#the guy who reads 19th century trash novels for fun?

[rezingrave]

Will never forgive the first Vampire Hunter D novel for establishing the main female character as a cool action girl with a distinct weapon, have her spend the whole novel getting pushed around by guys and not being able to fight them, and then in the final act she gets mind controlled by the villain and instead of a tense and emotional fight between her and D she stands in the corner and does nothing.

[televinita]

Little Women (2019): Thoughts

REQUIRED READING: the prequel post about my background going in to this film.

SNAPSHOT VERSION: Though I have some casting qualms, and may adjust my opinions after I reread the book, mostly I think this is everything my heart has needed since the magic of the ‘94 movie was broken for me. My heart is very full.

FULL VERSION: Twice as long as the prequel post (a.k.a. 1800 words), starts below.

I did not expect LW to be the first Unexpected Comeback Fandom of 2020 (or a comeback fandom ever, really), but here I am, having spent every day since I saw this film mooning about this story and looking up different editions and supplemental books in the library catalog, so I'd better process how I feel about it while the memories are relatively fresh.

Most of my thoughts are on casting rather than specific scenes because like I said, I can’t remember the book super well, so I’d like to get my movie memories to fade so that the book can surprise me. Also because I think I will have a more in-depth post about them when I watch the film a 2nd time, whether that’s in theaters or on DVD. But here’s what I’ve got for now.

ON CASTING

In no particular order --

* Emma Watson is very pretty but it is so hard to take her seriously as an actress. She's just Emma Watson, Famous For Being In Harry Potter and Getting Hired For Other Big Name Projects. I feel like she's so consciously acting all the time. She made a not-terrible Meg, I guess? No worse than she made a Belle. But it was roughly as hilarious watching her try to be a mother now as it was watching her try to be a mother in the last Harry Potter movie. To the point that I just kept hearing the "Damn! I'm SO maternal!" song playing as her theme in the background at all times. * I realized 6 days prior to seeing the movie that Florence Pugh is recognizable because she's in Midsommar and honestly, that just ruined everything for me. I didn't even see that film, I just know it's gross and I would hate it and while she is not tainted forever like the 50 Shades actors, she is definitely too tainted for Little Women. Also I could not stop thinking about how I associate Amy with being very dainty and prim and Florence, while perfectly lovely, is not. * Laura Dern was kind of strangely modern and kooky for Marmee, but I love her as an actress and I loved that she was just like "HELLO STRANGE NEIGHBOR BOY, COME BE MY FIFTH CHILD." So I was OK with that. * ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH BOB ODENKIRK. What kind of anachronistic garbage. What crack were you on, because it was obviously not the good stuff. "Did I stumble into an SNL parody??" I wondered more than once. * Meryl Streep as Aunt March was AMAZING. Ten Oscars. * Beth consistently looked younger than Amy, so that was weird. She was okay but kind of childlike, and failed to make Beth my favorite like she is in the book. * JO! Saoirse Ronan is by far my favorite actress in this set, but I didn't think she was right for Jo going in. "Jo's not a redhead!" I said, indignantly stamping my foot, because my childhood-era love for this novel reigns defensively supreme like for no other classic besides Black Beauty. (another 1994 classic they should remake soon, even though I love that version. Just saying.)

But damned if she did not COMPLETELY embody every essence of Jo there is and make Jo my favorite character this time. Truly, nobody except Meryl Streep so thoroughly matched my expectations for their character. Ten Oscars, part II. Or at least the one she is actually nominated for. If Jo loses to ScarJo I will riot. * John was nice. I feel like he was exactly what he was supposed to be, which is to say kind of plain and milquetoast but perfect for Meg. I don't actually remember him existing in the novel, so that was an interesting game of "how important is this guy?" until suddenly Meg was getting married and I realized I did, in fact, have a very dim memory of a wedding from the book. I think I will like their romance more the second time around, though. * Mr. Laurence was VERY EXCELLENT. IDK why I know the actor, even after looking him up, but I liked him in this role a lot. His grandfatherly quasi-adoption of Beth was so sweet. * As for Professor Bhaer...UGH. I hated him on sight and my brain wouldn't even let me recognize who he was for like 3 scenes, I was just like, "who is this random boarding lodger and why are we focusing on that weirdo." I mean, he's objectively handsome? But he did not do it for me. He lacked the gravitas I expect from this character and his thick accent scraped my ears and drove me insane (update from the future: his accent is also driving me insane in the book, where I have peeked in at a few chapters as incentive to reread. whyyyyyyy). * LAURIE: maybe it's been too long since I read the book, but never could I ever have imagined I'd want to use the term "fuckboy" to describe Laurie. It wasn't even Ski Chalet's face so much as it was that in all present-day scenes (post-rejection), he is such an insufferable, melodramatic, pouting trash heap that I didn't want him to marry any of them at that point. (Also YOU STILL DIDN'T MAKE ME UNDERSTAND WHY HE GOES FOR AMY, so good job.**) However, I took especial delight in paying attention to all the cuddly platonic friend cuddling he heaped on Jo growing up, in focus or in the background, and I loved it...kind of a lot? The ship radar made noise. That noise is getting louder by the day, smoothing away his faults. He may have permanently taken up residence in my mind's eye as the new Laurie. ...this is the worst. Make it cease. (**update from the future, I am peeking at the book and it looks like it's a lot easier to understand both in text and when you're inside Laurie's head. He is still clearly sulking his way through Europe, but in a way it's easier to recover from. Also, I don’t have time to unpack this but as I finish the edits on this post I started 5 days ago, I’m starting to think I could not only ship Laurie/Amy, but believe in it from the start.) ACTUAL PLOT AND FILM QUALITY

