Tumblr crosspost (15 October 2020)
Mar. 3rd, 2024 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineAn anon (presumably this one) said:
Also, I think Harker is pretty, not plain, but it's weird when fans bring up the "Portrait of Mrs Q" and claim that it looks just like her. Apart from the woman's coloring and (sort of) her hairstyle, there's not much resemblance, and I haven't seen any evidence that the producers of P&P 1995 cast Harker because they thought she resembled this portrait. In any case, Firth looks very little like the fashion plates and fashionable portraits of the day, but this is rarely mentioned.
I replied:
Yeahhhh, I think that’s a weird argument. I was just looking through my folder of late 18th/early 19th cent portraits, and there’s a pretty wide range of what was considered attractive, but you do get a lot of round faces and delicate bow mouths like Mrs Q. (My kingdom for round-faced Jane tbh.)
And iirc they lightened Harker’s hair to fit the stereotype even more—I think it’s pretty clear that that’s what they were going after, much more than Mrs Q. And you’re right, it somehow doesn’t come up with the insistence that Darcy must look like Colin Firth, historical beauty standards be damned.
It’s just … people are going to love what they love, but there’s a lot of inconsistency in why others are also obligated to love that thing that makes it even more aggravating.
Tagged: #and honestly no slender jane looks like austen imagined her #which they all are so ... nobody wins here
Also, I think Harker is pretty, not plain, but it's weird when fans bring up the "Portrait of Mrs Q" and claim that it looks just like her. Apart from the woman's coloring and (sort of) her hairstyle, there's not much resemblance, and I haven't seen any evidence that the producers of P&P 1995 cast Harker because they thought she resembled this portrait. In any case, Firth looks very little like the fashion plates and fashionable portraits of the day, but this is rarely mentioned.
I replied:
Yeahhhh, I think that’s a weird argument. I was just looking through my folder of late 18th/early 19th cent portraits, and there’s a pretty wide range of what was considered attractive, but you do get a lot of round faces and delicate bow mouths like Mrs Q. (My kingdom for round-faced Jane tbh.)
And iirc they lightened Harker’s hair to fit the stereotype even more—I think it’s pretty clear that that’s what they were going after, much more than Mrs Q. And you’re right, it somehow doesn’t come up with the insistence that Darcy must look like Colin Firth, historical beauty standards be damned.
It’s just … people are going to love what they love, but there’s a lot of inconsistency in why others are also obligated to love that thing that makes it even more aggravating.
Tagged: #and honestly no slender jane looks like austen imagined her #which they all are so ... nobody wins here