Some Things Never Change

So as I was saying Marianne is not into Edward as a romantic hero.

Here is a list of Edward’s shortcomings according to Marianne

• He’s not handsome enough
• Doesn’t have the right airs or manners.
• He is tame with no fire (i.e. too much of a nice guy)
• No taste in music
• Doesn’t know anything about art
• He’s not exciting

Now who does Marianne sound like? An average teenage girl.

Yep, this book came out around 200 years ago, yet it is as relevant as today. Does that surprise you?

Let’s take a closer look at what she wants in a guy. First of all she doesn’t like Edward because he isn’t handsome enough. Now there are teenage girls who prefer substance over looks, I have to admit I was one as I liked guys who weren’t the hottest ones in school, but most young girls it’s what they see on the outside. I mean think about the guy in your high school that everyone wanted to date? Were they a nice person? Most of you will answer that as no. Nope, they tended to be all about themself.

Now I’m not saying you won’t be able to find a hot nice guy, I’m just saying that sadly most girls don’t realize until after they have had their heart broken that looks are not as important as what is on the inside of a person.

Yep, the heart or soul of a person is the most important thing.

Marianne is also not into Edward because instead of showing fire and spirit, his eyes only show intelligence and virtue. You see Marianne doesn’t want a smart, nice boy. Nope, she wants that bad boy.

Now having that bad boy can be exciting and all, but when push comes to shove they won’t care about what’s best for you but what’s best for them. Their crazy adventures will end up causing trouble for you, the “exciting” impulsive life will eventually become a bore, and their free spirit will become commitment phobia. Sadly, most young girls fall for this kind of “love” 9really attraction) instead of going with someone who is stable, reliable, and an all around guy good for you.

And those are the guys that are the best.

Marianne is also upset at his supposed disinterest in books and music.

“I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in ever point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.”

Now I’ll be the first to say that I love movies, books, and music.

But is that really what you want to base your relationship solely on?

Now I’m not saying it isn’t important. I mean I love reading, it is such a part of me:

And we all know my stance on film:

And music…well

But that isn’t what I base a whole relationship on. The person has to read, but what they read isn’t as important as the fact that they are doing it. Loving film and having the ability to marathon is definitely needed as I like to do that as well. Having some similar tastes in music, mostly in they have to be willing to listen to my oldies and classics. But all this is superficial. What is more important is how they treat you.

Do they see you as equal or belittle you? Do they value your opinions or not care what you think about? Are they willing to value you and your time together or do they not care as they could get “any old girl”? Do they share the same values?

Hmm

True back in Regency era, they didn’t really care about that. It was more about bloodlines, dowries, etc. But this should be the way it is. As a person of any age looking for the perfect guy, you need to make sure that you push through the superficial, outer layer and look instead at what is underneath. See what truly makes up that person. Or else you will learn the hard way and get your heart incredibly crushed (or worse) in the process.

Remember:

So how does this turn out for Marianne?

You’ll just have to wait and see.

For more on Marianne Dashwood, go to Sisterly Roles

For more on Sense and Sensibility, go to To Edward or Not to Edward?

For more on being old fashioned, go to Treat Her Right

For more quotes, go to Adventure Time

What I Like About You: Romance is in the Air, Part III

Yep Valentine’s Day is coming up and you all know what that means! Romance is in the Air: Part III 14 Days of my Favorite Film Romantic Moment.

So pipe out the sweets

Valentine’s candy also doesn’t count.

And get ready for the romance headed your way.

For 2012’s Valentine’s Day Countdown, Romance is in the Air, go to Boom Box of Love: Say Anything (1989)

For 2013’s Valentine’s Day Countdown, Romance is in the Air: Part II, go to Language of Love: Love Actually (2003)

Opening With…

 

So the other day I was reading the beginning of Northanger Abbey and I realized that Jane Austen is the queen of opening lines

Yep in all her novels she has some of the best opening lines that just pull you into her work and make you want to read on and find out what’s coming next. Check it out!

1) Sense and Sensibility

“The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance.”

Right away you pick up on a few key words, had and was.

“The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance.”

