Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen, opens in "select cities" on August 3 and it appears to be only the first entry in a real bonanza for Jane Austen fans over the next year or so. The movie website to which I've linked does a remarkable job of introducing the movie and includes a trailer and other movie clips. This one might get me to make one of my rare visits to a movie theater.
But, according to the Boston Globe, the really good news is that this is just the tip of the iceberg that is headed our way.
"The Jane Austen Book Club" is scheduled for release next year, as is an adaptation of "Northanger Abbey," the only one of Austen's six novels not previously made into a movie....
Television has, if anything, been an even more ardent admirer of Austen. PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre" has plans for a four-month Austen festival next year, including versions of all the novels and a biopic bearing the unfortunate title "Miss Austen Regrets."Jane Austen fans are some of the most ardent and best organized fans out there and this is certain to be an exciting year or two for them.
Wheeee!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Northanger Abbey, but I've heard nothing but bad about Becoming Jane(already!), though I'll probably see it anyway. And I hated The Jane Austen Book Club. Have you read it?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read that one, Dewey. It looked to me to be a little to chick-litish to suit my tastes. I'm sorry to hear that the new movie is already picking up poor word-of-mouth. I wonder if it's because the Jane Austen purists don't think that it is accurate?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's because it's very inacurate, and not just in terms of the romance, but other stuff as well. It could still be a fun movie, but I hate the idea of people thinking it's factual, or even close to it. I didn't like the "The Jane Austen Book Club" either. I couldn't even finish it. I'm interested in the "Northanger Abbey" film, though.
ReplyDeleteI loved Claire Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen, which I thought dealt with the "romance" btw Jane and the yopung man without some of the anachronistic supposition of "Becoming Jane".
ReplyDeleteAnd I came to Northanger Abbey late in my Jane Austen love affair, and think it is wonderful (SO funny)....so that's great news about the impending movie!
Sorry to hear that the movie is that inaccurate, Annie. That will take a good bit of the pleasure away from watching it, but I'll probably still sneak a peak. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never read an Austen biography, Sally, so I'll have to take a look at that one. My love affair with Jane Austen's books really took off when I first visited her home in England. It was in a perfect setting and I felt that I understood her work a lot better after the first visit there.
ReplyDeleteLike you and Annie, I'm looking forward to the Northanger Abbey movie as much as anything else that's coming up.
I'll still be seeing the movie, too, and I'll probably even enjoy it because I'll be viewing it as a piece of fiction, or "alternate history," but it bothers me that there are a lot of people who won't go in with that attitude... I can forsee having to correct a lot of misconceptions in the future. One in particular would be that Austen needed a man to come and teach her about "real" literature before she was able to write a popular novel... and that's one big crock of bull!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that this discussion has taken some of the "glow" from the movie for me, but I'm going to try to catch it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why writers and directors think that moviegoers would not be interested in a movie based on the facts rather than on an embellished version of them? That kind of dumbing down is annoying.
I think I am going to try and read the Austen novels I have not yet read and reread the ones I have. It would be fun to do some sort of online Austen readalong and there are loads of other things going on in thenext year in relation! Thanks for all this info!
ReplyDeleteAs for the movie--I heard some negative things as well when it came out in the UK earlier, but I imagine I will still see it.
ReplyDeleteThere are one or two of them that I need to read yet, myself. It's just kind of nice to see one of the classic writers get this much attention. That means she's "bankable" and not many authors of her era can still have that said about them.
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching to see what you think of the movie.