Becoming Jane News Roundup: Oh No They Did NOT Go There Edition
The New York Daily News has an article about Becoming Jane, and the opening line, well…
If Jane Austen had looked like Anne Hathaway, would she have remained single and become the beloved author she did?
They aren’t seriously suggesting that Jane Austen didn’t marry because she wasn’t “pretty,” are they? Does the Editrix have to Cluebat a bi…journalist?
Hathaway rolls her eyes at the question: “There’s no way I could answer that without sounding like a jerk,” she says with a dismissive chuckle.
That’s got to be the smartest thing we have ever heard her say.
Austen’s writing provided inspiration for Hathaway, but it was Austen’s riding that truly clued the actress into what the writer’s interior life might have been like.
“She loved horseback riding,” Hathaway says, adding with a smile. “There’s a certain sort of girl who rides horses.”
Jane Austen loved horseback riding? Where in the blue heck did that come from? Anyone have a citation? We cannot recall such a fact, but would be pleased to learn it is true. After all, according to Julian Jarrold, Anne Hathaway is a Jane Austen Expert!
“We wanted somebody young and feisty. Annie had such qualities, and happened to be a complete expert on Jane Austen.
See? It’s on the Internets, it must be true.
“I hope [the film] enriches their understanding of Jane Austen,” Jarrold offers to the audiences who’ll see the movie in theaters. “I just hope people will go back to the books and read them again and again.”
So do we; if the motivation for doing so is perhaps akin to diving under the covers during a thunderstorm, as Stuart Smalley would say, that’s okay. 
Alert Janeite Kay wrote to tell us that the Minneapolis Star Tribune had an interesting description for the film:
Becoming Jane (PG) The life of Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) before she achieved wealth as a novelist.
Wealth? She socked a little money, away, true, but…oh, wait, you have to be wealthy to enjoy horseback riding! How silly of us.
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I had the same reaction when I read the Daily News article, but mine included throwing the paper down in disgust. I’m also curious about the horseback riding thing. Maybe that was in between all those cricket games she played.
Oh, Becoming Sally. ::pets:: Never change.
Jane Austen lonely? Did Anne not read Jane’s letters before preparing for the role? Jane’s life was full. Goodness, it’s the 21st century. Do people still think that women need a man to complete them? I saw the trailer for Becoming Jane and felt myself transported to a Hollywoodized version of the Regency Era. Ah, well, I’ll promote the dang thing because my Janeite group expects me to. As for seeing it, I’ll go with some trepidation.
Er, s’cuse, the Georgian era.
Yeah, I don’t remember any reference ever to Jane riding horses. She did, from time to time, go out in a donkey cart and even occasionally rode the donkey itself, but I don’t think that qualifies!
Jane Bennet seemed to like horseback riding. Perhaps, if one insists on thinking that Jane Austen wrote herself into her novels, one could say that she herself liked horseback riding. On the other hand, we don’t know that Jane Fairfax liked riding, so maybe we cannot come to the conclusion that she wrote herself into her novels, or that Jane Austen liked riding at all. And in fact, since her most likeable heroine, Lizzy Bennet was “no horsewoman”, it could be concluded that Jane Austen did NOT like riding. Seems a hopeless business, to me.
And, seriously, I do not know of any source, biographical, historical, or speculative, that suggests that Jane Austen liked to ride. Of course, I am not a scholar.
Oh! Would someone please suggest to Anne Hathaway that it would be best if she stopped talking so much? It is one thing to be stupid but another entirely to open your mouth and prove it to the rest of the world.
In this handy book I have here called “101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen,” I am reminded (as Caroline says) that Jane Bennet rode, and that there is this line in “The Watsons”: “A woman never looks better than on horseback.” There is also poor Fanny Price, always waiting around for Mary Crawford to come back with the pony. But I’m glad that riding gave Anne such an understanding of Jane Austen’s inner life. I had a similar experience while playing catch with my son. I thought, “Yes, now I understand what was going through Jane Austen’s head.” Because, of course, Catherine Morland played baseball. But I digress. As for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as a Minnesotan I can tell you that they often print stupid things.
I went to see the film “Becoming Jane” today and was just so disgusted. I don’t know who thought our Jane Austen needed rescuing by this absurd tale but it is insulting to all women. Is Jane less of a novelist and woman if, in fact, she did not experience this all-consuming passion? I found the very premise heartless, based on the reality of Jane’s life. The ending is utterly ridiculous. The entire script was borrowed from one Austen novel scenario after the next. I get the reason for this, but it was so heavy-handed and obvious. A dreadful film.
And, dear lord, can Maggie Smith stop playing the same character again and again?