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Last updated 21:00, 12 June 2008 (UTC) by Tangobot

[edit] Useful

[edit] Karl-Marx-Monument

[edit] Ampelmännchen

Karl Peglau's original design
Karl Peglau's original design

Ampelmännchen (help·info) (German: little traffic light man) is the symbolic person shown on pedestrian traffic lights at pedestrian crossings in the former GDR.[citation needed] The red Ampelmännchen extends his arms to signal "stop," and the green Ampelmännchen confidently strides ahead to signal "go."[citation needed]

The shapes of the Ampelmännchen are standardised, and indeed are conceptually similar to those used in other countries.[citation needed] Prior to reunification of Germany there were different forms used in the two German states, with those originating in the former East Germany being particularly distinctive.[citation needed] In contrast to the generic human figure used in West Germany, the figure in the east is generally held to be male, and wears a hat.[citation needed] In the Socialist East Germany, the Ampelmännchen became a character on an East German television program used in drivers' education.[citation needed]

Following German unification, there were attempts to standardise all traffic signals to the West German forms, leading to calls to save the East German Ampelmännchen.[1] It thus became a kind of mascot for the East German nostalgia movement, known as Ostalgie.[1] The protests were successful, and the Ampelmännchen returned to pedestrian crossings, including some in western districts of Berlin. Some western German cities, such as Saarbrücken, have since adopted the design.[citation needed]

[edit] History

The Ampelfrau
The Ampelfrau

The East Berlin Ampelmann was created in 1961[1] by traffic psychologist,[citation needed] Karl Peglau.[1] He theorised that people would respond better to the traffic signals if they were presented by a friendly character, instead of meaningless coloured lights.[citation needed] However, Peglau is said to have feared initially that the design might be rejected because of its "petit bourgeois" hat.[citation needed]

In 2004, a female counterpart, the Ampelfrau, appeared in Zwickau.[citation needed] It can now also be found in Dresden.[citation needed]

[edit] Lawsuit

  • "with bath mats, lampshades, vases, key-rings, t-shirts, mouse mats and coffee cups"[1]
  • so profitable that he's now at the heart of yet another dispute -- one that some have seen as another East-West stand-off. Two entrepreneurs from Saxony and former West Berlin took their fight over the marketing rights to the Ampelmännchen to a Leipzig court. Joachim Roßberg (photo) from Zwickau, whose claim to the logo is that he was the only manufacturer of traffic lights in the former East Germany, was being sued by designer Markus Heckhausen, who began incorporating the figure into products in 1995. He now sells over forty items, and told the court that he made 2 million euros last year with his Ampelmännchen souvenirs. Heckhausen -- one of the initiators of the "Save the Amplemännchen" campaign ten years ago -- argued that Roßberg, who markets just six Ampelmännchen products, was failing to make full use of his marketing rights. Legally, if no use of marketing rights is made for five years, the rights can be cancelled. But Roßberg insisted his business makes a tidy 50,000 euros a year. This week, the court proposed the rivals flesh out an amicable solution to the problem -- and the unusual love triangle now seems to have a way of surviving. "Money won't be changing hands," said Roßberg. Instead, he and Heckhausen have decided to share and trade certain rights. Roßberg will therefore continue to sell his best-known product, a liquor emblazoned with the logo -- despite Heckhausen's scornful remark that "traffic regulations and alcohol are hardly compatible."[1]
  • An east German businessman on Friday lost a copyright battle over the use of the former communist state's beloved traffic light symbol, the Ampelmännchen, to a souvenir entrepreneur from the west. A court in Leipzig ruled that Joachim Rossberg's right to use the stocky, hat-wearing Ampelmännchen, or traffic-light man, as a marketing brand had largely lapsed. This was argued by lawyers for the Berlin-based company Ampelmännchen Ltd., which since 1997 has been doing a roaring trade in souvenirs, from T-shirts to sweets, bearing the likeness of Ampelmännchen. They said the copyright had passed back into the public domain as Rossberg, who lives in the eastern state of Saxony, had not exercised it for five years. The court found that Rossberg retains only the right to use the distinctive street-crossing symbol to market liqueur, and may no longer use it as a logo on beer and T-shirts. He said that he would appeal the ruling.[2]