Immediately we know something dramatically changed this family’s fortune and it probably wasn’t a good thing. Now you’re sucked in and you have to find out what happens next? Why can’t they live there anymore? Who are the Dashwoods?

2) Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in posession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

So I actually did a longer post on this, It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged…. But when you read these words, admit you are ready for the adventure of the book.  In fact this hook is one that has continued to be entertaining for ages. I mean that saying never gets old, but constantly draws you in no matter how many times you have read it.

3) Mansfield Park

“About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income.”

Oooh who is this Maria Ward now Maria Bertram? Is she an upstanding lady and we should be happy at her fortune? Or she is a harlot and we hate that she used her charms to win Sir Bertram?

Either way you are intrigued and want to know more about her and her family.

 

4) Emma

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”

So Emma seems like she is a blessed woman and everything is fine in her life. Or is it?

Sound suspicious

It sounds to me like there is a big ol’ but coming this way and that something going to happen to change her pristine life. What? I don’t know, but now I need to know.

5) Northanger Abbey

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Moreland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her.”

So here we have a girl that has nothing to make her life seem interesting. Pretty bland…but just those words no one “would have supposed her” means that she is going to beat all the odds and have a fantastic story! After all:

And we can’t wait to read about it!

6)Persuasion

Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who for his own amusement never took up any book but the Baronetage: there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed. This was the page at which the favorite volume always opened: — “ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL. “Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester; by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue, Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, November 5, 1789; Mary, born November 20, 1791.”

Yes that paragraph is only two sentences.

I know, but the rest of the book isn’t like that. So I’m sure you’re first reaction was what an egotistical man.

Ugh men

But this pretty interesting opening. It’s the only Jane Austen book that doesn’t open about a woman or a family, but instead focuses on a man. Very different.  And we see that he has three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. So that begs the question which girl is this book going to focus on? Or will it be about all three?

Hmm

You’ll just have to read them to find out the end

After all:

For more on Sense and Sensibility, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen

For more on Pride and Prejudice, go to First Impressions

For more on Mansfield Park, go to Part IX: Adventures in Movie Lines

For more on Emma, go to It’s All Jane Austen’s Fault

For more on Northanger Abbey, go to Part VIII: The Little Movie Line List

For more on Persuasion, go to Part VI: It Was Said One Night

For more on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, go to You Can’t Have Just One

For more on Downton Abbey, go to That’s What You Get

For more on Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, go to Friday Night Fun

For more of my favorite quotes, go to A Little Bit of Love

For more book loving posts, go to You’re Doing It Wrong

I Could Kiss You

Day 24) Your Favorite Disney Kiss

Okay there are a lot of cute kisses in the Disney film, but I have to say Frozen probably has the best just because of one simple thing:

Kristoff asks her

Now having a guy grab you and kiss you (a guy you want kiss you) can be romantic, but nothing beats having a guy ask because then you know he respects you and really cares to put in that extra effort.

For more on Frozen, go to Frozen Solid

For more on Disney-Pixar, go to A Mater Mess

For more on a Disney princess, go to Diamond in the Rough

For more on Disney animated films, go to Wake Up Dad

For more on a Disney hero, go to The Boys Are Back in Town

For more on Disney, go to And Away We Go

For more on films based on books, go to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again!

For more of my favorite songs, go to There’s No One Like Gaston

Worst Proposal Ever

Isn’t it ironic how Darcy is seen as the most romantic man of all time, yet his proposal is the worst? I mean nothing he says makes you want to say yes. If it was me, I probably would have socked him in the jaw.

Laurence Olivier, you’re cute but not cute enough with that proposal.

He can’t even make eye contact with Elizabeth and sits so far away from her.

But it just goes to show you, that if you fail to just try again. Improve yourself and what you say and you can win over the girl.

I wish he would say that to me! So much more romantic the second time. *Sigh*

How romantic

You just want to cry when you hear him tell her he still loves her. He sounds so heartbroken and dejected! But then blissfully happy when he realizes that she loves him. 😀

So romantic!

But you know what, as bad as Mr. Darcy was at least he was by far better than Mr. Collins

For more on Mr. Darcy, go to How to Catch Mr Darcy

For another Pride & Prejudice post, go to The Evolution of Darcy’s Views