Sunday, August 28, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Jane Schmeyre: Why Being Emo Doesn't Make Bronte Look Any Better
Back in March, I made a special trip to see Jane Eyre, Cary Fukunaga's drippy, dark, dreary, diphtheria-ish take on what he thought a Victorian novel should look like.
Before I begin to complain, I should tell you that I have always had confidence in Asian directors having a go at British literature since I saw Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. (In fact, his direction of the film help me solidify my already budding hunch that literature was what I wanted to study when I grew up). A strange match for film, the less informed might say, but Lee, along with a lot of help from Emma Thompson, created the candle and English sun-lit world of rolling green soft hillsides dotted with creamy specks of sheep; iridescent interiors of highly polished wood, with gleaming surfaces illuminated by firelight and the periwinkle blue quality of rain-swept afternoons - all without a hint of the "let's lampoon 19th century England" mockery or pomposity in costumes, acting or settings that have become ubiquitous in period dramas. His film was straightforward, historically accurate, sober, intelligent and even-keeled in its portrayal of its narrative archetypes (the forlorn lover Marianne, the busy-body, but well-intentioned Mrs. Jennings, the gallant cad Willoughby and the slightly brooding but wonderfully pleasant Colonel Brandon). Yet, there was some quick humor, a flighty ball scene and a few crying fits here and there to appeal to female audiences. It is, without question, my favored film adaptation of an Austen novel to date, if only because it creates a fictional world that is not so outlandish to appear incomprehensible or requiring a suspension of disbelief. You want to tell yourself that if the technology for recorded image had been around a little earlier, a British film from 1795 might look something like this. But most of all, it's a positive experience.
Thus, I was hoping for the same serious, well-balanced approach when I settled in for Fukunaga's Eyre, reasoning that perhaps it takes an artist from outside a particular culture or collective unconscious to be able to fully capture the X-factor of whatever time and place that artist it trying to bring to life. I was quite wrong, as it turned out.
I understand that there was some talk of the film being geared towards the teenage audience, one that has already been brainwashed into all things Gothic, gory, bloody and romantic in a necrophilia sort of way, because the media tells them that's who and what they are. Twilight is a good example, along with the Victorian Gothic/Lolita clothing craze that takes the relatively harmless Steampunk fashion fad into new territories of flight of Edgar Allan Poe fancy: darkness, funerals, glorifying death, black, black, black garments and an overall EMO! subtlety. I blame particular people and areas of media for this, but that's a story for another time.
It seems as though Fukunaga had all of this fully in mind or at least the mindset of modern adolescents, as evidenced by the tone of the film. Yes, Bronte novels are never joyful affairs in general, but the morals of their stories are always uplifting in some form or other and Jane Eyre ends on a high note besides. This version of Jane Eyre went out of its way to emphasize the negative elements of the story, while never setting up a broader understanding of how the climate of Victorian England created or influenced those negative qualities. The audience supposedly already knows why workhouses and orphanages existed, the place of men and women in the society dynamic and where Jane lands in the pecking order of breeding, education, finance and opportunity.
What bothered me most was the acting and the fact that imperative scenes promised in the trailer were cut out (!!). Putting aside Fukunaga's relatively workable effect of only using natural lighting in both interior and exterior scenes (which nevertheless created a dull appearance - and the drab colors of the set design didn't help) and outdoor shots of small figures against vast backgrounds that communicated emotional isolation, it was the actors that ruined it.
I spent two hours in a film theater watching Mia Wasikowska knit her brows together, clench her teeth and rumpled her lips into a sad little pout. Her lines were delivered in a such a manner that the strong-willed, quietly self-assured character of Jane was nowhere to be found: only a deeply depressive, naive young girl who just stares at her surroundings and says nothing - or very little. She seems so fed up with life that she responds to her environment with no passion, a lot of apathy and little emotion. Wasikowska is, essentially, being a modern teenager. Ok, we get it. But that isn't how Charlotte Bronte wrote this character - spoken plainly, I know, but most literature prof's will agree with me - and the actress did little to justify it.
The German actor-pretending-to-be-British Michael Fassbender often lets his Teutonic accent creep into his speech. Aside from a nice cameo by Judi Dench (who can do no wrong) as Mrs. Fairfax the housekeeper, the acting is exceedingly drab, expected or emotionless.