[edit] Trivia

  • "enjoys the privileged status of being one of the sole features of communist East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed."[1]
  • In the 1990s, he found himself at the heart of a full-blown rescue campaign when he was faced with possible extinction.[1]
  • 16-centimeter figure[1]
  • The Ampelmännchen was created in 1961 by a traffic psychologist, Karl Peglau, when an increase in cars in the former East Germany made the streets more dangerous for pedestrians. Peglau wanted a symbol that would appeal to children and could easily be read by the elderly. He therefore deliberately made the figure as clear, and cute, as possible.[2]
  • After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status.[2]
  • The authorities wanted to replace him with the standard western traffic sign, but residents of the former East launched a successful campaign to keep a part of their culture. At the same time, the figure also became popular with tourists who could now freely travel to the former German Democratic Republic.[2]
  • Ampelmännchen Ltd was founded by Markus Heckhausen, a graphic designer from the western city of Tübingen who moved to Berlin.[2]
  • The court case has been seen by some as part of the cultural and political struggle between residents of the two parts of the reunified country, in which the underdog East generally loses.[2]

[edit] Gallery

Tourist souvenirs featuring the East Berlin traffic lights.

A modern pedestrian traffic light showing the revived Ampelmännchen.

and for comparison the Euro standard pedestrian traffic light man (not used in East Germany)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1618163,00.html
  2. ^ a b c d e f http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2058311,00.html

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


[edit] Pride and Prejudice

[edit] Cast and crew

See also: Pride and Prejudice#Main characters

Producer Sue Birtwistle and director Simon Langton were looking for actors who were able to not only play wit, charm and charisma, but could also play the period. Hundreds of actresses between 15 and 28 auditioned. Actors auditioned in period costumes and makeup, and performed several prepared scenes in a television studio.[1]

Jennifer Ehle, who at the time was in her mid-20's and had TV and stage experience, got the role of the main female protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, out of about half a dozen serious candidates. Ehle was the only actor who would be present throughout the whole filming schedule, with just five days off not including weekends; the other actors appeared as they were needed.[2][3] Sue Birtwistle particularly wanted Colin Firth to play the main male protagonist, Mr Darcy (the novel gives his first name as Fitzwilliam), although some people of the production crew considered it an odd choice.[4] Firth was a relatively little known British actor at the time, with whom Birtwistle had worked before on other projects.[5] Firth rejected the offer at first as he did not feel attracted to an Austen script as its story was told from a woman's perspective. Firth later agreed to read the script, and liked it enough to temporarily change his mind. When Firth headed to America, Sue Birtwistle gave him an eight-page letter explaining why he had to take the part, and he finally accepted.[6] Firth and Ehle would begin a romantic relationship during the filming of the series, which only received media attention when the couple had already separated.[7]

Benjamin Whitrow and Alison Steadman played Elizabeth's parents, the owners of the medium-sized and financially troubled Longbourn estate near Meryton village. The producers offered Steadman the role of Mrs Bennet without auditions or screen tests.[1] Elizabeth's four sisters, whose age ranged between 15 and 22, were cast to not look too similar. Susannah Harker played Elizabeth's older sister Jane, a beautiful young lady who desires to see only good in others. Lucy Briers, Polly Maberly, and Julia Sawalha played Elizabeth's younger sisters, the plain and studious Mary, Kitty, and frivolous and headstrong Lydia. Julia Sawalha got the role of Lydia without a screen test because the producers though that she was strong enough as an actress to play "very witty, [...] naughty, attractive, feisty, and with a knock-down energy" well.[1] Joanna David and Tim Wylton played the Gardiners. David Bamber played the pompous, dull and sycophantic Bennet cousin and entailed heir of Longbourn, Mr Collins.

Christopher Benjamin played Sir William Lucas, one of the Bennets' neighbours. Lucy Scott played Sir William's daughter and Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte, an intelligent but unromantic lady aged twenty seven who is ready to accept any financially stable husband. Lucy Davis, an unexperienced but prepared young actress who originally auditioned for the role of Lydia, was cast as Charlotte's sister, Maria Lucas.[1]

