"Roast me and bake me, stamp me and post me..." :=} -
My Fair LadyI knew the generations of the dream cast could be a problem, but with impossibilities, bodge over the time elements. Too bad I did not consider Heather Angel (P&P0) in the part of Kitty Bennet, but, that is a risk of posting later thoughts.
Am I too cruel or harsh in my appraisal of the actresses and by appearance? After all, anthropometrics give numbers for attributes that contribute to or deny appearance. Anthropometrics is from solid science and may have been used in facial reconstruction forensics. The arithmetic averages of female anthropometrics lead to a generally considered attractive face, and by those numbers, large, wide set eyes and small chin is considered more attractive for women, and the more so of those features lead to stunning beauty.
I failed to submit anthropometrics as one foundation for my judging. Perhaps "plain" during Jane Austen's time, may have meant of average anthropometrics, even with a possible weakness in the contrasts around the eyes of which makeup make up. It is this weakness of contrast, especially in blondes, that open the door to the degrees of ugliness. Now, to be fair, forum rules almost forbid me to explicate worse than "two-bag ugly." Debbie Bowen (E1) illustrate the less than anthropometric average, and with her blonde hair, blonde eyebrows, and eyelashes, with light blue eyes, her eyes virtually disappear from her face. A large chin and eyeless face is ugly, by definition, for a woman.
It is this reflection, and the image of Keira Knightley, may make her the best fit by appearance for "Elizabeth Bennet," and I think I see her in the film. She does have more than the average anthropometric chin, yet her eyes can "grow on a guy," as they did Darcy. A girl who looked like Keira was a year ahead of me in school, and because she was kind and sweet, and smiled a lot, she was every girl's friend and every guy's sweetheart; to the chagrin of some pretty girls. We get some of JA's direction about Lizzy's appearance when Darcy say something about her being "tolerable," but not enough to tempt him at the Meryton assembly ball. To be fair to him, he may have still been a bit steamed after having to rescue his dear sister from the weasel Wickham.'s clutches at Eastgate (? IIRC).
BTW, I think my opinion of Joe Wright's production of P&P3 has improved. The casting does have some good fits, no real misfits, and it does not take long to Not see "Hawkeye Pierce" (
M*A*S*H) in Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet. My main complaints are the dinginess of Longbourn, the pogo-sticking and dancer packing of the Meryton Assembly ball, and using Chatsworth as Pemberley.
Of course Marion is spot - on when the direction of an adaption break what is defined in the story. I get on my broom about that too. Let them do their artistic license and fan fiction about script points that are not defined in the story or known about the history. I strongly suspect a good script must draw on a lot from that source. As an example, the big gigs of S&S2 and S&S3 is putting Barton Cottage near the ocean: The book is clear that it is four miles north of Exeter, clearly inland.
BTW, Jim, the BBC made Two miniseries of P&P. P&P1, with Elizabeth Garvie as Lizzy, was a five-parter, and it had the defect of Lizzy dashing from the inn to Pemberley, which she did not do in the book (she did not hoof it back from Pemberley to the inn, as she did in P&P3). IIRC, Lydia is written only as "stout," so if she is taller than Lizzy, well, that will take some knoodling... Also if I remember right, Jennifer Ehle dyed her blonde hair for her audition, so perhaps her portrayal of Lizzy has a lot of acting. I do not think Firth then was so far off the age bracket. Furthermore, Lucy Briers (sp?) as Mary B., boned up on her piano playing, so that is why she at least look like she is playing the piano (I wish they would not have used Melvyn Tam's sound track), versus Lucy Robinson (?) as Mrs. Hurst chicken - winging at the Netherfield ball.
And Tina, I think I judged many of the actors by their performance in how they played or failed their characters. Did not I say; "Julia Sawalha (P&P2) has to reflect a girl with the morals that would embarrass a fornicaterer" (spell fixed her first name)? I hope that was her acting v. not from being. Perhaps if you could have cited an example of my; "evaluation of several performances on what appears to be physical appearance alone is perturbing;" would help me understand how I have failed you.
Perhaps my biggest failure is trying to put all of this into one topic. The adaptions for one book, or even the defects of one adaption may have fit better. Covering all the adaptions for three books left off JA's other books. And the scope of JA's work and the adaptions' failures could make for a Thesis, if not a Dissertation. Maybe even make a "how-to" guide book for future adaptions' producers.
"The avalanche has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote." -Ambassador Kosh Naranek