Worst of all, two scenes that feature prominently in the trailer for the film must have been cut out (Jane seeing Bertha in her bedroom and Jane throwing her arms around Mr. Rochester as Thornfield burns in the background), as they did not appear in the long cut. This gave a shortened feeling to the film as a whole, which proves fatal for audience members who have never read the novel. Also, other scenes from the novel which have been prominently included in other productions are nowhere to be found here. The ending included in the film is pointless, anti-climactic - Romanticus Interruptus is the only way I could describe it.
The only good points I will give to this film are the physical qualities of Fassbender and Wasikowska; they're perfectly suitable to play these characters, with Fassbender looking every inch the "Rochester" with his strong masculinity fused with a Wordsworthian Romantic mop of hair. Wasikowska is small featured, blond, short and very much looking like Rochester's "little friend" that he calls her. They finally even got Blanche Ingram right in terms of her dark looks (compared to the blonde version of a 90's TV production, see below). The dialogue, even if spoken badly, is intelligent - but what would you expect...it's Bronte! Yet, other than these small additions, nothing worked for me.
The other adaptations of Jane Eyre that I have seen proved far more enjoyable and satisfying. So rent these and not Fukunaga's. Try for the 1943 version with Orson Wells and Joan Fontaine for some true period costume drama, even if it is black and white, or the 1997 BBC TV production with Ciaran Hinds (another token actor) and Samantha Morton as a far stronger, intelligent Jane. The soundtrack is Elgar-inspired, the scenes are left intact and the ending is positive.
I'm hoping that eventually we'll have a nuts and bolts Bronte production that includes every scene, a high budget and quality actors. I'm secretly pinning for a Bronte bio-pic and I have reason to believe that such a film is now in pre-production. :)
Just keep your sanity and do not see this particular adaptation. It didn't help at all with my mood during the stress of Graduate school I was going through at the time and it certainly won't help you feel better either. ;)
Before I begin to complain, I should tell you that I have always had confidence in Asian directors having a go at British literature since I saw Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. (In fact, his direction of the film help me solidify my already budding hunch that literature was what I wanted to study when I grew up). A strange match for film, the less informed might say, but Lee, along with a lot of help from Emma Thompson, created the candle and English sun-lit world of rolling green soft hillsides dotted with creamy specks of sheep; iridescent interiors of highly polished wood, with gleaming surfaces illuminated by firelight and the periwinkle blue quality of rain-swept afternoons - all without a hint of the "let's lampoon 19th century England" mockery or pomposity in costumes, acting or settings that have become ubiquitous in period dramas. His film was straightforward, historically accurate, sober, intelligent and even-keeled in its portrayal of its narrative archetypes (the forlorn lover Marianne, the busy-body, but well-intentioned Mrs. Jennings, the gallant cad Willoughby and the slightly brooding but wonderfully pleasant Colonel Brandon). Yet, there was some quick humor, a flighty ball scene and a few crying fits here and there to appeal to female audiences. It is, without question, my favored film adaptation of an Austen novel to date, if only because it creates a fictional world that is not so outlandish to appear incomprehensible or requiring a suspension of disbelief. You want to tell yourself that if the technology for recorded image had been around a little earlier, a British film from 1795 might look something like this. But most of all, it's a positive experience.
Thus, I was hoping for the same serious, well-balanced approach when I settled in for Fukunaga's Eyre, reasoning that perhaps it takes an artist from outside a particular culture or collective unconscious to be able to fully capture the X-factor of whatever time and place that artist it trying to bring to life. I was quite wrong, as it turned out.
I understand that there was some talk of the film being geared towards the teenage audience, one that has already been brainwashed into all things Gothic, gory, bloody and romantic in a necrophilia sort of way, because the media tells them that's who and what they are. Twilight is a good example, along with the Victorian Gothic/Lolita clothing craze that takes the relatively harmless Steampunk fashion fad into new territories of flight of Edgar Allan Poe fancy: darkness, funerals, glorifying death, black, black, black garments and an overall EMO! subtlety. I blame particular people and areas of media for this, but that's a story for another time.
