Monday, April 25, 2016

Seven Unimportant P&P95 observations – A guest post by Naomi


First of all, thank you to the P&P95club (more specifically, the two charming hostesses) for giving me the honour of a guest post. (For those of you who’ve never met me… enchanted to make your acquaintance. My name is Naomi, and I grabbed Elizabeth’s last name for the internet, so you can call me Naomi Bennet if you feel like something formal.) I have been reading this blog for years and years now – and if you would have told a 12-year-old me who hardly dared consider anonymous commenting that I would one day be featured on here, I would have practically died in awe and longing. So thank you. :-)
Having, like many of you, watched and re-watched our Pride and Prejudice, I have come to the point in which I’ve observed much more about it than just the basic things… being the plot, Elizabeth, Mr Darcy, and the galloping theme song. I’ve come to a point in which I over-think about everything in it (Is the bonnet Lydia bought really that ugly?) and I observe all the little things, from, ‘Hey, Maria Lucas is wearing her red shoes again’ to ‘The guy Mr Darcy is fencing with looks like Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel.’
Us devoted fans are very concerned about these little extra things, in fact. Here are a few of my “not important but yet important P&P95 observations.”


  1. The sewing hand.
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/1/images/cap0001.jpg
I’d like to talk about ‘the sewing hand.’ Whose hand do you think it is? In my earlier P&P95 years, I assumed it was Mrs Bennet’s – seeing as the hand looks ‘old,’ and it’s likely to be someone of the Bennet household. But then Mrs Bennet does not equals tranquil-sewing. So then I liked to think it’s perhaps Hill, the never-present housemaid. But then Hill wouldn’t likely be doing embroidery work.
Of course, in practicality, I know it was a random behind-the-scenes-person; someone of the crew of P&P95, but it should represent a character and I know not who. (Maybe Aunt Gardiner? She seems a likely suspect.)
Tell me what you’ve always thought about the mysterious hand; I’d like to know.


  1. The sleeping man with the puppy.
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/1/images/cap0618.jpg
I hate to criticize my favourite movie of All Time, but seriously – is it even humanly possible to fall asleep 1) in a noisy ball room while 2) sitting up straight 3) without any cushions or anything 4) with a wide-awake pupping in your hands and 5) with two girls at your left?
You decide sir, you decide.


  1. It’s the same dog.
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/1/images/cap1196.jpg
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/1/images/cap1287.jpg
I’m not even close to being a dog lover, but I have observed that Lizzy’s playmate came to bid her goodbye while Mr Bingley bade Jane goodbye. He’s in two scenes, the dog is. (I make terribly random observations, especially in the P&P95 area.) I’m naming the dog Caroline the second… because of reasons. (Well, firstly I do not enjoy the company of dogs, and neither do I enjoy the company of the dogs’ name-mate. And secondly, both are unpleasant to the eyes.)


  1. Mary tidies up her hair when Mr Collins arrives.
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/2/images/cap0110.jpg
Me and my family frequently mourn over the face that Jane Austen didn’t make Mary Bennet end up with Mr Collins, for it is perfectly clear (to us observers, that is) that Mary in the movie has sooome kind of a crush on our dear cousin Mr Collins. The letter that her father read aloud at the dinner table obviously impressed her, and she even goes as far as to neaten her hair upon his arrival.
(This is quite a spectacle, for Mary Bennet is not often seen doing her hair.)


  1. What’s so funny about this game?
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/2/images/cap0182.jpg
I always ask the same question whenever I see our dear foolish sisters Kitty and Lydia play the hoops-and-stick-game. WHAT’S THE JOKE. :-P


  1. Back to Mary and Mr Collins…
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/2/images/cap0508.jpg
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s observed that Mary’s who face lights up in an ‘oh-is-he-going-to-ask-me-to-dance-with-him?????’-light, when Mr Collins says he’d light to dance the first dance with… oh, oh, it’s Elizabeth.
I actually feel pretty sorry for Mary right there. Her facial expressions are pretty real. (You should observe them carefully the next time you see this movie. Like, maybe tomorrow.)


  1. Mrs Bennet’s unamused face after the Lizzy-Darcy dance.
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/2/images/cap0999.jpg
The picture speaks for its own, I suppose. I always enjoy Mrs Bennet’s ‘Lizzy-you-actually-danced-with-that-odious-man-Mr-Darcy-as-he-calls-himsef’-face.


I have many more little-inside-my-brain observations and questions – including the fact that Lady Catherine de Bough looks a bit like the child-catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sometimes and that Lydia Bennet points at people too much – but I hope you enjoyed my silly P&P95 ramblings anyway.
(If you’d like more of silly ramblings such as these, do please pop over to my blog, Wonderland Creek! http://naomiblog15.blogspot.be/)
http://www.cap-that.com/austen/prideandprejudice/1995/6/images/cap0275.jpg

(Lydia Bennet has her faults, but no-one can wave like her.)

12 comments:

Naomi Pitts said...

Thank you for having me! :-)

Rae said...