Having cast Firth, the producers found Crispin Bonham-Carter to wanted the actor portraying the handsome, good-natured and wealthy Mr Charles Bingley to be in a physical contrast to Darcy. Bingley's sisters, who look down at the people of Merydon, were played by Anna Chancellor (Caroline) and Lucy Robinson (Mrs Hurst); Mr Hurst was played by Rupert Vansittart.[1] Barbara Leigh-Hunt was offered the role of Mr Darcy's meddling aunt, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, directly without auditions or screen tests,[1] but her schedule was split as she performed in Los Angeles for some time.[3] Lady Catherine's sickly daughter Anne was played by Nadia Chambers. Casting the role of Darcy's young sister, Georgiana, proved hard as the producers were looking for a young actress who appeared innocent, proud and yet shy, had class and could also play the piano beautifully. After unsuccessfully auditioning over 70 actresses, Simon Langton suggested Joanna David's (Mrs Gardiner) real-life daughter Emilia Fox for Georgiana.[1] Adrian Lukis was cast as George Wickham, a charming and handsome militia regiment lieutenant touring Meryton whose first impression vastly changes over the course of the story. Anthony Calf was cast as Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy's cousin and (together with Darcy) the guardian of Georgiana, who gives Elizabeth important information about Darcy's and Wickham's past actions.

[edit] trivia

  • Jennifer Ehle, American actress, spent her childhood between the UK and America, movie roles later on (none so really successful)
  • Alison Steadman:
  • Susannah Harker (born on April 26, 1965
  • Lucy Briers (born August 19, 1967)
  • Polly Maberly (born in 1976 in Reigate, Surrey, England)
  • Julia Sawalha (born September 9, 1968)
  • Joanna David: Her first major television role was as Elinor Dashwood in the BBC's 1971 dramatisation of Sense and Sensibility
  • David Bamber - He is also a well-known theatre actor,
  • Lucy Scott - January 19, 1971
  • Lucy Davis (born January 2, 1973)
  • Crispin Bonham-Carter - He played a small role in Bridget Jones's Diary, (REALLY?)
  • Anna Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is a British actress, perhaps best known for her performance as "Duckface" in Four Weddings and a Funeral, as Caroline Bingley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and as Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2005, she joined the cast of the popular BBC One television drama series Spooks as a new regular character, Juliet Shaw. She has also appeared in Jupiter Moon, Karaoke, Cold Lazarus, The Dreamers, and Tipping the Velvet, and has a starring role in the satirical black comedy Suburban Shootout.
  • Lucy Robinson (actress)- She has also played Jayne in the film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
  • Nadia Chambers is a Welsh actress, born January 13, 1968.
  • Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox (born July 31, 1974)

[edit] don't use, better sources exist

  • Elizabeth (Lizzy, Eliza) Bennet (Main article: Elizabeth Bennet) - Main female protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint.[8] The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is portrayed as intelligent, lively, attractive and witty, with her faults being a tendency to judge on first impressions and to mock people excessively. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs. Greene, and her neighbour Charlotte Lucas.
  • Fitzwilliam Darcy (Main article: Fitzwilliam Darcy) - Main male protagonist. Twenty-eight years old, unmarried, the wealthy owner of an estate in Derbyshire. Portrayed as handsome and intelligent, but proud, judgmental and concerned with social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the people of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well. Initial close relationships are with his friend Charles Bingley and his sister Georgiana Darcy.

