the biggest lesson im learning is that nothing is as extreme or as permanent as our emotions convince us they are. nothing is certain and things are always fluctuating and there are always exceptions and there are always mistakes. there is always pain and there is always love. everything is a delicate touch away from changing
I am on a quest! For the PERFECT Pride and Prejudice cast! I’ll be reviewing the characters from one of my favourite books, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and selecting the actor who played the character the best!
Colin Firth
You know him as Darcy, in fact everyone does. In the mid to late 1990s, every woman was head over heels in love with Firth as Darcy in one form or another. The 1995 adaption of Pride and Prejudice started a nationwide trend for period dramas and excessive side burns. It even inspired a cult classic in it’s own right, “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, and in the film adaption, Mark Darcy was played by none other that Firth himself.
Lets analyse Firth’s Darcy to see what makes him so iconic,
PROS
Wet shirt
Very funny and vulnerable when he wants to be
So angry
CONS
Has a bit of a dad vibe
Tainted forever by Mamma Mia
So angry
Matthew Macfadyen
He played Darcy in the beautifully shot 2005 adaption with Keira Knightley, and then went on to star in the BBC drama “Spooks”, but other than that, he hasn’t hit Hollywood hard since. His Darcy was vulnerable and was so obviously in love with Elizabeth that it makes me melt every time I watch it. I have lots of love for Macfadyen, reasons being this scene
which is beautifully filmed and the chemistry is amazing. Oh and this moment
PROS
That bit where he says “love” three times and it’s the cutest thing in the world
When he roleplays Jane to help Bingley at the end
SEXUAL TENSION
CONS
Not as pretty
Not as angry
No curly hair
Daniel Vincent Gordh
He’s the originally faceless Darcy from Hank Green and Bernie Su’s webseries of Pride and Prejudice. His reveal on the show was one of the tensest moments of my life. This series sent me back onto my Pride and Prejudice obsession, because it was so painfully accurate and so painfully funny. Ashley Clements deserves a shout out for her version of Darcy
PROS
Very cute
Never angry
So much tension and chemistry with Lizzie
CONS
Sometimes a little bit wooden
Not really my idea of Darcy
The bow ties
Sam Riley
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. That is correct, regency deliciousness, and rotting corpses. It’s perfect. The film is relatively new, and is based off the 2009 book of the same name. Sam Riley plays a zombie hunter, weapons master version of the Darcy we all know and love, taking his frustrations and general anger out on the undead. This film has many qualities, but one of its best is the truthfulness to the original whilst still being completely fresh. Take the first proposal scene for instance
PROS
THAT PROPOSAL SCENE
Right level of constant annoyance
Totally in awe of Elizabeth
CONS
The voice doesn’t match his face?
Darcy’s emo phase
Leather jacket?
And the winner is…
Always Firth. He’s synonymous with the role, as soon as the name Fitzwilliam Darcy comes into my head, out he emerges in blazant glory and his wet white shirt. I love Macfayden because I love the 2005 adaption, but Colin Firth has played Darcy twice, and no body can top that.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube is one of the best modern adaptations of Pride & Prejudice ever. Seriously. Like it’s really fucking brilliant and I wish I had it as a supplement when I was studying P&P in high school. I love this show and this cast so much, and the way they adapted the story, and how they’ve used social media… just brilliant. Also just found out it’s actually the 5 year anniversary of the show!
Definitely the easiest to watch if you only have a few minutes here and there
This is a thoroughly modern version, so keep that in mine
Stays loyal to the story while making it modern. There’s no question that this is Pride and Prejudice
Charlotte is fucking adorable
Lydia has an amazing character arc that fits in a more modern sense and is PERFECT
Georgiana is the cutest thing I have ever seen
Lizzie encompasses the young adult in this day and age
I think they all have Twitters which is really neat?
Fitzwilliam is a joy
Cons:
There are several characters you never get to meet like her mother and father, only second hand
It is very Lizzie centric (which I like), and that’s obvious, but it means that you get more of her than you will than in any other adaptation and less of everyone else
Kitty does not exist
Mary does exist, but as a cousin rather than a sister (because most people don’t have 5 kids in this day and age)
I honestly can’t speak highly enough of any of these, especially the Lizzie Bennet Diaries which is just such a unique take on the series.
The Houses of Healing was a large infirmary in the higher levels of Minas Tirith. As it’s name implies, it was used as a hospital for the sick and injured of Gondor. It features prominently after the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Faramir was sent here after being saved from Denethor’s attempt to burn him. Merry and
Éowyn
were also sent here after fighting the Witch King in the battle, where they both contracted the Black Shadow. Ioreth, the eldest woman working in the Houses of Healing, was worried about all three, and their fatal conditions, proclaiming that ‘The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.’. Gandalf heard this and summoned Aragorn to the Houses to help, where Aragorn proved his kingship (and knowledge of old lore) by caring for them all with Athelas (Kingsfoil in Common tongue), the herb that healed them and could defeat the Black Shadow. While the Armies of the West marched on the Black Gate Faramir and
Éowyn
had still not left the Houses, and though
Éowyn
initially wanted to join the battle, she decided to remain with Faramir, where the two fell in love.
“So at last Faramir and Éowyn and Meriadoc were laid in beds in the Houses of Healing; and there they were tended well. For though all lore was in these latter days fallen from its fullness of old, the leechcraft of Gondor was still wise, and skilled in the healing of wound and hurt, and all such sickness as east of the Sea mortal men were subject to. Save old age only. For that they had found no cure; and indeed the span of their lives had now waned to little more than that of other men, and those among them who passed the tale of five score years with vigour were grown few, save in some houses of purer blood. But now their art and knowledge were baffled; for there were many sick of a malady that would not be healed; and they called it the Black Shadow, for it came from the Nazgûl. And those who were stricken with it fell slowly into an ever deeper dream, and then passed to silence and a deadly cold, and so died. And it seemed to the tenders of the sick that on the Halfling and on the Lady of Rohan this malady lay heavily. Still at whiles as the morning wore away they would speak, murmuring in their dreams; and the watchers listened to all that they said, hoping perhaps to learn something that would help them to understand their hurts. But soon they began to fall down into the darkness, and as the sun turned west a grey shadow crept over their faces. But Faramir burned with a fever that would not abate.“
– The wounded after the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and before Aragorn comes to the rescue. Return of the King, The Houses of Healing.
