Pride and Prejudice is pizza

The trailer for Netflix’s new adaption of Pride and Prejudice, by Dolly Alderton, was released yesterday. And, of course, there are Thoughts. Not only because that’s what we do now on the internet, but because of course people have such strong attachment to the book and then, primarily, the 1995 BBC series and then the 2005 film.

The consensus coming out of the preview seems to be that Olivia Colman is perfect as the high-strung, often silly, but also loving (in her own way) Mrs Bennet. More polarising are the leads – Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden as Lizzy and Mr Darcy. I’m optimistic about Emma in the role, especially as it relates to the central theme of Pride and Prejudice which is exactly that: Lizzy is supposed to be the judgmental and condescending counterpart to Darcy’s arrogance. We are supposed to not like Lizzy sometimes. She is supposed to be unsympathetic because she herself is, sometimes, unsympathetic to others – believing that she knows better than they do, a know-it-all who moves through society dismissive to those who don't have the same worldview. But also charming and witty and, of course, in the end humbled by her own assumptions. That is the character arc – and Emma Corrin 100% can do this. Same goes for Jack, and on this point, I will say that before I saw the 2005 film with Matthew Macfadyen in the role, I was like what the f-ck are you talking about, this is not my Darcy… only to be reduced to a puddle in the theatre when his voice broke at the line, “I love you … mostly ardently”. A Darcy is meant to grow on us. Anyone who expects otherwise does not understand the source material, I said what I said!

But the source material really is the main character, and that’s why these debates are pointless. Pride and Prejudice is like pizza – even when it’s “bad”, it’s still pretty good. Like whoever is adapting it would really have to go out of the way on purpose to f-ck it up. And we’re not talking about Piers Morgan adapting it here, this is Dolly Alderton, a contemporary storyteller who specialises in romance but also female friendship dynamics who is fully capable of relating Jane Austen’s classic about class, expectation, and reputation to our current timeline. I mean, if there’s one passage (and there are many) where Austen was uncannily prescient, it would be this one, especially as it could pertain to social media behaviour. We are all Lizzy!

“I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust!”

Premature discernment, as Lizzy learned, almost always leads to foolishness. Let us not be ones who “[court] prepossession and ignorance, and [drive] reason away”.

Also let us not sleep on the brilliance of Rufus Sewell as our new Mr Bennet. Those of you who watch and are obsessed with The Diplomat understand this. That closing shot of him in the trailer is delightful. And, really, one more rebuttal to all this complaining…

The series drops in December, it’s cozy season. We’re curled up on the couch with one of the most enduring romances in English literature. Sorry, sorry, sorry – why is anyone complaining???