[edit] Sources

Troost, Linda and Greenfield, Sayre (1998). Jane Austen in Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813190061. 
  • (1) the miniseries is widely considered to have kicked off the ensuing Jane Austen on-screen euphoria, which includes the successful 1995 and 1996 films Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and Emma.
  • (2) membership JA Society jumped 50% over the course of 1996
  • (2) BBC sold 200,000 video copies of P&P within first year, 50,000 withion first week, beofre: VCR no not established
  • (6) /wet shirt) this ep tells us more about our current decade's obsession with physical perfection and acceptance of gratutious nudity than it doesn about Austen's Darcy, but the images carves a new facet into the text. Lisa Hopkins argues thar such scenes empower women by making men the object of the gazem abd Cheryl Nixaon points out that titillating picture not only added symbolic depth for her students but also enlivened the character of Darcy. A
  • (24) Darcy's dive is not a revelation of his physical abilites (he can swim!) but rather it is a revelation of his emotional capabiliteis. These cap. could be several: Darcy's dive can be erad as an expression of a Romantic bond with naturem a celebration of his home where he can strip down to his essential self, a cleasning of social prejudices from hos misnd, or, as my student so nicely stated, a rebirth of his love for E. D's body is obviously not just a body but amedium of emotional expression (more geschwafel)
  • (27) Thje scenes added to P&P and S&S cast the male protagonists as individuals constructed by their emotions, emotional struggle
  • (31) Davies wrote scene because of necessity of masking and unmasking the imbalance between Austen's and the 20th century's construction of masculainity, his longing stares restate his inability to exopress verbally thoase emotions, physical activites as self-expression which is not present in the book
  • (32) billiard scene - D reacts to E in some way, but not sure for viewer whether angry, inability to speak to her, flustered and attreacted to her
  • (32) dog bath scene - character themselves without restraint and audience feels the connection although not yet obvious in novel
  • (33) film shows writing of D's letter to E, in novel E jsut receives it
  • (34) D turns to window as recurring motive, visual shorthand for his retreat into his feelings for E. turn back to gatherings to watch E come and go to estates and not listen to her faults
  • (34) D's intense stares become increasingly interactive
  • (92) Davies tribute to English coutrnyside and nostalgia for a bygone lifestyle
  • (97) E as Pictoresque tourist
  • (102) The bond between E and D is forged not through her admiration for his possessions but thriugh their mutual love of the wild and untamed lanscpae surrounding Pemberley; like with Austen, E's appreciation for Pemberley's landscape is crucial to the development of her love for its owver
  • (103) 1940s film was more linear narative, Pemberley shot in studio, D&E already friends at netherfield
  • (106) window metaphor (1940 E, 1995 D)
  • (107) D - smoldering, passionate, but repressed
  • (107) obvious sexual symbolism of invented scene D's bath room, also D cannot share E's level of communion with nature because of his pride, D's participation in permbeley outside and kindness to Gardiners is a sign of his redemtpion
  • (107) D spying n E's privacy while audience also spies

-> Weiterlesen auf Seite 111

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/465921/index.html

Davies' audience-friendly dialogue updates and supplements Austen's original text. He modernises and sexualises the characters to appeal to contemporary audiences, and heightens the drama of the source material. Julia Sawalha's scenes as Lydia are Davies' trump card for accentuating the story's soap-opera elements: her half-dressed accidental ambush of Mr Collins, her outrageous flirting, and her delight in living 'in sin' in London. Davies adds a few sexual fireworks of his own invention, most famously in the scene in which Darcy encounters Elizabeth still dripping wet from the lake. The combination of fiery temper, wit and passion of Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) and the arrogance and smouldering looks of Darcy (Colin Firth) ensure the sparks keep flying.

Pride and Prejudice was a cultural phenomenon, inspiring hundreds of newspaper articles and making the novel a commuter favourite.

http://www.welt.de/print-welt/article664133/Ein_182_Jahre_alter_Fernseh-Strassenfeger.html

Experten analyierten das Phänomen dieser neuen Droge für die Massen als Flucht aus der Wirklichkeit und Nostalgie-Bedürfnis. Aber auch als Begegnung mit einer noch intakten Gesellschaft samt Sittenkodex oder zumindest Spielregeln.

Es gab auch kritische Analysen des schönen Scheins, der die Massen verzauberte. Romancier Malcolm Bradbury ("The History Man") meinte, die BBC habe an einer "harten sozialen Tragödie" vorbeiinszeniert. "Es geht doch darum, wie eine dümmliche, aber freche Mutter drei ihrer Töchter unter die Haube bringt, von denen eine ständig kichert und flirtet, die andere blöde schwärmt und die dritte hämisch grinst."

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/850/43807/print.html

SZ: Sie haben dieses Interview tatsächlich so geführt? Inklusive des ganzen Hinundher um das nasse Hemd, das Sie als Mr. Darcy in „Stolz und Vorurteil“ anhatten?

Firth: Das ist wirklich, was gesagt wurde! Ich hatte Helen da aber schon getroffen, ich kannte die Kolumne. Das Interview war witziger, als ich es mir vorgestellt hatte. Ich dachte aber nie, dass es etwas mit mir zu tun hatte. Ich glaube, eine solche Szene ist für den Film auch einmal geschrieben worden – mit einem anderen Schauspieler natürlich, ich bin ja schon als Mark im Film. Aber es wurde nicht gemacht ... Aber ich habe von den frühen Versionen des Drehbuchs nichts gesehen – man verliert immer gute Ideen zugunsten von anderen Ideen, die auch gut sind. Ich denke, in diesem Fall hat sich der Film so weit vom Buch wegentwickelt, dass man nicht mehr von einer Verfilmung reden kann.

