Tumblr crosspost (30 June 2019)
Jul. 17th, 2019 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineIn response to this post, an anon asked:
I 100% agree with you that it's time for a new P&P!! I'm so sorry if this is an annoying question - honestly feel free to ignore it! I'm obsessed with adaptation theory, especially analyzing opening scenes. If you were in charge, do you have any ideas for how you would open? Like how the 1995 one starts with the energetic galloping of Darcy and Bingley's horses entering town for the first time because the writer wanted to convey "that sense of energy" that he believed pervaded the entire book.
I replied:
Not annoying at all! I’ve never thought about it before—perhaps because my favourite scenes are mostly in the second and third sections, but the beginning is obviously important.
I’m not a filmmaker at all, but I would want to begin with Elizabeth, emphasizing her centrality (which gets minimized at times). I think I’d want her to be doing something typical for her as an establishing moment (e.g. not sewing or riding, which she doesn’t much care for).
She’d be outside, ideally, because I feel like the indoors/outdoors dynamic is important and Elizabeth is associated with the out of doors (and when things go wrong for her, she’s almost always inside; the Meryton assembly, the Netherfield scenes, listening/believing Wickham’s lies, Darcy’s first proposal, the news of Lydia’s elopement, etc).
There’s a critic, I think Reuben Brower, who pointed out that P&P essentially begins like a script, dropped right into dialogue that kicks off the plot while also revealing necessary information. And I think that’s true enough, so I’d transition pretty quickly (probably a matter of seconds) from Elizabeth outside to Elizabeth going inside as the conversation begins, maybe overhearing the first few lines but entering the room in time for Mr Bennet’s quasi-compliment.
I’d also want to avoid too much scenery porn in the opening (I’d prefer to save that for occasions when it’s supposed to be scenery porn-ish, rather than everything as Picturesque Olde England).
The obvious route would be to begin with Elizabeth outside, reading—something she is associated with—but that also feels a bit trite to me and too close to the 2005, though I’d pull back on the Lo, Scenery. But I’m also not sure what she’d be doing, if not that, so ultimately that’s probably where I’d begin: a glimpse of Elizabeth outside, in the act of finishing a book, following her as she starts to stride (it should definitely be a stride) towards the house, then switching to her arrival in the parlour as the Bingley conversation picks up.
Alternately, we could begin inside (technically), with Elizabeth visible through a window as she walks decidedly towards the house, contrasting the somewhat stilted atmosphere of the interior setting with her air of freedom and vitality. Perhaps we’d get a glimpse of her, then switch to a vaguely suffocating parlour setting, maybe with Jane glancing through the window as she sees Elizabeth and smiling, then a switch to Elizabeth’s perspective as she enters/the conversation begins.
Honestly, there are a lot of ways it could work for me! But if it were up to me personally, the basic elements in play would be a) a clear focus on Elizabeth from the beginning, b) a glimpse of her in the act of something, c) a sense of the indoors/outdoors divide, and d) a quick pivot to the opening conversation.
I 100% agree with you that it's time for a new P&P!! I'm so sorry if this is an annoying question - honestly feel free to ignore it! I'm obsessed with adaptation theory, especially analyzing opening scenes. If you were in charge, do you have any ideas for how you would open? Like how the 1995 one starts with the energetic galloping of Darcy and Bingley's horses entering town for the first time because the writer wanted to convey "that sense of energy" that he believed pervaded the entire book.
I replied:
Not annoying at all! I’ve never thought about it before—perhaps because my favourite scenes are mostly in the second and third sections, but the beginning is obviously important.
I’m not a filmmaker at all, but I would want to begin with Elizabeth, emphasizing her centrality (which gets minimized at times). I think I’d want her to be doing something typical for her as an establishing moment (e.g. not sewing or riding, which she doesn’t much care for).
She’d be outside, ideally, because I feel like the indoors/outdoors dynamic is important and Elizabeth is associated with the out of doors (and when things go wrong for her, she’s almost always inside; the Meryton assembly, the Netherfield scenes, listening/believing Wickham’s lies, Darcy’s first proposal, the news of Lydia’s elopement, etc).
There’s a critic, I think Reuben Brower, who pointed out that P&P essentially begins like a script, dropped right into dialogue that kicks off the plot while also revealing necessary information. And I think that’s true enough, so I’d transition pretty quickly (probably a matter of seconds) from Elizabeth outside to Elizabeth going inside as the conversation begins, maybe overhearing the first few lines but entering the room in time for Mr Bennet’s quasi-compliment.
I’d also want to avoid too much scenery porn in the opening (I’d prefer to save that for occasions when it’s supposed to be scenery porn-ish, rather than everything as Picturesque Olde England).
The obvious route would be to begin with Elizabeth outside, reading—something she is associated with—but that also feels a bit trite to me and too close to the 2005, though I’d pull back on the Lo, Scenery. But I’m also not sure what she’d be doing, if not that, so ultimately that’s probably where I’d begin: a glimpse of Elizabeth outside, in the act of finishing a book, following her as she starts to stride (it should definitely be a stride) towards the house, then switching to her arrival in the parlour as the Bingley conversation picks up.
Alternately, we could begin inside (technically), with Elizabeth visible through a window as she walks decidedly towards the house, contrasting the somewhat stilted atmosphere of the interior setting with her air of freedom and vitality. Perhaps we’d get a glimpse of her, then switch to a vaguely suffocating parlour setting, maybe with Jane glancing through the window as she sees Elizabeth and smiling, then a switch to Elizabeth’s perspective as she enters/the conversation begins.
Honestly, there are a lot of ways it could work for me! But if it were up to me personally, the basic elements in play would be a) a clear focus on Elizabeth from the beginning, b) a glimpse of her in the act of something, c) a sense of the indoors/outdoors divide, and d) a quick pivot to the opening conversation.