+ The shifting between past and present was very jarring right off the bat, but after that I think it worked.

+ I loved the attic play rehearsals so much

+ I am so glad Jo’s shorn hair is both fleeting and as hideous as it should look, and not Pixie Cut Chic (Childhood Me wailed at that part reading the book)

+ I remember hardly anything about the book's Part II / Good Wives, so basically everything in their adult lives was news to me. Amy and Aunt March go to Europe? Jo goes to live by herself in New York? Meg marries a relative pauper? Any of this could be true to the book or just made up as an alternate idea to explore, and I would be none the wiser. That made it more fun. (NOBODY SPOIL ME ON WHAT'S TRUE)

+ It did not occur to me until just now that the part where Jo publishes her version of Little Women is not in the book (right?), but that was beautifully done.

+ The house interiors were breathtaking. It's not like I don't regularly watch period pieces, but this time there was just something about seeing an old house, like the ones I am often in for estate sales, decorated the way I always imagine seeing when I enter those homes, that kind of made me tear up. + The outside shots were pretty too + Jo made me cry with her I'm so LONELY! speech, rude. (I went into this movie thinking I was 100% on board to finally read Alcott’s sequels for their Jo/Professor content, and now I'm like 'ah damn it is gonna be the season for the Jo/Laurie AU novel, isn't it.')

+ A strike against Beth and/or the actress playing her: I did not cry about her death (in my defense I was busy crying about Jo's pain).

+ I did NOT remember precisely how Laurie & Amy got married, so even though I knew it happened eventually, I felt that sucker punch to the gut reveal just about as hard as Jo did. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR WIFE.

+ My mom said she’d heard this movie was lauded as being super feminist, which rarely goes well for me, but I thought it felt like really authentic "married women literally were not allowed to control their own income and it sucked" 19th century feminism, and not someone using their 21st century voice to claim this is how people would have REALLY talked if The Patriarchy Of Historical Record hadn't silenced/suppressed it. Nothing rankled me. I’m very confused by the people who think it says Jo is queer and/or didn’t end up with the Professor, but if that’s what you see then I guess it’s a win/win situation for all of us. + LOVED the closing montage. + Basically, at all times that I wasn't annoyed by the casting, I was feeling the same magic I did while reading the book and/or while watching the 1994 movie as a child. I can’t think of any parts I really hated.

IN CONCLUSION

Part of me is honestly kind of sad I didn't reread the book before watching this movie, because even though I usually prefer to go movie first and then get the Expanded Edition that is the book, in this case I wish I'd taken my last chance to properly visualize everything in my head on my own -- since I’ve mostly forgotten the ‘94 film -- before the new movie washed it away forever. This is one of the rare times I would have liked to hope and guess what would be shown vs. cut, and be able to anticipate the thrill of seeing the page come to life.

However, seeing it was the impetus I needed to finally take my childhood copy off the shelf (and thank heavens I have it, because the library request is backed up 3 or 4 deep for every copy), and it took all of 5 minutes to get instantly sucked into chapter 1 and feel such rapturous joy and familiarity that I consciously cut myself off and decided I am going to journal out my feelings after each chapter on this reread. So that’s something!

[cbk1000]

Jenn Recommends: Sensation Fiction

Welcome back to another round of recommendations by yours truly! Be sure to read everything I suggest because I have impeccable taste, as those of you who have followed my Chuck Tingle liveblogs are well aware.

I’m going to spend just a bit describing today’s genre, since it’s a subset of 19th century literature you may not have heard of before.

Sensation fiction was immensely popular with the Victorians because they were all freaks but wanted to pretend to propriety in a world where BDSM brothels became a thing thanks to a proliferation of corporal punishment in childhood that contributed to a deep and abiding obsession with spanking. (Go ahead, read their porn; I’ll wait.) Sensation fiction gave them a chance to pearl clutch over tea with Muffy so Muffy would think that if they’re shocked at a little bigamy, surely they didn’t carry around an inflatable sex toy under their hat to avoid the temptations of ‘the solitary vice’, a.k.a. masturbation, which, as we all know, results in insanity and death. 

