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February 7th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Maybe Deborah Moggach will join us soon too!
February 7th, 2006 at 1:16 am
:snerk:
Ok, so I concede to Ms.Mancuso that yes there are discrepencies between the movie and the book. But really P&P3 is what we have to convince the rest of the world that Jane is AMAZING! I am a college student (English major thank-you-very-much) and the only way I got some of my friends to even consider Jane Austen was through this movie (one of my guy friends bluntly told me he was only going to see it for Keira Knightley…bleh). To the world the movie is the book. Yes, a chick flick. P&P3 was chick flick to the core, but Jane is not. Unfortunately Jane has to take the blow for unresearched, unintelligent criticisms of a terrible Jane Austen film adaptation.
And one more thing, why couldn’t they get Emma Thompson to write the adaptation? At least she would have done justice to the story like what she did for S&S2.
Anyway, that’s my rant.
I really can’t help but laugh at that article, the Cluebat, the rebuttal, and Mags’ rebuttal. Pure entertainment.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:39 am
Hey Lynne, I hate to break it to you but Emma Thompson DID write the script–or at least was involved in a rewrite. She didn’t want to be credited for the rewrite. However, if she had been involved from the beginning, I wonder if we would have ended up with something different?
What I wish is that Ang Lee had directed it–especially after seeing Brokeback Mountain this weekend (MUCH better than I expected).
And thanks for the kind words, they are always appreciated.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:13 am
I heard about her being involved in the rewrite, but from my view if she didn’t want to be credited for it then something in the process must not have gone in a direction that she particularly liked. I’m in a screenwriting class at my college. Something that my professor always warns us about is getting a script torn apart during the production process.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:19 am
An aspiring journalist and editor like Ms. Mancuso should have known that an article written in 15 minutes isn’t really fit for printing.
Once something of yours is printed you open yourself up to criticism of the text; it doesn’t matter what the background of its writing is.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:54 am
Honestly, referring to Jane Austen as literary trash!? There are few educated people in the world who even say such a thing. What is more, I do not think Ms. Mancuso has the right to comment on a book that she has never read. Her “defense” only re-enforces her ignorance.
February 7th, 2006 at 8:36 am
A fantastic way to start my morning. Thanks for this. I really enjoyed the article and comments.
“Middle-aged!”. Now that hurt.
But I’m over it :). Perhaps Ms. Mancuso should use a grammar tool when actually writing her dissertation.
February 7th, 2006 at 9:10 am
I heard about her being involved in the rewrite, but from my view if she didn’t want to be credited for it then something in the process must not have gone in a direction that she particularly liked.
I think she was part of the “torn apart” process, actually. I am not completely comfortable speculating, but it could be that she just didn’t feel her work was extensive enough to deserve a co-writing credit. It also is possible that it was a work-for-hire sort of situation where she just wrote scenes that she was told to write, perhaps by the director. But I stress this is all SPECULATION and I’m sure Ms. Thompson is too much of a professional to kiss and tell, so we’ll never know. It’s got to be hard to come in and try to make substantive changes to someone else’s work.
Back to the article: I was tempted to quote “An artist cannot be slovenly” but thought the work under discussion might be a better source for a bit of Jane-snark. The ability to pull JA quotes out of our butts is a hallmark of the middle-aged Austen-whore.
February 7th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Poor Ms Mancuso deserves indeed compassion for being forced (with a loaded gun to her forehead?) to write an article about something she has no a clue about.
February 7th, 2006 at 9:56 am
The ability to pull JA quotes out of our butts is a hallmark of the middle-aged Austen-whore.
If I could only figure out a way to make money doing this, I would retire from my day job. And when Ms.Mancuso can count as many birthdays as I have, she’ll realize it’s a compliment to be called “middle-aged”. (But she still deserves a whack upside the head for the “ho” remark.)
February 7th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Ha ha haha! Hahaha… ROFL…. Can’t take it… “Austen-whore”?! hahaha… I’m gonna have little business cards made.
“Sophia J. - Austen-Whore”
February 7th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Ms. Mancuso, for your information, I was an “Austen whore” long before I was middle-aged. I read the book — FOR PLEASURE, mind you — when I was but 10 years old. I also re-read it in high school (where it was required) and in college (where I chose to read it).
Your comments remind me that “PhD” does not only mean “doctor of philosophy.” It also means “piled higher and deeper.”
PS — I happen to have loved the movie.
February 7th, 2006 at 11:20 am
So, wait, if I’m a middle-aged Austen whore, does that mean I die at forty?? Nooooo!!!!
