Why do we worship Jane Austen?
Jan. 30th, 2010 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynI don't get the recent popularity of Jane Austen books. Now, I have not read the books, and despite my voracious consumption of erotic fanfiction and pulp romances (whenever the library gets paranormals, I'm all over them) I really dislike historical romances.
I have seen the miniseries versions of Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice. I've also seen the movie versions of 2 of those. I really disliked all of them. Mansfield Park is my favorite of them and mostly because the main character sort of refused to participate despite being converted in the end.
Every Austen book is about her historical time. That time period is about the subjugation of women. Women cannot own anything. Women cannot choose their husbands except with the indulgence of their fathers. Women cannot compromise their appearance lest their value on the slave market be decreased. Women were still half the population, why on Earth did they put up with it?
Whenever someone says we should outlaw headscarves and the non-white ghost costumes of Muslim women, I want to remind people that we haven't had voting for American women for even a century. I want to tell them that we should bring everyone here and let them take their baby steps toward independence.
I know a lot of modern women who are afraid that openly accepting women who conform to strict Muslim dress codes will undermine their own freedoms. We have judges saying women deserve to be raped if they do not wear panties. Many people believe whores cannot be raped. Women are supposed to dress conservatively because society believes men have no need for self-control. I saw the first episode of the British version of Life On Mars and the 1970s were horrific in terms of women's rights in practice. I remember that vaguely myself. One of my teachers mentioned that girls were not permitted to wear trousers to school until the 1960s. So modern women have a lot to fear in this regard.
The political climate for reproductive rights is also causing a lot of fear among modern women. Because without contraception, women lose a lot of social freedoms, economic freedoms, and the process begins to swing toward Austenian oppression.
Modern women drooling over Austen novels as "romantic" makes me ill. These books are about well-treated slaves or pets who end up making the best of a horrific situation through, essentially, luck. Then they breed more slaves so another generation is damned. And it went on for centuries... remember people were surprised when Beatrix Potter bought property on her own.
I don't understand why anyone would put up with that during the times when the Austen books were written. I surely do not understand why a twenty-first century woman would find them romantic. If you really like the clothes, hire a ladies' maid and buy them. Proportionately to income the gowns would actually be cheaper now, if perhaps not so finely finished.
If they find the Victorian life aspect attractive, remember that it comes with "doctors" who bleed patients and who bring their unwashed hands to deliver babies so lots of women died. Remember that the houses were not well insulated, that the heating was mostly from fireplaces, so people were often taken ill and there was virtually nothing that could be done about it.
No, no there really isn't a lot to be nostalgic about for Austen's time. I would like to see modern women stop thinking of it that way.
I have seen the miniseries versions of Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice. I've also seen the movie versions of 2 of those. I really disliked all of them. Mansfield Park is my favorite of them and mostly because the main character sort of refused to participate despite being converted in the end.
Every Austen book is about her historical time. That time period is about the subjugation of women. Women cannot own anything. Women cannot choose their husbands except with the indulgence of their fathers. Women cannot compromise their appearance lest their value on the slave market be decreased. Women were still half the population, why on Earth did they put up with it?
Whenever someone says we should outlaw headscarves and the non-white ghost costumes of Muslim women, I want to remind people that we haven't had voting for American women for even a century. I want to tell them that we should bring everyone here and let them take their baby steps toward independence.
I know a lot of modern women who are afraid that openly accepting women who conform to strict Muslim dress codes will undermine their own freedoms. We have judges saying women deserve to be raped if they do not wear panties. Many people believe whores cannot be raped. Women are supposed to dress conservatively because society believes men have no need for self-control. I saw the first episode of the British version of Life On Mars and the 1970s were horrific in terms of women's rights in practice. I remember that vaguely myself. One of my teachers mentioned that girls were not permitted to wear trousers to school until the 1960s. So modern women have a lot to fear in this regard.
The political climate for reproductive rights is also causing a lot of fear among modern women. Because without contraception, women lose a lot of social freedoms, economic freedoms, and the process begins to swing toward Austenian oppression.
Modern women drooling over Austen novels as "romantic" makes me ill. These books are about well-treated slaves or pets who end up making the best of a horrific situation through, essentially, luck. Then they breed more slaves so another generation is damned. And it went on for centuries... remember people were surprised when Beatrix Potter bought property on her own.
I don't understand why anyone would put up with that during the times when the Austen books were written. I surely do not understand why a twenty-first century woman would find them romantic. If you really like the clothes, hire a ladies' maid and buy them. Proportionately to income the gowns would actually be cheaper now, if perhaps not so finely finished.
If they find the Victorian life aspect attractive, remember that it comes with "doctors" who bleed patients and who bring their unwashed hands to deliver babies so lots of women died. Remember that the houses were not well insulated, that the heating was mostly from fireplaces, so people were often taken ill and there was virtually nothing that could be done about it.
No, no there really isn't a lot to be nostalgic about for Austen's time. I would like to see modern women stop thinking of it that way.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 08:56 pm (UTC)Who said nostalgic, anyway? Sometimes one comes to appreciate one's lot better only after being exposed to things that have different tradeoffs.
I haven't liked any Austen-based film I've seen except for the Firth/Ehle miniseries, and I have read all the full-length novels (not so-called the juvenilia). If you tried reading one, I'd suggest Northanger Abbey, which is Gothic and parodic in some respects. But then, I like Mansfield the novel the least, and Northanger and Persuasion best....
no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 09:44 pm (UTC)The Hermione in the story agrees with your ranking of the books, by the way.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-31 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-31 02:12 am (UTC)I've progressed from my inability to remember which books were Austen and which were some Bronte varietal, but I have a lot of trouble remembering which Austen books were which. I remember Persuasion as being the one where the oldest daughter is forced to let her true love go because he doesn't have money and her family needs her. But they meet up some dozenish years later and he's done really well for himself but hates her for throwing him over. But it all works out in the end.