Avoidance

(Source: the-average-gatsby)

itwasbutadreamofthee:

Favourite Characters -  Fanny Price (Mansfield Park)

“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be. ”

"Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly anybody to love." 

Persuasion, Jane Austen

“Jane Austen famously never wrote a scene with men alone in it. I originally had it written that way. A lot was added, but it sort of worked with everything cut down, I think.  One of those invented all-male scenes is when Bingley practices making a marriage proposal  to Darcy, so he can work up the courage to do it for real. Well, we wanted to show Darcy and Bingley being close for that moment, because they were great friends. We wanted to show that Darcy was a human being instead of being stuck up.

There was also the element of Mr. Bingley needing some coaching and guidance (though if we’re being honest, Darcy probably isn’t the best guy to ask, unless you want to insult your bride-to-be with defamations about her family). I found it appropriate.”

 (Deborah Moggach, Screenwriter)

bellecs:

Calvin Klein.

closeskies:

My darling girl, this is the real world. The only way to get a man like Mr. Darcy is to make him up. 

-Miss Austen Regrets

becauseofgay:

Thank you very much. Good Heavens. Um, I can’t thank you enough, Hollywood Foreign Press, for honouring me in this capacity. I don’t wish to burden you with my debts, which are heavy and numerous but, um, I think that everybody involved in the making of this film knows that we owe all our pride and all our joy to the genius of Jane Austen. And, um, it occurred to me to wonder how she would react to an evening like this… [Puts down statue on stage, reads paper] This is what I came up with.

Four a.m., having just returned from an evening at the Golden Spheres, which despite the inconveniences of heat, noise and overcrowding was not without its pleasures. Thankfully, there were no dogs and no children. The gowns were middling. There was a good deal of shouting and behaviour verging on the profligate, however, people were very free with their compliments and I made several new acquaintences. There was Lindsay Doran of Mirage, wherever that might be, who’s largely responsible for my presence here, an enchanting companion about whom too much good cannot be said. Mr. Ang Lee, of foreign extraction, who most unexpectedly appeared to understand me better than I understand myself. Mr. James Shamis, a most copiously erudite person and Miss Kate Winslet, beautiful in both countenance and spirit. Mr. Pat Doyle, a composer and a Scot, who displayed the kind of wild behaviour one has learned to expect from that race. Mr. Mark Kenton, an energetic person with a ready smile who, as I understand it, owes me a great deal of money. [Breaks character, smiles] TRUE!! [back in character] Miss Lisa Henson of Columbia, a lovely girl and Mr. Gareth Wigan, a lovely boy. I attempted to converse with Mr. Sydney Pollack, but his charms and wisdom are so generally pleasing, that it proved impossible to get within ten feet of him. The room was full of interesting activity until 11 p.m. when it emptied rather suddenly. The lateness of the hour is due, therefore, not to the dance, but to the waiting in a long line for a horseless carriage of unconscionable size. The modern world has clearly done nothing for transport.

P.S. Managed to avoid the hoyden Emily Thompkinson, who has purloined my creation and added things of her own. Nefarious Creature!

Thank you.

violetcrawley:

WHY HAVEN’T I SEEN THIS BEFORE

DAN HOW COULD YOU INSULT MARY

NO

STOP 

IT

becauseofgay:

EDWARD: I shall not forget attempting to thank him for making it possible for me to marry the woman I did not love while convinced he had designs upon the woman I did love. Do love. (Pause) Could you —- excuse me.

But what struck me most about Persuasion was how much it reads like a rebuttal to Marry Him, Lori Gottlieb’s controversial book from earlier this year, which argued that women should settle for men they’re less than crazy about to avoid the pain of being single and childless.  For most of the book, Anne is a poster child for Gottlieb’s theory: because of her stubborn refusal to consider other men, she’s unhappy and on the brink of financial ruin. If she would just accept the advances of one of her suitors—her rich, handsome cousin, say—she could secure her family’s future and spare herself the shame of spinsterhood. Another character—Anne’s former school teacher—provides further evidence of the folly of marrying for passion rather than practicality: she married a man she loved, and he spent them into poverty.  But though the book seems at times to scream, “Settle!,” its ending tells a different story. I won’t give away the ending, but rest assured: Anne is rewarded for her high standards.

Eleanor Barkhorn: Best Book Read in 2010 - The Atlantic