This week’s OCD is a recap of episode 306, “The Swells,” which aired on November 10, 2005.
Bad Will: Johnny, angry Johnny. You and Marissa are going to do it, aren’t you? You, Johnny Boy, are going to become friends with Ryan, and then you’re going to stab him in the back. Just like your daddy did to you. Ryan saved your butt on the beach, and now you’re going to return the favor by moving in on his girlfriend.
Good Will: Bad Will, it seems like you’re in the predicting mood today.
Bad Will: You’re darn right, I am. Oh the future possibilities of sex, fighting, and bad behavior!
Good Will: Don’t you ever think positively?
It is a truth universally acknowledged that movie producers hoping for a romantic hit must be in want of a Jane Austen adaptation. But what to do when there aren’t any unadapted novels left? Why, remake the most popular one! As Mr. Darcy might say, any savage can make a movie, and while those responsible for this film aren’t quite savages, they certainly prove themselves too coarse for Austen’s genteel novel.
Bad Will and Good Will are at the local bowling alley, playing a head-to-head match.
Bad Will: Maureen hasn’t been very good about watching the show; I think we should replace her.
Good Will: Wasn’t that the idea anyway, Bad Will? Not in the sense that we would replace her, but that she wasn’t going to watch the program and would just make fun of you the entire time?
Bad Will: Well…
Good Will: Right, BW. Admit you’re wrong, and let’s get on with the column.
Bad Will: Fine, but you are still a goody-two-shoes wimp.
Another movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice! As Elizabeth Bennet herself would say, Happy thought, indeed.
She was talking about shelves in the closet, not her latest celluloid comeback, over which I’m sure she’d be all astonishment. Only ten years ago was her story last told in the beloved BBC/A&E mini-series. Her first appearance came in the 1940 Laurence Olivier/Greer Garson version, and between the two five lesser-known adaptations were filmed. Heroines like her have starred in lots of modern spin-offs, most recently Bride and Prejudice. Clearly audiences never tire of her story, but what can modern directors bring to a 200-year-old thwarted romance set in the sexist, stratified society of Regency England?
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