It Is a Truth Universally Acknowledged… That Context Changes Everything : All About Romance

I love to watch reaction videos on YouTube (movies and music). There is something so satisfying in watching someone–especially young people–discover something that I already love. I really enjoy when big, manly men watch chick-flicks, romances and/or historical dramas that they would stereotypically never watch, only to be absolutely blown away by what they’ve just seen.

The other day, I was watching two early-twenty-something girls react to the 2005 Joe Wright-directed Pride & Prejudice film. Neither girl had read the book, but any time someone is introduced to the brilliance of Jane Austen in any form, I’m thrilled.

However, this one exchange stopped me cold. The scene takes place the morning after the Country Dance (when the Bennets meet Bingley and Darcy) and the family is sitting around the breakfast table. While watching, the two girls commented as follows (edited for clarity):

Watcher One: Who is he? [talking about Mr. Bennet played by Donald Sutherland] Is he their grandpa? They [the Bennet girls] say papa, but she’s [Mrs. Bennet] calling him Mr. Bennet.

Watcher Two: Oh … so it must be …why is she calling him Mr. Bennet? Is that how you address your husband … your hubby? Or maybe it’s ‘cuz he’s a lot older looking than her. Maybe he’s the grandpa, like her in-law.

So basically, they were confused as to why Mrs. Bennet was addressing Mr. Bennet in such a formal manner, guessing it was because he was Mrs. Bennet’s father-in-law.

The same girls had a lot of confusion over the problem with Lydia running away with Mr. Wickham. When it was revealed that Wickham was paid a large sum of money to entice him to marry Lydia, they conjectured that Wickham had kidnapped her and held her for ransom.

I watched another reaction video of that same movie, this time by two men I would guess to be in their thirties, and they also had a lot of confusion over the Lydia/Wickham scandal. They figured the reason Wickham got the money was because it was Lydia’s dowry.

Neither of these two pairs of reviewers understood that running off and cohabitating with a man out of wedlock, and then not marrying said man, meant that Lydia’s reputation would be completely destroyed, and by association, the reputation and honor of her entire family would be ruined as well.

I find this often when (usually young) people discover Austen; their lack of context and familiarity with the social mores of Regency England cause them confusion or misinterpretation of the events or actions of the characters. And while I’m so glad they are discovering the story, I usually want to reach through the screen and shake them and say “No! This is a big deal because XYZ!” and explain to them what’s really happening.

Another group – four men in their forties – watched P&P 2005, and they absolutely loved the film (yay!). All except one guy, who, when giving his final analysis, complained that it wasn’t believable that Darcy and Elizabeth would fall in love because they barely spent any time together. He applied the dating habits and expectations of our modern times to their love story and couldn’t fathom that this was the way people courted back in Austen’s time.

All this to say, I find it fascinating how much familiarity with the time and place a story was originally written gives you the context necessary for truly understanding it. While it’s clear by the examples above that knowing everything isn’t necessary to enjoy a book (or film), I have to believe that to truly ‘get’ it, such information is key.

Then I began to wonder how it is that we obtain that context. I certainly don’t recall in any class (either high school or college) discussing the social protocols of Regency England, and yet I do know a lot about it. I suppose it is through exposure in reading and a general interest in the topic? I take for granted that what is so obvious to me is not common knowledge to others. Of course Mrs. Bennet calls her husband Mr. Bennet. Of course Wickham must be made to marry Lydia. Of course Darcy and Elizabeth can fall in love while dancing! How do these viewers not know these things?!

Finally, perhaps this observation could be used as an argument of why liberal education is still so important. Given the push by so many to eradicate ‘useless’ degrees in things such as Literature, Humanities, History, Philosophy, etc., it seems that losing this context would be more than unfortunate

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Is there a situation you can recall where your enjoyment of something changed once you had a better grasp on the context? Do you, like me, want to ‘context-splain’ to everyone when they don’t seem to get it?