Yesterday, I saw Becoming Jane. I enjoyed it. The BBC, Miss Austen Regrets, felt more emotionally true and this movie more of a romantic fancy, but I've never been opposed to romantic fancy. Here are two thoughts that occurred to me. They are not exactly related, except that the movie brought them to mind.Jane Austen lived a life at the mercy of her society. As a poor gentle woman and a spinster, she had little power and depended on the help of others to survive. Her work did achieve some success in her lifetime, but I think it is fair to say that the novel was not a very respected form at the time. Now, isn't there some irony in the fact that an obscure woman in the middle of the United States (me) would only know the powerful lawyer Thomas LaFroy's name because an (at the time) obscure woman in the countryside of England danced with him and mentioned it in one of her letters.
I see it as another argument for more civility and respect in our society. You never know who you might inspire or anger. They might just write about you in their blog.
Recently, I went to a Swiss Club dinner and the gentleman sitting next to me has not been in the U.S. very long. He had most recently been living in Brazil and spoke very warmly about the people there. One of his comments was that he often encounters sales people here who are not polite or even very nice and how important that is for the job they are doing. I have also had that experience. I think we in the U.S. are so bamboozled by advertising and the media to think that certain jobs are all important and/or glamorous that if you are doing a job that is not high paying or high profile it isn't worth doing well. For example, a successful lawyer would have a high self worth and a single, dependant, wannabe writer who takes care of her mother might feel like a total failure (if she believes what the world is selling) .
I like the French word, metier because it encourages pride in ones work--no matter what that work is. Of course, that doesn't ensure the customer gets respect in France--in fact just the opposite--so I would go with the expensive Swiss version. Shop people are not overly friendly there, but they are totally professional. How can we expect a person in a shop to treat the customers with respect if the customers, by their behavior, are constantly telling him/her how unimportant and not worthy of respect he/she is?
Here is the thing that really gets me: It takes so little effort to show someone a little respect. In some cases it is as simple as your attitude.
The second thing that got me about the film is this attempt of scholars (or movie-makers) to inject romance and adventure (in the film it's called "experience") into Jane Austen's life because they cannot believe that she could have written her books without it. They believe that because her life was provincial and her society limited that she could not have imagined more. I just don't believe this. Empathy and imagination are the tools we work with. The idea that she had to have a requited love to understand the workings of the heart, just isn't true. The stories of great artist's lives have proven it time and time again. Maybe the most famous being the Red Badge of Courage, written because the author wanted to win this very argument.
Why is it that everytime I end a blog, I want to say, "Now I will get off my soapbox (or high horse)?" And after I post it, I want to apologize for my utter lack of grammar sense. I went to a lecture the other night about Visual Spacial thinking versus Audio Sequential and it explained a lot for me, like why I can never see mistakes. I am such a dismal proofreader. I am trying, but it is an uphill climb. It would have helped if they had ever taught me grammar in school. I either missed it because of moving or there was a loophole somewhere. I think I will make the standard apology one of my gadgets. Ha.
