i offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it eight years ago.
(Source: allyoxin3)
We are acquainted.
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.
So I wasn’t really looking forward to this new Wuthering Heights adaptation. For one, this sudden wave of almost hipstery literary adaptations that come just seconds after amazing and thorough BBC predecessors all seem rather unnecessary and disingenuous. However, having been pleasantly surprised if not entirely blown away by Jane Eyre, I guess I should give this a chance. When I saw this trailer I was like, wow I am a huge fan of the Heathcliff casting (both young and old), and then I was like this film looks gorgeous and so I thought I might get a little excited. A Wuthering Heights adaptation with appropriately aged actors, what a first! But then, I realized that there was only Heathcliff and Catherine in the trailer. So, A) that gives some limited insight and B) what about Cathy and Hareton!? Perhaps rather incorrectly/misguidedly, that relationship and the “present/future” (though the Lockwood fram narrative I could do without) of the novel is probably one of my most favorite parts of the whole novel. I looked around and it looks like that’s been totally eliminated. Liiiiiike, that makes sense but… all my creys I LOVE Cathy/Hareton. So that has, perhaps irreparably, negatively affected my feelings about this film. Reasonable? No curr.
In other, related feelings, can we make a hipstery, unnecessary adaptation of Persuasion?
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
2. Anne Elliot, Persuasion
Love her! She’s the best. She puts up with a lot of shit. She’s also a feminist! Look at her, stating the female case time and time again. She is entirely selfless, and I love it! She’s a good person. If you couldn’t tell before, I like good people. You should too! She’s rational (I LOVE RATIONAL), even though that leads to some mistakes. She also tries not to let her mistakes rule her life. She’s dignified without being proud. She’s actually pretty sassy sometimes too: “She left it to himself to recollect, that Mrs. Smith was not the only widow in Bath between thirty and forty, with little to live on, and no surname of dignity.” Anyways, despite all this her rationality and timidity get in the way, so she doesn’t really take control of her destiny. Whatever, love her.
2. Captain Wentworth, Persuasion
Let’s be honest. I’m kind of in love with Captain Wentworth. Even so, he can’t be number one, because for a while there he was a total bitch. I mean, he was totally just insecure and and vengeful etc, but listening to Louisa Musgrove? What an idiot! Other than that? This guy! He’s amazing. The lowest class hero, probably, but the most regal dude. His proposal? That letter? Words to end all words.
Also, Rupert Penry-Jones is the only way I can imagine Captain Wentworth. I didn’t even watch the Shergold production before I read the book. Craaazy.