SZ: Fanden Sie es schmeichelhaft, dass die literarische Bridget für Ihre Leinwandversion des Mark Darcy schwärmt?

Firth: Ich glaube nicht, dass sich Helen für Colin Firth interessiert. Sie nennt mich immer Mr. Darcy, wenn ich sie treffe, und ich glaube die ganze Sache bezieht sich nur auf den Mr. Darcy, den ich in „Stolz und Vorurteil“ gespielt habe. Mit mir hat das gar nichts zu tun, Mr. Darcy ist mir nicht ähnlich, und sie weiß das. Glaube ich. Er hat wirklich nichts mit mir zu tun – als ich die Rolle annahm, haben mir eine ganze Reihe von Leuten abgeraten, weil dieses Finstergrüblerische mir nicht ähnlich sei.

SZ: Sie spielen ihn aber in den Bridget-Jones-Filmen einfach weiter, er ist eine modernisierte Variante.

Firth: Na klar. Ich hab einfach die Rolle wieder aufgenommen. Beim ersten Mal war das Satire, es war ein Gag, als Mr. Darcy zurückzukommen. Diesmal haben wir es noch weiter getrieben. Aber es ist eigentlich Bridgets Geschichte, ich bin nur ein Instrument in Bridgetworld. Ein männliches Abziehbild, das sich eine Frau ausgedacht hat. In den meisten Stücken und Filmen, bei Shakespeare, in fast allen klassischen Dramen, sind die Männer die Protagonisten, geschaffen von Männern. In den letzten Jahren habe ich plötzlich Rollen gespielt, die Frauen sich ausgedacht haben. Da bin ich gar nicht der Protagonist. Wir haben uns vorhin über Vermeer unterhalten – auch diese Rolle ist ein Mann aus dem Blickwinkel einer Frau. Ich werde da sehr distanziert betrachtet. Es ist spannend, das zu machen, Bridget hat zwei Versionen eines Traums vom Geliebtwerden, von romantischer Erregung und Intimität und Sicherheit. Daniel ist die eine Version, da geht es um Charme und Abenteuer und Sex. Und Mark ist der Typ, bei dem sie sich sicher fühlt. Ich bin mir sehr bewusst, dass ich da sozusagen von außen nach innen geschrieben und geschaffen wurde. Und ich glaube, das ist bei Jane Austen genauso – die hat nie versucht, die Motive eines männlichen Charakters zu beschreiben, höchstens so, wie es sich in Frauensicht darstellt. Es gibt bei ihr nie Szenen, in denen Männer unter sich sind – weil sie nicht gewusst hätte, was da passiert.

SZ: Fühlen Sie sich zu Jane Austen und Vermeer mehr hingezogen als zu Komödien wie „What a Girl Wants“?

Firth: Ich fühle mich da wohler. Das ist interessantere Arbeit. Bei einer Komödie wie „What a Girl Wants“ gibt es kaum Hausaufgaben.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010413/ai_n14381512

Six years ago - on 28 February 1995, to be precise - a new column by the writer Helen Fielding (left) first appeared in The Independent. There was little fanfare at the time but, over the coming months, The Diary of Bridget Jones went on to develop an unprecedented cult following. Eventually, of course, the column was turned into a best-selling book, and now it's a major new movie, too

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/09/02/bfpride02.xml (comparison of all BBC productions and more)

1940

screenplay was based on a stage version as much as the original book, so this was not an especially faithful adaptation.

The New Yorker found it "happy and carefree", but complained that it felt "more Dickens than Austen". Others bridled at the insertion of a carriage race and the US Civil War-era costumes straight from Gone With the Wind. Nevertheless, it remains the book's standard-bearer on the big screen.

1995

The most famous adaptation of all starred a dripping-wet Colin Firth emerging from a lake and into the hearts of the female population. More than 10 million viewers tuned in to see Firth's Darcy and Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth tie the knot. Video sales shot through the roof, despite complaints about Andrew Davies's liberties with the script. The production also had a unique Austen connection - Anna Chancellor, who played Caroline Bingley, is a distant relative of the author.

2001

Bridget Jones's Diary was the first modern reinterpretation of the story. Based on Helen Fielding's newspaper column, the film saw singleton Bridget choose between Hugh Grant's Daniel (the Wickham character) and Mark Darcy, played by none other than Colin Firth.