Sensation fiction has its foundation in the melodramatic and the Gothic, and revolves around some sort of secret. These are not whodunits; there’s no opening crime from which a detective has to work backward, picking up clues along the way. But there is something massive and sinister lurking just underneath the surface; expect lots of foreshadowing and shiftiness as the secret unravels over the course of like 700 pages, because Victorians be fucking prolific. 

If You Like: Eerie mansions, evil Italians, and a little social commentary with your Mysterious Happenings

Read: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.   

Wilkie Collins was a friend of Dickens’ and a name you will hear a lot in association with sensation fiction: he was one of its most popular contributors, and for good reason: this shit is hard to put down. 

Collins was an early experimenter with mixed media and usually follows multiple perspectives in his books, so that all these little related threads can be teased out and teased out till you finally learn how they all connect. The Woman in White takes its name from a freaky encounter of one Walter Hartright, protagonist numero uno, in the very first few pages, so you understand that Shit Is About To Get a Purplish Hue of Real Very Quickly. It is an ‘epistolary novel that tells the tale of Walter Hartright, who encounters a woman all dressed in white on a moonlit road in Hampstead. Hartright helps the woman to find her way back to London. The woman warns him against an unnamed baronet and after they part he discovers that she may have escaped from an insane asylum. Hartright travels to Cumberland where he takes up a position as the art tutor of Laura Fairlie and her devoted half-sister, Marian Halcombe, who are somehow entangled with this mysterious “woman in white”.’

While the quintessential Victorian heroine in all her swoony delicacies is presented here, Collins, for his gender and specific social era, actually writes his female characters with a much defter hand than many of his contemporaries. Laura is your typical 19th century heroine, pale, delicate, and dependent upon her man. Her sister Marian, however, is ballsy, witty, and not about to let the men have all the eavesdropping fun. She’s exactly the kinda’ bitch I’d want at my side if an evil Italian were conspiring against me. 

The prose is dense, of course; this is Victorian literature, after all. But Collins constantly inserts little details that deepen the mystery, that hint after the subtle clockwork of the narrative ticking away underneath. Even during the mundanities of art lessons or tea, you never forget that something is at work, that every action and bit of dialogue has in it an allusion to the fact that this is some puzzle piece that fits somewhere, somehow, into the larger picture. Mr. Jenn listened to this on audiobook during slow periods at work, then came home and put it on again to give me a taste of what it’s like to live with someone who really couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what you’re doing while they’re reading. And he is not much of a reader. 

If You Like: Shifty bitches and the men who ignore all their obvious red flags

Read: Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

Meet Lady Audley. Lady Audley is kind of a psychopath, but she’s hot, so you know the peen will come marching in two by two regardless. Lady Audley, as you may have guessed from the title, has a secret. Or, as Amazon puts it ‘When beautiful young Lucy Graham accepts the hand of Sir Michael Audley, her fortune and her future look secure. But Lady Audley's past is shrouded in mystery, and to Sir Michael's nephew Robert, she is not all that she seems. When his good friend George Talboys suddenly disappears, Robert is determined to find him, and to unearth the truth. His quest reveals a tangled story of lies and deception, crime and intrigue, whose sensational twists turn the conventional picture of Victorian womanhood on its head. Can Robert's darkest suspicions really be true?’   (Btw, I’m pretty sure one of ‘Robert’s darkest suspicions’ is that he’s secretly gay because it’s Victorian England and he can’t just be like, “Yo, I want a boy on my dick” and I know you guys are reading this like, “But Jenn, you’re like that kid from the Sixth Sense except with gay people: you see them everywhere, in all your media,” but you tell me: how straight is it for a guy to admire a girl’s beauty by marveling over how much she looks like her brother? And to fall in love with her specifically because she reminds him so much of her brother? Case closed.)

I picked up this book in a Dublin bookstore on my honeymoon the night before our flight out, and I remember dealing with severe anxiety about the coming flight and then cracking this book in a little cafe where we stopped to wait out a rainstorm and proceeding to ignore Mr. Jenn completely. I’m a ho for pretty metaphors, so the writing sucked me in immediately, but beyond the lyrical quality of Braddon’s prose, I wanted to know: yeah, wtf IS this bitch’s deal? Lucy Graham is tiny, doll-like, retiring...or is she? No one with eyes THAT large and fluttery isn’t a murderer, dammit. 

If you like your trash reads with a side of Vocabulary and poetic prose, read this and find out what the hell Lady Audley is hiding. It does not pretend to great literature; sensation novels were the beach reads of the Victorian era. But it has some beautiful descriptions and if you’re a trashy ho like me, then you’re definitely going to appreciate Victorians being shady as fuck.