed it over once, they go back and do it again. Which is so silly, except …
That’s sort of the way I am with JANE EYRE. It’s clear that in a former life, I was obviously a poor but proud Victorian governess, because I never tire of JANE EYRE. I have read the book dozens of times. I can read about the dramatic way Jane and Rochester met, the contrary way he wooed her, the scene with the fortune teller, his proposal, her discovery of his horrifying secret, her desperate escape to save her own soul, her almost-acceptance of the wrong proposal, that moment on the moors where she hears … oh, man, be still my heart! JANE EYRE is romance distilled to pure perfection.
Of course, it stands to reason that if there’s a JANE EYRE movie, I want to see it.
Apparently I’m not the only one. According to IMBD, since 1910, eighteen different version have been produced on the big screen and on television. I haven’t seen them all, although I did see the musical version on Broadway. (Note to self: Netflix more versions of JANE EYRE.) PBS’s Masterpiece Theater is running a new version of JANE EYRE this week and next. So far, it’s very, very good, but the jury’s still out until they wrap it up. They’re going to have to work hard to do better than my favorite, BBC’s 1983 production. It’s almost six hours long, very true to the book, and Timothy Dalton as Rochester is God’s gift to Victorian governesses everywhere.
And let’s not forget PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. I don’t have as much experience with PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — I came to the book late, reading it only after seeing the justly famous six-hour A&E PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The production didn’t completely capture Jane Austen’s sly wit, but it did a fabulous job of portraying Mr. Darcy in all his toothsome-wonderfulness. For the record — Colin Firth can come and brood in my office any time.
According to IMBD, there aren’t nearly as many versions of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE as of JANE EYRE, only ten, but think about it — nothing the least action-oriented happens in the story. The characters talk, they dance, they ride, they walk, they display their ignorance, arrogance, silliness, anger — “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” A&E deserves kudos for making such an entertaining, marvelous mini-series without a single runaway carriage, dramatic kidnapping, or murderous villain.
As a side note — when I was looking up PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, I saw there had been a BBC version made in 1952 starring … drum roll, please … Peter Cushing. You don’t know Peter Cushing, you say? Of course you do! He was Sherlock Holmes. He was Dracula. He was Grand Moff Governor Wilhuff Tarkin in Star Wars. And he was Mr. Darcy. I couldn’t find a photo of him in the part — if you do, send it to me and I’ll post it.
What’s your favorite version of JANE EYRE? PRIDE AND PREJUDICE? Like the ladies in the BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY book club, should we dump this Squawk Radio stuff and dedicate this whole blog to discussing the various versions of JANE EYRE and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE?
Most important — who were you in a former life?
Christina’s Website