February 7th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Hey, who’s hoarding the middle-aged Austen-whores, anyway? Didn’t you know there’s a shortage?
February 7th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
“Middle-aged Austen Whore”? I’m 19, for Heaven’s sake! I hate it when other college students make such silly statements- it would make people think that we are on the whole a very uncultured and ignorant group, when that is certainly not the case!
February 7th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Umm . . . I think it’s spelled discrepancies, and it’s called criticism (a la Mags, with a side of snark). Journalists such as yourself should be familiar with that term, having doled out a great deal of it yourself.
Remember, everyone’s a critic!
February 7th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
I think the middle-aged thing happened because I mentioned my age in the comments in reference to the other recipient of the Cluebat treatment linked in the original post. Not sure if 43 can be considered middle-aged, but there you go. The whole thing is priceless in any event. I should probably be grateful for the comedy gold.
February 7th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Hmm, I guess 17 is middle-aged now
Though I must say, Austen-Whore is actually a pretty good description.
I guess not everyone can appreciate real literature as opposed to the crap they sell these days. (no, I’m not saying ALL modern books are crap… just many).
February 7th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
OK, this is my favorite part:
Yes I do read books (and I can name many much better and more worthwhile than this garbage)
OK, I’m confused. Is she calling the blog “garbage,” which since it isn’t really a book is strange, or is she calling Austen “garbage?” If she’s calling Austen garbage…well, that’s just pretty pathetic. I can call works which have endured for 200 years “garbage” and “yawn-inducing,” but if someone criticizes work I threw together in 15 minutes, I get to throw a public tantrum. That’s the old “can dish it out but can’t take it” thing, isn’t it?
and yes, I have been in journalism for almost 6 years now. While I am diligently working towards my ph.D in psychology, hoards of middle-aged Austen-whores are blogging about a few sentences from one of my hundreds of articles, threatening to abuse me with a bat, club, or perhaps a rolled up newspaper. Oh, so ironic that rational and intelligent beings such as yourselves would want to beat down another rational and intelligent being.
Really. A Ph.D. in Psychology? Perhaps she should just consider this good practice for her thesis defense.
Thanks for making me smile.
Oh baby, thank you. I think it’s pretty awesome to be called an Austen-Whore.
And because I am an Austen-Whore (LOVE THAT) I offer these words:
Angry people are not always wise.
February 7th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Angry people are not always wise.
Oh, SNAP!
February 7th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Life expectancy for women is into the 80s, so that would indeed make 43 middle-aged.
I’m 46, and I am definitely middle-aged. Twice that is 92, which is towards the uppermost limits of life expectancy.
February 7th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Well I am not middle aged, at 21 I am only what a quarter of my way through a womans life expectancy. I resent the idea that “Austen Whores” are Middle Aged. I think that a GREAT majority of the people on this site first picked up an Austen when they were in the teens or early twenties.
Austen is our lifelong love, we are not whores, we do not flit around looking for the next great masterpiece. WE HAVE FOUND IT. We are devotees, and there is nothing wrong with that.
With regards to the comments about the film. First of all, if you are reviewing a movie based on a book, READ THE BOOK!! I mean if movie critics from Roger Ebert, to Steven Hunter-The Washington Post, can take the time to read the book before they review a movie, the least she could have done is read a cliff notes.
Finally, if you are going to critique a movie, espically one based on another material, which you have not read, stick to something neutral like cinematography, or score. Even a critique of the bloody costumes would have been more appropriate. But to examine the plot is just silly, the plot of the film is based on the book, and if you have not read the book, dont criticize the plot.
Mags, The CLUEBAT was well deserved. Perhaps another round is due. ~R
February 7th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
I wonder if we might drop some hints to the Dean of her University so he/she could appreciate how a competent person is the editor of the college newspaper.
February 8th, 2006 at 9:50 am
I wonder if we might drop some hints to the Dean of her University
Maybe the Dean also has a blog-reading grandmother like Ms.M does, who will provide links to relevant posts. Seriously, everyone (including PhD candidates) needs to remember that nothing is private once you fling it out into cyberspace. (Especially important for any of you young’uns planning to run for office one day! As crazy as politics are, it’s not entirely inconceivable that reading/not reading a book before espousing “expert” opinions could come back to bite your own middle-aged butt some day.)
February 8th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Wait, so if her grandmother directed her to this site, does that mean her grandmother is an Austen-whore too?
February 9th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Mayhaps, since the grandmother facilitated our little lovley’s meeting with the Austen-whores, said grandmother is an Austen-pimp?