Men and Jane Austen

[olde_fashioned]

I know that most men abhor Jane Austen, and that precious few are able to appreciate her. Someone kindly informed me of this article, and I'm linking it here for your amusment.

I’m way too masculine to enjoy Jane Austen

I'm still trying to figure out which is more hilarious -- the article itself, or the various comments. Check out Comment #7:


My wife recently cajoled me into watching Pride and Prejudice with her.

What utter agony. This was the BBC produced version, you know, the one that is like 36 hours long?

I was amazed as I watched her laugh and weep at this silly movie ( I wept too, but only out of self-pity). Nothing better reveals the differences between man and woman than this movie. She was entranced and enthralled- I was bored and listless.

Only after this experience was complete did I learn that there is a Hollywood version of the film which inflicts the entire torture in less than two hours.


Oh, and one very clever woman posted this:

Austin: capital of Texas

Austen: surname of Jane

Thank you

I think that is just so wickedly funny I just had to make an icon out of it because it drives me up the wall when people misspell her name.



Yes. I know. I'm bad.

Comments

[ladyneferankh.livejournal.com]

Hahaha--this is so hilarious! Thanks for posting!

P.S.
And no, you're not bad--just um... entertaining?

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

Haha. Thanks.

[iane-grey.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many people have heard of Jane Austen, in contrast to- blast- what was his name again?

*loathes all Austen dissenters*

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

HA! Good point! Take THAT, Austen haters!

I wish there was a 36-hour P&P. :-(

[parelle.livejournal.com]

I got lucky: elwe not only has a copy of aforementioned 6 hour P&P, started a project to make a P&P audiobook (around the time we became LJ friends), is willing (and enjoying!) reading Northanger Abbey aloud with me, but also considered liking Pride and Prejudice a necessary requirement in a girlfriend :) *grins*

That said, the most heroic thing I've ever heard a man do for his wife was that elwe's dad watched Marie Antoinette in theaters. So I think some indulgences run in the family, at least somewhat.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Oooooh!! Lucky girl!

My family endures my taste in movies and my brother even read P&P last summer. :-)

[cosmoblue15.livejournal.com]

That is a fantastic Icon.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

My husband likes the BBC P&P, especially mr Bennett (who doesn't?) and my firend herzeloyde's bf went with us to see Marie Antoinette in the cinema on his own accord, but then he really interested in films.

/Eva

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

My dad likes that one, too, and I think he also likes Mr. Bennet.

[retro-dame.livejournal.com]

No matter how the plots seemed repetitive to some people, classic literature is always better than most newly written books. They were good enough to survive for hundreds of years.

I don't think you're bad. I know what bad means regarding typos. I was posting a comment on a racist topic in a forum and I didn't type the name of the person I was talking to right, so he said "First, my name is Mason not Manson. Second, ST*U!" or so... I don't remember what he said exactly, but he was horribly mean; a typical racist. :/

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Amen to that!!

Racism is different from misspelling an author's name. That's awful that someone would speak that way.

[littleflower518.livejournal.com]

I say we flog them!!! lol

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's too painless!! I say we chain them to a chair and prop their eyes open while they have to watch the entire Jane Austen Season on PBS. LOL!!

[littleflower518.livejournal.com]

Grand idea!!
(I can't wait! I have the schedule on my fridge!!)
Have a nice week!
Lindy

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

LOL! You're cute! I should print one out, too. ;-P

You too, Lindy! (BTW -- how are you doing on watching costume dramas? lol.)

[modernmorland.livejournal.com]

Oh, the myriad occasions when just such an icon is appropriate in my day-to-day life! I second being driven up the wall whenever someone--particularly anybody who claims a familiarity with Austen solely through the film adaptations--cannot spell her name.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

LOL! I feel exactly the same way. It's why I just HAD to make it. ;-)

Or they spell it "Elisabeth" or "Darcey" or "Pemberly" or "Bennett"!! ARG!!!!

[modernmorland.livejournal.com]

Yes! "Bennett" really bothers me, as does "Moreland," which is all too common even among genuine Austen readers. Grrr....

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Or how about "Eleanor Dashwood" and "Elinor Tilney"????? *bangs head on wall*

[einaphets.livejournal.com]

Funny! You have to appreciate the difference in the sexes. My review of a Fistful of Dollars would come off as equally snide, lol.

*LOVE* the icon! I'm actually an Austinite! Can I snerch it?

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's true. But there are some "guy" movies I enjoy very much. Master & Commander is just one example. ;-)

Thank you! And of course you may! Be my guest!

[einaphets.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I like all genres of movies actually. There's no 'type' I don't like. Those spaghetti westerns just make me crazy, lol.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

I don't like horror or sci-fi very much. OR spaghetti westerns. Zzz. I love regular westerns though. Like Louis L'amour! :-D

[einaphets.livejournal.com]

I don't like horror or sci-fi very much.

Argh! *clasps hand to heart in horror* Not like scifi? lol

It is my Battlestar Galactica addiction that brought me to the world of fandom and LJ.

I'd be kicked out of Texas if I didn't love westerns. :)

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Well, my dad was kind of really really into it for a while, so I probably just got burned out. ;-) Plus I don't like it when they're silly or unrealistic.

I came to LJ because I wanted to make icons. lol.

Ooooh, you're from Texas? Some of my ancestors are from there. :-D

[goingofthings.livejournal.com]

great icon :)

My dad loves the BBC version of P&P but I think he's the only man I know that does.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

My dad and brother admit to liking it. :-) My brother read the book, as well.

[sabrinafair2.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a pet peeve I have when people misspell her name! I want to shout it's AustEn...any way I think the guy did have some valid points. I love all of Jane Austen's works, but they do tend to fall in a similar pattern. I also think that some women tend to see getting married as their *one* purpose in their life and in their dreams and wishes it would always end as one of JA's novels.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Me too, me too!

Similar pattern? Most love stories could be boiled down to the same basic plot. Even North & South has been called a Victorian P&P. I think it's rather a lack of imagination. ;-)

I would like very much to get married and have a family someday.

[midenianscholar.livejournal.com]

Ha!

Again - HA!

Loved that.

P&P was showing on an airplane when my dad was flying home from being overseas a month. He said he turned in his headphones and went to sleep, since he's "seen it a thousand times". Um, was he watching it without me...? Because he only entered and exited the room for about five minutes whenever I watch it.

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

:-D

Hmmm. It's interesting how that works when you don't like something and don't want to see it more than once or twice, but when you love it you can't get enough of it!

[oldfashioned84.livejournal.com]

lol very amusing, and I love the icon!

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-D

[kari.livejournal.com]

My dad enjoyed both Pride and Prejudice and North and South, but he's an unusually awesome example of the male gender. :)

[olde-fashioned.livejournal.com]

That's great! My family doesn't dislike P&P, but they all agree that N&S is better.