I love the movie Pride and Prejudice. The latest film version of this amazing classic novel by Jane Austin  offers me a small taste of simplicity. Perhaps even bordering on a vice, the escape from the present day “Culture of Mean” (something isn’t considered funny unless it hurts someone else) has meant so much to me over the last year, I now find myself ordering my own thoughts and words in such a way that they could come from the mouths of one of the Bennett sisters. I find myself relating every day events in life to that of the moral lessons “learnt” (tee hee) from this beautiful story. I thought it would be fun to do a series of reflections on these thoughts and get back to blogging about my faith, family and my escape into the culture of gentlemen and ladies.

If my husband notices what I am watching, he will ask “How many times are you going to watch that?” I admit my only answer is “As many times as it takes!” I guess the true response is that I find comfort in observing a simpler life which consisted of people trying to support a level of human dignity in moral accordance to their faith. If something was deamed immoral, it was an outrage to parade around the town doing it. Not something for which someone would receive an academy award. To have a baby was considered a blessing. A large family was a wonderful thing to have and be a part of and wasn’t considered to be a threat to the planet (which is not of course morally ordered to supercede the human person.

The Bennett girls loved, supported and guided each other. Five sisters, two of which had a way or two to annoy others with great ease, all educated at home with a mother and father who showed great love and concern for them. They weren’t battling the raging waters of  sports practices and extra curricular activities that prevent everyone from eating dinner together.

The only thing that crowded the closets of their modest home seemed to be ribbons. Ribbons were used for adornment around empire waistlines of long dresses and in hair,  along with one’s natural “bloom” (pinched rosy cheeks and lips bitten softly to plump them up for looks).

I have always considered January “Jane Austin Month”. I tell many friends that I don’t mind January any more for I have found peace in white snow falls, snow days, and the wonderful “Masterpiece Classics” Jane Austin specials on PBS Sunday evenings. I have made a few trips to resale bookshops and picked up used versions of the novels so I can contrast and compare the film versions with the books, and find that Emma Thompson has done an amazing job of writing scripts for both “Sense and Sensibility” (my second favorite movie of all time) and “Pride and Prejudice” (if you want some real trivia, watch the special features on both DVD’s with the director/producer commentary on!) Happy Jane Austin Month!