You can never be a "Former," only "Recovering"

[capri0mni]

English Major, that is.

I'm still "Gah!"ing over Andrew Davies' comments about the True Meaning of Jane Austen[TM] last Sunday, and I've got the urge to write an essay to answer him, with several quotes and references to back up each of my points. And I'm realizing that I really miss that aspect of being in college. I always liked writing those critical essays: comparing and contrasting different characters within a single work, or different authors' approaches to the same idea, or the same author at different points in his or her life. I always thought it was fun. It was hard work, and I had to pull a few all-nighters in my scholarly career, and there was more than a little panic at times. I always found the process itself satisfying -- the closest thing I can come to actually sitting down and interviewing someone who lived centuries ago, and reporting that interview to others.

*sigh*

I could probably make a morally dubious living writing essays for those cheater websites.

Oh, and another thing I'm still "Gah"ing over from last Sunday:

Rebecca Eaton, producer of Masterpiece, was asked what fans of Sex and the City would "get" out of this series of Jane Austen adaptations. Her answer: "The clothes." She said that all the hats were like the shoes on Sex and the City.

*Headdesk*

Really? Nothing about the strong friendships between all the women, or their wit, or the fact that each character in all of these stories is a unique individual?

Just their clothes?

*Headdesk redux*

Surely, modern women can't quite be that shallow. ...But then again, Sex and the City fandom is a subset of women that I don't know very well.

...And there are still people in the world who say feminism is obsolete.

GAH!

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

You know, I keep thinking that you should get in touch with B&N about their "essential" writers. Perhaps you should also get in touch with Rebecca Eaton, et al! Why not? After all, if it bothers you this much, you're probably not the only one, but how many people would take the time and trouble to bother sending a letter?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'm not sure about B&N, since they'll only publish what they don't have to pay for. But I suppose it couldn't hurt.

The people behind Masterpiece might be more open, since they are, at core, viewer and member-suppoted.

Now.... What to say? I mean, if it really is Eaton's opinion that modern viewers would like the clothes best (which is how the question was phrased), can I really raise a protest about that, except to say I disagree?

But it is something to think about....

[alto2.livejournal.com]

There just have to be female authors (several of whom I think you've mentioned, like George Eliot) who are in the public domain. B&N needs someone to point out that their list is pretty poorly considered and they should jolly well try again.

It could be that Eaton was just trying to make the appeal seem modern and mainstream. But either way, it was a rather ridiculous remark. Who's going to keep watching for the clothes if the story does nothing for them?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I think, if I were to write to anyone at PBS, it would be the makers of the "Special," which, I suspect, is independent from the people behind Masterpiece...

I've generally lost all respect for PBS pledge drives, over the years. I remember when these three, two-week, periods a year would just entail interuptions of regular programming. Now, regular programming is preempted entirely for the sake of pre-packaged, upscale infomercials. And many times, it's not even very upscale at all.

I mean, why even ask that question as part of the special? Why try to draw comparisons to Sex and the City at all?

(I know, I know... they're trying to entice a newer, younger audience that has grown up with cable, but still...)

Now to figure out who's responsible for that...