Having lived through the depression of the thirties, the war in the forties, the post war terror of a nuclear attack from Russia, and all that transpired after, I found myself looking for an old movie and wondered why that thought occurred.. I found a copy of Pride and Prejudice which was done in 1940, At that time the country was not in a good place.. Money was still tight as people were recovering from the depression and frightened at the European threats by Hitler.
Reviewing entertainment at that time, it became quite clear that the emphasis was on happy endings and pleasant music. Reality was low on the priority. Jane Austen must have turned over in her grave at this presentation. The costuming and hair styles were so far from historically accurate that anyone in knowledge of the times would have shuddered. The girls were all beautiful but none near the ages the book had, Elizabeth who was supposed to be 19, in the original work, was played by Greer Garson who, was actually 36 at the time. The book called for the era around 1813 in England. Hollywood did its own version in everything.
As I pondered what entertainment should be, a relaxant and something to take us out of our dreary lives, today's excuse often falls far short of entertainment. Some people like the abuse of sadism and masochism; others love to be terrified as it kicks in curiously pleasurable neurotransmitters. I've been genetically deprived of those responses, thus find little of today's movie world for me. What happened to the joyous musicals? What happened to happiness in books and in one's off hours? What happened to people practicing the Golden Rule? I don't think we should be thinking of 'taking our country back'. I think we should think of kicking out the hypocrites and selfish people trying to control the government and the middle and poor class and seem to have been quite successful.at their goal..
Reviewing entertainment at that time, it became quite clear that the emphasis was on happy endings and pleasant music. Reality was low on the priority. Jane Austen must have turned over in her grave at this presentation. The costuming and hair styles were so far from historically accurate that anyone in knowledge of the times would have shuddered. The girls were all beautiful but none near the ages the book had, Elizabeth who was supposed to be 19, in the original work, was played by Greer Garson who, was actually 36 at the time. The book called for the era around 1813 in England. Hollywood did its own version in everything.As I pondered what entertainment should be, a relaxant and something to take us out of our dreary lives, today's excuse often falls far short of entertainment. Some people like the abuse of sadism and masochism; others love to be terrified as it kicks in curiously pleasurable neurotransmitters. I've been genetically deprived of those responses, thus find little of today's movie world for me. What happened to the joyous musicals? What happened to happiness in books and in one's off hours? What happened to people practicing the Golden Rule? I don't think we should be thinking of 'taking our country back'. I think we should think of kicking out the hypocrites and selfish people trying to control the government and the middle and poor class and seem to have been quite successful.at their goal..
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