Alert Janeite Mimi sent us an article from Kritik Magazine complaining about the Janeites who put Mr. Darcy on a pedestal.

There’s a difference between someone who appreciates Jane Austen and someone who wants to be Jane Austen. It’s good to use literature as an occasional escape from reality, but when fiction spills over into real life and we start to want to inhabit it—when we start assuming that life is a series of F. Darcy Balls and proposals from Colin Firth—it’s a problem.

Don’t blame Jane Austen if some of her fans get carried away. In fact, Jane Austen wrote a book about someone who took books too seriously. But we must protest and say that the vast majority of folks dressing up and going dancing at the Fitzwilliam Darcy Ball were just interested in having some fun, and that many of the young ladies on Facebook who claim they are waiting for their Mr. Darcy have their tongues firmly in cheek.

And who made Facebook a reliable barometer of society at large anyway?

Austenites airbrush Austen’s Darcy himself. They forget that the man in the book is arrogant, rude and in the end, stable and good but a little bit boring. They miss the whole point when they refuse to give second chances to the stable and boring (or sloppy or impoverished or slightly vain) men in their own lives.

We have some sympathy for this point of view, but it also misses the point of the novel. Mr. Darcy isn’t attractive because he’s rich or handsome or arrogant or shy or even because he changes himself for Elizabeth’s sake (well, maybe that last one a little bit). He’s attractive because we see him through Elizabeth’s eyes, and he is the perfect man–for Elizabeth. They are wonderfully complementary characters, which the authoress acknowledged. From the novel, Vol. III, Ch. 8:

She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

While we’re not entirely sure whether the slavering hordes on Facebook are completely cognizant of that point, we think that complementary nature of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s relationship is what they really are looking for. They are soul mates, and there’s not really anything magic about it.

Alert Janeite Sylvia sent us a video of Pride and Prejudice in alternate reality…

And if you prefer your Jane Austen a little more low-concept, Alert Baja Janeite sent us a video of a cartoon cat reading the first chapter of P&P. No catch, that’s exactly what it is.

Nibbles has a very relaxing voice, doesn’t he?

The Times has the solution for the credit crisis! Before investing, ask yourself: What Would Jane Do?

Courtship is a risky business. In Sense and Sensibility, for example, Marianne invests much time and emotion in Mr Willoughby. He turns out to be a cad and Marianne avoids conjugal ruination only because Colonel Brandon is so forbearing.

Things are even worse in the non-fictional world. There are many Mr Willoughbys and few Colonel Brandons. Every year millions of lives are irreparably damaged by “love cheats”. Yet, scandalously, dating is almost wholly unregulated. What incompetence or corruption can explain the Government’s inaction?

[. . .]

Having made your choice and taken your chances, there are two ways that things can go wrong. The first is simple bad luck. If 20 per cent of men with Mr Willoughby’s known characteristics turn out to be cads, then 20 per cent of women with Marianne’s risk-reward preference will end up losers. If Marianne is among them, that is bad luck for her.

But there is no systematic error here that requires correction by regulation. If women who prefer the Mr Willoughby trade-off are properly informed about the risk premium - if they know how much risk they are taking for the sake of how much reward - then the gains to the 80 per cent who get lucky must exceed the losses to the unlucky 20 per cent.

The same goes for investing in bonds. A “junk bond” rated B-minus has a 10 per cent probability of default. In other words, one in ten will not be repaid in full. But, provided the risk premium for junk bonds (ie, the extra interest earned for taking this extra risk) is correct, the benefits derived from the other nine will exceed this loss.

We are alternately fascinated and repelled.

Granada will make ITV programmes available via iTunes download, including NA07 and Emma96 (Kate Beckinsale version). Granada owns MP07, too, so it’s quite possible that might show up as well.

As part of a deal which sees more than 260 hours of ITV shows uploaded to the downloaded site, fans will have the change to pay £1.89 per episode before downloading popular programmes such as Captain Scarlet, Cold Feet, Lewis and Jane Austen adaptations Northanger Abbey and Emma to their Mac, PC, video iPod, iPhone or widescreen TV fitted with Apple TV.

£1.89 per episode? That’s pretty much the only advantage we’ve ever noticed about making those films so bally short.

ETA: This site says the films will be available “later in the year.”