2003

Just as Clueless retold the story of Emma within an American high school, the little-known Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy saw Elizabeth Bennet as a college student, sharing a flat with her buddies Jane, Mary, Kitty and Lydia and forced to choose between roguish Wickham and young businessman Darcy. This idiosyncratic adaptation was made by and for Mormons. Fortunately, the filmmakers avoid the temptation to resolve the romantic tension between Darcy, Lizzie and the Bingley sisters by joining them together in a polygynous relationship.

2004

Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha fused Bollywood and Regency for Bride and Prejudice, a colourful, light-hearted tale of the unmarried Bakshi girls and their relationships with William Darcy and Balraj Bingley. To get the flavour of this caste-meets-class comedy, consider that Austen's "truth universally acknowledged" was replaced by a Grease-style musical number built around one of Chadha's father's sayings - "No life without wife". Despite the presence of Aishwarya Rai, one of Bollywood's biggest stars, the film failed to impress at the international box office.

2005

It's back to basics for this adaptation, the first film to use the original setting since 1940. Keira Knightley and Spooks's Matthew Macfadyen step into the petticoats and breeches of Elizabeth and Darcy, joined by an impressive cast that includes Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn. Although shot on location at an array of England's finest country houses, the film's makers have made much of their version's grittier, "muddy-hemmed" aesthetic, with make-up toned down and realism to the fore. This hasn't stopped them sneaking in dramatic scenes atop Peak District cliffs - not a notable feature of the original book.

http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol22no1/salber.html (compares Bridget Jones to P&P and Persuasion)

Fielding sees the connection between Austen’s youth-oriented culture and its attendant problems of finding suitable mates and Bridget Jones’s contemporary singles scene. An astute observer of today’s mating rituals, Fielding is straightforward in connecting her novels to Austen’s: “I shamelessly stole the plot from Pride and Prejudice for the first book. I thought it had been very well market-researched over a number of centuries and she probably wouldn’t mind” (Daily Telegraph 11/20/99).As for the sequel, she says, “I borrowed quite a bit from Persuasion for this book too, there’s a Benwick character and persuasion is one of the themes; Anne Wentworth was persuaded out of a relationship by her elders. Bridget is persuaded out of a relationship by—ironically enough—too many self-help books about how to improve your relations” (Daily Telegraph 11/20/99).

Even without Fielding’s admission that she does not suffer from the anxiety of influence, Austen fans would immediately recognize the parallels between plot episodes and characterizations. In her first diary entry, Bridget writes of her encounter with a Mr. Mark Darcy at Una and Geoffrey Alconbury’s New Year's Day Turkey Curry Buffet: “It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party” (Bridget Jones's Diary 9, 12). According to Bridget’s mother, Mr. Darcy is “‘one of those top-notch barristers. Masses of money’” (9).And though it is near the close of the 20th century, “in manner of” (to use one of Bridget’s favorite phrases) Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Jones is desperately trying to get her daughter married. Mr. Darcy, available, rich, successful, the son of old friends, is her number one target. As part of her matchmaking strategy, Mrs. Jones has been planning to have Bridget and Mark meet at this very Turkey Curry Buffet, a contemporary analogue to the Meryton assembly. Alas, by Bridget’s frank, humorous, and accurate estimation, the result is a “day of horror” (9).Her first impressions? “Mark Darcy . . . Yuk . . . clearly odd” (11, 13).

Fielding’s deliberate weaving of the plots, characters, and themes of Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion into her own novels is hardly unique. The movie Clueless did much the same with Austen’s Emma. Art imitating art. But Fielding cleverly raises the ante, working at a more self-consciously intertextual level: art imitating art imitating art. For example, she portrays Bridget and her friends Jude and Sharon as obsessed with the BBC’s 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice. Bridget writes:

Just nipped out for fags prior to getting changed ready for BBC Pride and Prejudice. Hard to believe there are so many cars out on the roads. Shouldn’t they be at home getting ready? Love the nation being so addicted. The basis of my own addiction, I know, is my simple human need for Darcy to get off with Elizabeth . . . . They are my chosen representatives in the field of shagging, or, rather, courtship(215).

