The same old story

The subject of Brontë novels - especially Jane Eyre - being female reads has been repeatedly touched on this blog. And it never seems to die down. One more example:

Plenty of women like Schwarzenegger pics, and there is no shortage of men who enjoy Charlotte Bronte film adaptations. But that doesn't mean there's no such thing as a "guy movie" or a "chick flick."

We are tired of these mentions. Perhaps many men won't give Charlotte Brontë's film adaptations (or whatever) a chance because they will be automatically clear-cut for them, before they have even considered giving them a chance. If more men were willing enough to give the films or the novels - we suggest the novels - a fair try they would be surprised at the lack of "chick-flick-ness" found therein. But there is a shortage of brave men... ;)

The Stone Mountain Park is holding its traditional annual telling of old-fashioned ghost stories. The ever more gorey scenes used in Hollywood are not in tune with the kind of ghost-stories told there.

At that moment, a jabbing pain throws Brigitte into labor. She gives birth to a girl.
That's it? Candles and wax and child birth? Sounds more like Emily Bronte. Where's Wes Craven?
"Antebellum ghost stories aren't blood and guts and people popping out," said Link.

It is out opinion that much of what Emily Brontë wrote can be much more fear-inducing than guts and bloody severed body parts.

And finally a new review of the new BBC adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea, this time from Ireland.

Wide Sargasso Sea, the much-hyped prequel to the wonderful 4-part dramatisation of Jane Eyre and screened last Sunday evening on BBC1, was a dud. I told you last week I'd tell you what I thought of it and, as a man of my word, there you have it, a dud.
My knowledge of the same Sargasso Sea would not be encyclopaedic but I read somewhere that it takes its name from the thick brown seaweed which floats in massive amounts on its surface and that might explain why Sunday's drama foundered.
The idea was to tell how the young and inexperienced Edward Rochester was conned into marrying a woman on the verge of madness ó but she was very beautiful with a lot of money and smarter men than Rochester haven fallen for that combination.
The action of the drama takes place on Mrs Rochester's sugar plantation somewhere in the Caribbean and all is sweetness and light until words are whispered in Rochester's ear regarding his wife's marital fidelity ó and his love for her goes out the window.
I thought she was a nice poor divil and that he was a sulky, moody so-and-so and it seemed to me that it was his rejection of her on the strength of gossip that pushed her over the edge.
Of course, once the damage was done she became quite a handful and Rochester takes her to England. From there it is but a short step to the North Tower and the rest we know.
And I wouldn't mind but I'm trying to keep my Sunday nights as havens of tranquillity in a troubled week and they deserve better than this.

Categories: In_the_News, Wide_Sargasso_Sea