Guest Post by Miss Jane Bennet: Why I Love Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Miss Jane Bennet of Classic Ramblings to the podium!  She is here today to talk about Mr Darcy-- or Colin Firth.  Well, both.  So sit up and pay attention because we're going to quiz you afterwards. (Well... not really.)

Colin Firth as Mr Darcy is really cute.  I have a thing for Dark Curly Hair (case in point: Sherlock), and he’s quite good-looking and reminds me of a teddy bear.

But he is NOT a Bear without a Brain, and it is because of the common misconception that he is that I’m here today with a Rant.

I like Colin Firth’s performance as Mr Darcy; in fact, I’m a huge fan of it and him, and I always picture him in my head when I read the book.  

…That previous statement probably got one out of two reactions: “AHHHH THE WET SHIRT!!” or “Ehhhh..he’s okay.”

Obviously, there are exceptions, but those seem to be the two main opinions, and sometimes that really frustrates me, because he’s a lot more than either “okay” or simply eye candy.  

I think a lot of Janeites are apathetic to his performance because he seems to have cheapened Mr Darcy.  And to an extent, that’s true; there are a lot of people who like Mr Darcy simply because of him and don’t really understand the character at all, and one doesn’t want to be lumped in with all the other Mr Darcy fans. :P

However, that is not the beginning and end of him.  He really does give an amazing performance, especially when you consider that he’s playing a character that’s been known and loved for centuries. That has to be pretty daunting.

One of my favorite things about his Mr Darcy are the smiles.  I think the little smiles at the beginning are characteristic of his pride and reserve, and then later as he unbends a little with Elizabeth, he smiles more openly, and then at the end, when he does The Grin, it makes a big impression because he’s so happy.  (The wedding always makes me choke up just a tiny bit.)

Another thing I really, really enjoy about Colin Firth’s acting is his interaction with Elizabeth.  He and Jennifer Ehle were in a relationship during filming, and that probably influenced it a bit, but I love all the scenes with Darcy and Elizabeth.  The awkward silences (with suppressed laughter on Lizzy’s part and pure misery on Darcy’s :D), the little hesitations Darcy has before speaking with her, his look during the scenes at Pemberley…and of course, The Proposals.

 

The aforementioned proposals are quite possibly my favorite things about his Darcy.  </ span>The first one is just such a huge mixture of emotions, and I think he got it down perfectly, from confident to embarrassed to angry to heartbroken.  And then during the second one, sadly brief though it is, he’s so nervous and tender and overjoyed, all at once.  I usually Squeal and Bounce during this scene. ;)

Those are some of the main things I love about his performance.  Of course, this is all partly a matter of taste, but I believe that he’s the best Darcy we’ll get for a long time, possibly ever, and for me he really IS Mr Darcy.  

With all these examples, my main point has been—Colin Firth is so much more than just a guy with a nice face or a weird penchant for jumping into lakes.  I’ll admit, sometimes I downplay his performance because it’s automatically assumed that if I like it, I like it because he’s handsome.  But he really did do an amazing job and I wish more people would respect that.

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Thank you very much, Miss Bennet!  Miss Dashwood and I were quite pleased and amused by your Rant.  I appreciate you taking the time to write a post for us. :)

Everyone, do pop in and visit Miss Bennet over at her blog!

Please Re-Vote

For some reason, the poll on the sidebar is not working... at least, nothing's showing up for me.  If you could do me a great big favor and vote on this one instead, I'd be much obliged. :D

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New Poll!

Mainly for research purposes (to know how to best set up our giveaway) but also because we're curious, there is a new poll on the sidebar asking what countries our readers and members live in.  We'd be much obliged if you put in your... well, not really vote, but... you know.

Yeah, I'm not good at wording things today.  Don't mind me...

~Miss Marianne

Dot-to-Dots, Chocolate and Blog Followers

For no reason whatsoever, here is a picture of
Mr. Bingley gazing wistfully at a pink rose.

Eighty-five followers!  What felicity this is!  Here we are at a bit of a milestone... and yes, it’s taken us a while to actually write this post.  We’re sorry.  But hey, we do have some Interesting Things brewing on the back-burner of this blog (which we are careful to turn off when we’re not attending to it-- we took fire safety in third grade just like you).

Now, back to what we were talking about.  Followers.  Eighty-five is nice, but it would be even NICER if we reached a nice, round, three-digit-ed 100… and that is the goal we are now pushing towards.  Not that that was a hint or anything.  Well, okay, it kind of was.

Basically what we’re trying to say is FOLLOW THIS BLOG AND WE WILL GIVE YOU PRIZES.

What kind of prizes?  Well, we can’t give away ALL our secrets, can we?  But remember the giveaway we had last year?  That was pretty fuuun, yes?

Draw your own conclusions. :D

In case you can’t draw, we’ll give you a dot-to-dot.
Dot One: This blog currently has 85 followers.
Dot Two: Once we reach 100 followers, we will have a Fantastic Giveaway.
Dot Three: [x number] fortunate followers will receive Fantastic Prizes.
Dot Four: Everyone will love us forever and this blog will become famous.

Okay, maybe one of those is a bit of a stretch but you get the idea.

So, Enthusiastic Readers, if you are indeed enthusiastic, feel free to do things liiike talking about us on your blog and telling friends and things like that, because the sooner we have 100 followers, the sooner Nice Things Will Happen.

And as we all know, dangling a carrot in front of people’s noses is the way to get them to do things.  Not that we’re treating you with condescension or anything... um... Miss Marianne, do you think this blog post is a little odd?

Of course it is.  Why would we dangle carrots in front of people?  CHOCOLATE is the answer.  *nods emphatically*

Naturally.  We can’t promise there will be chocolate in the prizes, though.

Thanks so much to everyone who’s been following and keeping up with our eccentricity!
And now this post comes to an abrupt and awkward end.

Bye!

Update: It's about to get bigger and better-- the next fifteen followers (that is, 86-100) will automatically get an entry, as long as they claim it. :)