And just after the broadcast, she writes,

Jude just called and we spent twenty minutes growling, “Fawaw, that Mr. Darcy.” I love the way he talks, sort of as if he can’t be bothered. Ding-dong! Then we had a long discussion about the comparative merits of Mr. Darcy and Mark Darcy, both agreeing that Mr. Darcy was more attractive because he was ruder but that being imaginary was a disadvantage that could not be overlooked. (215)

The difficulty in separating the real, that is, the Austenian prototype, from the imagined appears again when Bridget confronts the real life affair between the Pride and Prejudice costars Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle:

I stumbled upon a photograph in the Standard of Darcy and Elizabeth, hideous, dressed as modern-day luvvies, draped all over each other in a meadow: she with blond Sloane hair, and linen trouser suit, he in striped polo neck and leather jacket with a rather unconvincing moustache. Apparently they are already sleeping together. That is absolutely disgusting. Feel disoriented and worried, for surely Mr. Darcy would never do anything so vain and frivolous as to be an actor and yet Mr. Darcy is an actor. Hmmm. All v. confusing (216).

Several times in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, when reality is getting them down, Bridget, Jude, and Sharon pop the Pride and Prejudice video into the VCR to drool over Mr. Darcy emerging from the lake at Pemberley, dripping wet in a sexy white shirt (35, 90-1).The fixation culminates with Bridget landing a freelance assignment (she is a broadcast journalist) to interview none other than Mr. Firth. To prepare, she watches the video of this diving scene fifteen times (125).The resultant interview is hilarious since Bridget, absurdly, cannot get beyond the sexy dripping white shirt(135-43).

Adding yet another self-referential layer to the intertextual complexity, Fielding and company have hired Colin Firth to play the role of Mark Darcy in next year’s film of Bridget Jones’s Diary (Mcdaid 6/9/00).One can only wonder if the parodies and intertextual jokes will end there. In a film of the sequel, will Mr. Firth be called upon to play himself in the interview, as well as the Mark Darcy character?

Austen, Jane.Persuasion.Ed. R.W. Chapman.3rd ed.Oxford: OUP, 1933-1969. Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. New York: Viking, 2000.. New York: Viking, 2000.. New York: Viking, 2000. Austen, Jane.Pride and Prejudice.Ed. R.W. Chapman.3rd ed.Oxford: OUP, 1933-1969. Mcdaid, Carol."There's no Escaping Mr. Darcy . . ." The Independent [London] 9 June2000: 11. Fielding, Helen.Bridget Jones's Diary.New York: Viking, 1998. "News Review: Are You Bridget Jones?"Daily Telegraph [London] 20 Nov. 1999:20.

http://www.firth.com/articles/04teordvd.html

Q: We read that they were considering putting the interview scene in the movie. What do you think about it?

I wasn't much of a party to that really. It was never going to be Colin Firth, the actor in the movie. But I did see a script version where there was a scene featuring a different celebrity when Bridget does the interview and there's another little sub-plot there to the story. I wasn't a party to the decision of putting it in or taking it out really. I had very little interest in it.

Q: Is it fair to say you were quite disappointed with this script initially?

It didn't go quite that way for me actually. I was so against the idea of doing a sequel that I...

Q: Why?

Because I don't want to repeat myself. You’re constantly under pressure to repeat yourself. In film a lot of people have a lot of money at stake, and when they hire you they don't want you to display versatility, they want to know what they're getting. They want it proved. Your last film is your audition to this one, and people don't want to take risks. So I didn't want to pursue it. I didn't want to do the same thing again. When the script came through I actually thought it had some possibilities. I didn't think it was perfect. I didn't think it was ready. But I wasn't disappointed because I didn't have a high expectation. I had a very low expectation.

http://emol.org/film/archives/prideandprejudice/review.html (GOOD comparison)

The number one question being asked about the new Pride and Prejudice is: How does this 2005 version with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen compare with the 1995 version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle?

It turns out to be a difficult question to answer. The adored BBC/A&E version is consistently a popular offering on the A&E cable network, has loads of fans, and has inspired numerous writers to create endless variations on Jane Austen’s classic tale. The most notable is Helen Fielding with Bridget Jones’s Diary, but there is lots of well-written Austen “fan fiction” out there. Much of that has been inspired in whole or in part by the 1995 miniseries and Firth’s Darcy, which some have called the “definitive” Darcy.

The fact that one was produced as a miniseries and the other as a theatrical film also makes a direct comparison a bit tricky. Then there are those who are Austen purists, that is, fans (this includes the fans who are scholars) who are concerned with how faithful an adaptation is to Austen’s original plot, dialogue, themes, and characterizations.

