Find your faculties and meet me at the billowing blouse lake, you are cordially invited as we present ourselves to society with the 1995 BBC Miniseries (only officially recognised in the FYR household), Pride and Prejudice.

Director: Simon Langton

Novel by: Jane Austen

Writers: Andrew Davies

Released: 24 September 1995 (UK)

Network: BBC (UK), PBS (US)

Cast: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker

Breakdown and Analysis

  • Colin Firth is the only Darcy to ever exist.
  • Despite Darcy’s best efforts, Oti enjoyed watching the mini series. Stellar performances all around.
  • Oti believes Elizabeth would not have given Darcy any attention if he was poor.
  • Watching Bridget Jones helps to understand the storylines in Pride and Prejudice.
  • We talk about being able to latch onto the style of the show despite the steps away from modern English.
  • Everything is relative. Elizabeth was progressive for her time and leading the standard. Very dynamic set up where she is strong minded and is very close with her father. She is conscious of the society she lives in but is very much on her own path. She didn’t believe she offered beauty but her strengths resided in her quick wit and sense of humour.
  • In most older literary works, women were not regarded so Pride and Prejudice offered something different. Examples of social status throughout.
  • Oti enjoyed seeing the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane. They would be able to talk on a deeper level that she couldn’t with her other sisters or even mother.
  • Elizabeth was very easily swayed without any tangible proof. A quality she inherited from her mother. It took KT a couple of watches to realise this obvious trait of hers.
  • Oti is a man of dignity. So if someone was to slander his name, he wouldn’t feel the need to explain himself. If people want to believe ill of him, he wouldn’t go out of his way to change that. And KT draws this comparison to resonate with Oti and Dracy’s sense of self.
  • As much as Elizabeth was portrayed as level headed, she approached the situation as someone that enjoys drama.
  • Oti believes they were good for each other after removing the veneer of social class etc. KT doesn’t believe this is so. KT believes there needs to be some sort of equilibrium in a coupling. It’s not impossible but it is harder to overcome. There becomes a melding between the thrill of hardship and genuine love for someone.
  • You have to pay off your sibling’s spouse’s debts in order to prove your true love.
  • Elizabeth saying she knew she loved Darcy after visiting Pemberley gives Lisa from Coming to America vibes.
  • Oti reminds us not to apply modern ideals to different times in history.
  • Peak gold digging was a sport.
  • If it’s not siblings, family is fair game according to Mr Collins. Only the hot cousins.
  • Wickham, the Terrence Howard of Pemberley. He is a bloody problem. He had a chance to be part of the Darcy family, wanting to elevate himself.
  • Mr & Mrs Bennett, the best and worst characters in the show. We theorise that it was an arranged marriage. Mrs Bennett is like KT when she tries to get out of doing house chores.
  • Mary is what Elizabeth Bennett thought she was. She was portrayed as a less desirable prospect even though she had a lot to offer. Even Mr Collins was not into her. She was treated like Meg from Family Guy.
  • It would be nice for young women to be out in the world and have no danger fall upon them.
  • Today parents trade their kids of ‘likes’, in Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennett was trading her kids for social status.
  • Darcy was absolutely rich. He had greyhounds which we personally know are not useful for security.
  • Mr Bennett took two weeks to reply to a letter because it required urgent attention.
  • When did the word handsome stopped being used for women?
  • Why has Colin Firth as Sherlock Holmes not happened yet? Firth punching people on cobbled stone paths is KT’s type.

Unrelated but vital points

  • Youtube video appreciation of Colin Firth:
  • KT delivers the first official PSA during the cold open ever on the podcast.
  • KT will fight anyone that thinks Emma is better than Pride and Prejudice.
  • Texam Holdem.
  • We screened the mini series through the dvd set KT received for her 21st birthday from coworkers.
  • It’s the British Norbit where Colin Firth plays everyone.
  • High school KT has not recovered from the billowing blouse lake scene.
  • For years Oti has managed to dodge watching this and KT was reserved to experiencing it with her next friend and lover.
  • We are able to recall off hand actors that appear in shows that happen to get cancelled eventually. Patrick Wilson, Will Arnett, Boris Kodjoe.
  • Oti provides a spice that turns this recording into Bridgerton.
  • Confused girdled still counts for girdled loins, according to KT.
  • If people in the Bible looked like Colin Firth, KT would be at the altar every Sunday.