Hahahahaha...LOVE this! I'm happy to finally see another post from this blog, especially one from Naomi. So thanks.
I had noticed several of these: the ones about Mary, the dog, Mrs. Bennet's face, but I had never wondered about the hand. Strange, perhaps, that I never did, but honestly I usually skip over that part. And I had noticed the sleeping man, yes, but not wondered about it either. Hm.
Really, though, what is funny about that game? Why on earth are they laughing? Is playing that game that excessively diverting?
Anyway, this was great. Thanks, Naomi, lovely job!

Lois Tinúviel said...

Love these Naomi! Some of these I have noticed before and some I had not. I don't know why but I always assumed the hand was Lizzy's but I never thought about it being an older looking hand.

Hannu Heino said...

Thanks for your thoughts, Naomi. I really enjoyed reading your post.

I had never thought about the sewing hand. I just fast-forward the title parts.

The sleeping man has obviously had too many glasses of the vintage port which Mr. Hurst also prefers. He is not tired, he is stoned.

Anonymous said...

1. I don't know whose hand it is. Probably Caroline's since she is so accomplished and elegant. :D
2. How do you notice these things? Although I scarcely think I would be bored at such a gathering, I can totally see how that guy would choose to fall asleep instead of suffering through a ball.
3. I need to watch it again to see the return of the doggie. I think you mentioned it before on your blog. It is perhaps not the most beautiful dog ever, but it isn't horrific or anything. And it does help demonstrate to Mr. Darcy that Lizzy is an animal lover and not simply a stuck up lower class snob.
4. I hadn't noticed! Poor Mary! She probably would have been happy with Mr. Collins, but I don't think he would have been happy with her (though does he truly notice any other woman when Lady Catherine is around to impress?).
5. I don't get the humor of the toss game either. It's just another time for Lydia and Kitty to giggle. Then again, they could be hysterically giggling because Mr. Collins was not bothering them at that time. :)
6. Poor Mary again. :(
7. You must not forget about her nerves. She must have found it very vexing indeed to see her daughter (who is not so pretty as Jane, of course, but who is) dancing with Mr. Darcy, the not so handsome but handsomely rich guy who had insulted both mother and daughter (however, the insult to Mrs. B was clearly greater than the insult to Miss EB because duh! Mrs. B's nerves!).
8. Yes to the Lady Catherine looking like the CCBB child-catcher comment. *shudder* He is frightfully disturbing, but she is not quite so awful.
9. Now you simply must chronicle Lydia's excessive pointing-at-people. :)

Unknown said...

U loved this post, we think many of the things you did here!

Emily Blakeney said...

Ah yes. Very true.
My sister and I were watching it the other night, and it was one of those watching sessions when you ignore the plot and just study little details like that and laugh and bask in all your favourite scenes. Such fun!

Despina Apostolopoulou said...

I totaly agree!!Ha,ha,aha...Some of them I have already attend to some of these things, but this is maybe the best post about this theme!Very good job!!

Natalie said...

This was great!! I love all the Mary Bennet/Mr. Collins things you pointed out. I always feel so bad for poor Mary! I don't know why she liked Mr Collins, but she obviously did. :P
And oh!! I never noticed Mrs. Bennet's face in that scene, it's so funny! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for these interesting observations, I too had noticed Mary trying to attract Mr Collins, but unfortunately failed. Another one I noticed, (as I have watched this lovely adaptation so many times now), have you noticed at the Netherfield ball, after Lizzy and Darcy have danced, Mrs Forster the Colonial's wife starts eating her food before all the other guests have even sat down to eat, very bad table manners! Also who is the man Mary discusses the music with which she plays so badly a little while later?

Ari Sinclair said...

Ah, finally, a post! And a lovely one, at that:) (Am I the only one who tends to talk a bit differently around fellow nerds...using words and phrases I usually don't take the time to say in normal conversation?) Anywho, I love this post;)
1. I thought I heard a fan rumour somewhere that this could be older Lizzy's hand...
2. Well, if you're old enough and tired enough...
3. Yes, I love this! I don't care much for dogs myself (I especially don't like big dogs) but I liked this one;)
4. Poor Mary. Of course, if Mary had married Mr. Collins, perhaps Lizzy might not have gone to visit them, or perhaps not at that time, and not have run into Mr. Darcy and...oh, wait, it's a book.
5. I've always wondered that myselfxD I suppose it's just Kitty and Lydia being...Kitty and Lydia...
6. As I said. Poor Mary. Also, it's been WAY too long since I've seen this movie, so perhaps I'll take your advice and watch it tomorrow...it would help if it were on Netflix, so I could watch it on my phone:P *gasps* Let's start a petition to get P&P95 on Netflix!
7. Cracks me up every timexD
Wonderful post, and I'll definitely be following your blog now!
---Ari---

Dandelions and Spiderwebs said...

I know I know, I'm terribly late to the party, but I just had to say a few things:
1. Maybe it's Jane Austen's hand, like her creating a piece of stitchery as a metaphor for her creating the story.
2. The puppy is a stretch, but most old men I know could fall asleep absolutely anywhere.
3. Awww, don't hurt his feelings; I think he/she's a very handsome dog! ;)
4. I've often thought this too. Nobody likes Mr. Collins except Mary, and he doesn't even notice! :( It would be a win-win: he would marry a Bennett (one who actually likes him) and Mary would marry a man she likes when her family already considers her an old-maid. But nooooo! The one romantic tragedy in Austen's novels.
I don't really have anything else to add. Lovely post! :)