Now that I have seen Working Title’s Pride and Prejudice (distributed by Focus Features, Universal’s specialty film division), I have made a decision. One does not have to come down on one side or the other. It is certainly possible to appreciate aspects of each one for different reasons, sometimes for the same reasons. Each has its share of compelling elements. Sometimes that means a direct comparison highlights one version as more compelling than the other for a specific aspect of the production.

[...] and a less annoying characterization of Mrs. Bennet.

The new film takes a few more liberties with Austen’s plot than the miniseries does, but both added and changed scenes for conciseness, dramatic effect, director/writer inspiration, and for enticing contemporary audiences. With the new film’s obviously shorter running time than a miniseries, certain plot elements were minimized (such as Wickham’s appearances) and some minor characters were eliminated.

As for the characterizations of the lead couple, there are subtle differences but I think both work. Knightley’s performance gives, perhaps, a slightly more independent aura to Lizzy Bennet. Macfadyen’s performance gives a somewhat more somber cast to Mr. Darcy. I think that Colin Firth’s Darcy moves a bit more in his emotions, from a more condescending attitude early on to a freer expression of happiness at the Pemberley scenes. But these differences simply make for the directors’, writers’, and actors’ varying interpretations in bringing beloved characters from the book page to the screen.

One of the primary differences in the interpretations of Mr. Darcy, a romantic hero who has had generations of women swooning over him since 1813, is the physicality that the miniseries dynamically imparts to the character. It is there in the 2005 film, but in nowhere near the same degree. We see Firth as Darcy fencing, horseback riding several times, playing billiards, striding through hallways with dogs, taking a bath, and, most famously, diving in a pond and then walking in that wet shirt. And it’s the eyes, the intense focus, look of desire, and visible transformation in them.

Macfadyen as Darcy gets to gallop through the woods on horseback at night, pace outside the Bennet house, get soaked by rain, kneel with Lizzy in just a white shirt and breeches, and, most impressively, he gets that dawn stride toward Lizzy. In either case, because the character is taciturn, his romantic appeal is expressed through his body, his actions, and his eyes. In general, Macfadyen’s gazes seem less intense but still full of quiet emotion.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/19/1097951688999.html?from=storyrhs (2004) (interpretation)

When Firth starred in Andrew Davies's 1995 TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, he became forever identified in the eyes of multitudes of adoring women (probably owing to the scene when he clambered out of the lake after an early morning swim) with the character of a man who may be repressed and difficult but, at the same time, is morally upright and devastatingly sexy.

LONG READINGS, not necessarily reliable
INTERVIEW/ARTICLE DIRECTORIES
IMAGES
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BOOKS

Austen on Screen 187

The 1995 audience wants Elizabeth to have it all, and the BBC production is happy to oblidge

In the six-hour BBC adaptation, however, a greater expansiveness and explicitness enable the development of another kind of dialectic that helps to establish the priviledged status of the film's central realationship at the expense of the "central ironies" that Bluestone admire.

188 it is in fact the reciprocal gaze of E and D, rather than the priviledged female faze alone, that actualizes their relationship and makes visible the pjases of its development

188 girls are always framed together, In contrast with the treatment of Jane and Elizbaeth, E and D (CF) are hardly ever framed together until well into the second half of the film, and when they are shown in the same shotm, the effect is to emphasize the obstacles between them. In the privaet interview at hundsford that precedes the first proposal scene, and D rarely look at one another. In the one shot in shich both their faces are seen, E is seated on the left , D on the right, each (189) framed against a different window and each looking towards the camera. [...] In the proposal scene itself, E and D's faces are never seen in the same frame until E rises to hasten D's depature

(191) One contemporary theme highlighted by the BBC film is that D must unlearn this attidue and must begin to look at E as an independent subject. At the same time E's view of D must undergo an qualle progound transformation. Here too the filmlaers propose a visual equivalent for a process that the novel is entriely internal and reflective.

(191) face flashes from different perspectives to show perspective changes

(193) piano scene Miss Bingles as physical obstacle between, actualisation of this new configurement

(193) E's face flashback to D: no softening of her expression - uncertainty about her feelings towards him. He no longer takes her receptiveness for granted. This sequence signals the transformation of D from teh 18th centualy lod of the manor to tale 20th century romantic hero. internal drama

(193) while in the BBC film the process of overcomeing such resistance (against attraction) is prolonged and difficult

('Dear BBC': Children, Television Storytelling and the Public Sphere Von Maire Messenger Davies)