Girl Crush: Celebrating the wonder that is Jane Austen

One of the most forward thinking, successful female writers of all time. It would be difficult to celebrate Women’s History Month without mentioning the literary hero, Jane Austen. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her work, her novels interpret, critique and comment on the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th Century. They depict the dependence of women upon marriage in order to achieve financial and social stability, for life. 

To provide you with a reminder, her most proclaimed works include; Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility. 

To this day, her work still has huge impacts in modern day literature, and the topics she articulated still stimulate conversation in modern day society. This is made even more evident by the multiple films and even remakes of her literature classics. Placing a modern-day English actress in the timeless roles of Elizabeth Bennet and Emma only reinforce Austen’s prowess for relatable characters. 

Her realism and irony was extremely ahead of its time, granting her heroines the autonomy that at the time, society would not have afforded them. 

We hope, it is not the case that the stresses of the mothers of this society is to marry off their daughters, their offspring failing at life and clearly never reaching a moment of satisfaction and life fulfilment. Shows on TV today (for instance ‘Love At First Sight’), address and highlight how this mission and motive in life is still viewed as the correct way of living and is often seen as synonymous with ‘progress’. This topic is still one for human fascination, hence the addictive binge-worthy shows such as Love Island. I am sure, and  hope, that remakes of these films will continue for years to come to  remind young women and any reader of the importance of how women’s place and power in society has changed, however still has room for improvement. Therefore, Austen remains as one of the most prominent progressive British writers. 

She has created greatness emphasised by the calibre of actors who have played her characters. The careers of Emma Thompson, Hugh Gt art that is rant, Kate Winslet Kiera Knightly, Gwneyth Paltro and more recently, Anna Taylor Joy catapulted   to success as they portrayed Austen’s’ characters behind the cameras. Featuring in such film’s greatly assisted  their now hugely successful careers. Emma Thompson and her husband Greg Wise met and fell in love in the set of Sense And Sensibility, and you have to admit, it would be hard not to. 

Austen’s characters inspired future heartthrobs of the modern day. Mr Darcey, has been played by Colin Firth (of course) in all three Bridget Jones films since. His austere, ‘’old fashioned”, gentlemanly, romantic character, created by Austen 200 years beforehand, still has women in awe today. Modern writers  such as Ian McEwan have made reference to Austen in their work. For instance, when he starts Atonement with a lengthy epigraph from Northanger Abbey.

The quality and recognition of Austen work precedes her as a result. Austen tales resonate still, as she was afforded a 2019 remake of her romance novel, ‘Emma. The third.’ Most notably, ‘Emma - the film’ adds a modern twist on the subtle comedic behaviourism of the original story and clumsy ironies of Anna Taylor Joy...as she portrays the naivety of her character Emma. The proximity to the cutesy, traditional, domestic neatness allows viewers to feel those things vicariously through the characters.

The film ‘Austenland’ ,pulls at the heartstrings of all of us who wondered so desperately to change five times a day, take a turn about the room and subtly present oneself forwards to any prospective suitor. This inspired the domestic comfort modern audiences still crave,  which derives from the likes of Downton Abbey and more recently, Bridgeton. 

At the time, her comments on society were ahead of themselves and challenged the conventions of entire societies. Helping to change people’s minds by giving voices to those who would have been silenced and heroism to those pens to date, that were not granted worthy due to their gender or social standing. 

Austen even laughs at the silliness of women’s ridiculousness in conformity in her 1814 novel Emma, a self-deluded heroine who only meets her happiness and Prince once she unveils and frees herself of the society's niceties and rules. Many people still believe Austen deserves the accolade for changing the face of fiction when she wrote Emma. The narrative of this novel allows the reader to share the delusions of the heroine as she meddled in the lives of her neighbours. Her writing was extremely sophisticated, as it told the stories through consciousness of her characters and through their understanding and interpretation of the events unfurling in the company they kept. Emma, being one of her later novels, was able to adopt a dialogue with Austen’s earlier novels, a cut above the remaining authors of the time, competing and comparing with Austen’s work only. 

As a pioneer for English literature, she left behind an enormous legacy which has enabled other young female writers to believe there is a place for their work and she carved that path for centuries ahead of her.