"Bride and Prejudice" 8/27/08

Tonight was a lovely night of homework, mainly because homework involved me watching a new movie, Bride and Prejudice. There were several interesting things that I saw within this new movie.

First, let's make some connections. Bride and Prejudice, mainly in the way that the staging and costuming was done, reminded me of Roger and Hammerstein's "Cinderella", starring the fabulous diva Brandy. The costumes were filled with color, song was interspersed as a regular part of the storyline, and it was a divine love story. This movie stuck very close to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice but in a way that modern readers can connect to the story. Both the language and circumstances are things that modern "readers" (quotationed to include varied text readers) can relate to. During Darcy's love speech to Elizabeth's character, he talks about his family being upset at his falling in love with a poor Indian woman. In addition, instead of Kitty's character being put into a marriage with Wickham after she runs away, the incident is depicted as a kidnapping with the blame resting on Wickham's character and no money exchanging hands.

Now, for the real thought-provoking question: why would an instructor start this Non-Western Literature course out with this particular movie? I see a two-fold purpose behind starting with this movie. First, this movie is done in the Bollywood style, which I haven't been exposed to before both as a learner and a movie-goer. This lets the typical American student in on an industry that makes more money than the Hollywood American equivalent; in this movie we were able to observe structural characteristics of a Bollywood film. Also, this film allows the viewer (or "reader") to observe the influence that Western life and literature can have on Non-Western art. Coming from a Western background, we don't have the same influence of Non-Western art as a daily part of our lives like Non-Western civilizations do. Bride and Prejudice is a unique combination of Western and Non-Western traditions; it introduces students to the idea of the literary world being a combination of both backgrounds instead of a dichotomy of West verses Non-West.

Until next time...enjoy and keep shining...