It seems as though Fukunaga had all of this fully in mind or at least the mindset of modern adolescents, as evidenced by the tone of the film. Yes, Bronte novels are never joyful affairs in general, but the morals of their stories are always uplifting in some form or other and Jane Eyre ends on a high note besides. This version of Jane Eyre went out of its way to emphasize the negative elements of the story, while never setting up a broader understanding of how the climate of Victorian England created or influenced those negative qualities. The audience supposedly already knows why workhouses and orphanages existed, the place of men and women in the society dynamic and where Jane lands in the pecking order of breeding, education, finance and opportunity.
What bothered me most was the acting and the fact that imperative scenes promised in the trailer were cut out (!!). Putting aside Fukunaga's relatively workable effect of only using natural lighting in both interior and exterior scenes (which nevertheless created a dull appearance - and the drab colors of the set design didn't help) and outdoor shots of small figures against vast backgrounds that communicated emotional isolation, it was the actors that ruined it.
I spent two hours in a film theater watching Mia Wasikowska knit her brows together, clench her teeth and rumpled her lips into a sad little pout. Her lines were delivered in a such a manner that the strong-willed, quietly self-assured character of Jane was nowhere to be found: only a deeply depressive, naive young girl who just stares at her surroundings and says nothing - or very little. She seems so fed up with life that she responds to her environment with no passion, a lot of apathy and little emotion. Wasikowska is, essentially, being a modern teenager. Ok, we get it. But that isn't how Charlotte Bronte wrote this character - spoken plainly, I know, but most literature prof's will agree with me - and the actress did little to justify it.
The German actor-pretending-to-be-British Michael Fassbender often lets his Teutonic accent creep into his speech. Aside from a nice cameo by Judi Dench (who can do no wrong) as Mrs. Fairfax the housekeeper, the acting is exceedingly drab, expected or emotionless.
Worst of all, two scenes that feature prominently in the trailer for the film must have been cut out (Jane seeing Bertha in her bedroom and Jane throwing her arms around Mr. Rochester as Thornfield burns in the background), as they did not appear in the long cut. This gave a shortened feeling to the film as a whole, which proves fatal for audience members who have never read the novel. Also, other scenes from the novel which have been prominently included in other productions are nowhere to be found here. The ending included in the film is pointless, anti-climactic - Romanticus Interruptus is the only way I could describe it.
The only good points I will give to this film are the physical qualities of Fassbender and Wasikowska; they're perfectly suitable to play these characters, with Fassbender looking every inch the "Rochester" with his strong masculinity fused with a Wordsworthian Romantic mop of hair. Wasikowska is small featured, blond, short and very much looking like Rochester's "little friend" that he calls her. They finally even got Blanche Ingram right in terms of her dark looks (compared to the blonde version of a 90's TV production, see below). The dialogue, even if spoken badly, is intelligent - but what would you expect...it's Bronte! Yet, other than these small additions, nothing worked for me.
The other adaptations of Jane Eyre that I have seen proved far more enjoyable and satisfying. So rent these and not Fukunaga's. Try for the 1943 version with Orson Wells and Joan Fontaine for some true period costume drama, even if it is black and white, or the 1997 BBC TV production with Ciaran Hinds (another token actor) and Samantha Morton as a far stronger, intelligent Jane. The soundtrack is Elgar-inspired, the scenes are left intact and the ending is positive.
I'm hoping that eventually we'll have a nuts and bolts Bronte production that includes every scene, a high budget and quality actors. I'm secretly pinning for a Bronte bio-pic and I have reason to believe that such a film is now in pre-production. :)
Just keep your sanity and do not see this particular adaptation. It didn't help at all with my mood during the stress of Graduate school I was going through at the time and it certainly won't help you feel better either. ;)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
I never wrote...
1. My review of Jane Eyre
2. The rest of my London story (or that is, I never got it spruced up enough to publish!)
Never fear, kids. I'm going to finish what I started. Count on this by at least the 22nd. ;)
My apologies and I shall soon return. <3
2. The rest of my London story (or that is, I never got it spruced up enough to publish!)
Never fear, kids. I'm going to finish what I started. Count on this by at least the 22nd. ;)
My apologies and I shall soon return. <3
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Interesting bit on 15th century armor and how it affected the end results of the battlefield:
http://ping.fm/8nyc1
http://ping.fm/8nyc1
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