Bride and Prejudice

If it were not for the cheesy dialogue and the many references to american stereotypee, Bride and Prejudice could pass for a decent romance.

Forgive me, I don't mean to be harsh but I found the discourse unlikeable and extremely ignorant (or satirical) of the american language, and the scenes a little cliche. I found the dance scenes a little enjoyable and I did appreciate the humor but overall I felt that the film was a deadpan for what could pass as a weak satire on american imperialism.

What I found most painful were the several references to stereotypical american life. Cokes were referenced way too often and I felt it odd that all the beverages in the movie were american and were literally called out by name. Ashanti was a nice addition to the overall theme of american versus indian but let's focus more on why the movie could have been insulting and more on the actual thematics of the movie.

That the lead was fair and blue eyed was curious. There were many references to the traditional modern woman which I found an interesting twist on the film. The film offered an opposition of American and Indian which gave insight to the actual practices of marriage in India. Pride and Prejudice would especially be interesting to transform for Indian audiences because of the ability to sympathize and relate to marriage practices.

To focus on the Bollywood aspect of the film, I felt a few of the scenes could do little better than soft core porn. The colors were ecstatic and overwhelming, the choice in words during the musical numbers grating, and the acting above all else was horrendous. Part of Mr. Darcy's job in the film is to portray himself in a consistent manner as to give light to his softer side. Mr. Darcy is not just pretentious in the film, he is also greedy, monetarily focused, and extremely selfish in the "I'm going to please myself and damn any other response." I did find the film maker's choice to give Mr. Darcy a mother, or any semblance of a family when in the film there were none. I felt this choice did little but overcast the cliched stereotype of a rich mother trying to suit her son with the perfect (wealty) daughter. I would have enjoyed Georgiana more had the actor contained a little more of the character's charm and of all the characters I would argue that only Mr. Wickham was true to character, even through a modernized version.

Sexual undertones are apparent throughout with the sexual movements of the women in all of their dances, and even the puns are so ridiculous as to leave the audience cringing in their seat in a "I can't believe they said that" moment. There is even a small reference to Lolita but not to the story, only the name. The film was in many parts close to being effective but seemed unable to make the whole connection.

Again, the soundtrack choices outside the musical numbers were curious because they were chosen to offer an opposition between American and Indian. The color did enough to over emphacize the flamboyant nature of the women which was waaaay off point when considering the subtle Austen. Also, the references to a global dating service and any sort of technical references does little but detract from the romance which was already made cheesy with the horrible one liners. All in all the romance was died and buried within Bride and Prejudice. All that survived were semi political implications and oppositions of traditional versus modern. Had the movie not portrayed the stereotypical america I might have been less insulted but I am still confused on the point of whether or not the movie was a satire on american life or was indeed and romantic appeal to the marriage plot.

To get other insights here is the review of this film on the roger ebert website
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050210/REVIEWS/502100302/1023

Note how the main focus is on the main actress and her beauty.

And for another enjoyable piece that should gain a laugh or two here is the infamous dance in the opening scene.



The women do appear to have a curious power over the men, no?