by Laura Cude
In the second instalment of inContext’s look at the interpretations of Jane Austen’s work, we take a look at the “Chick Lit” tag, her timeless appeal, and whether marriage is and should still be on the agenda of 21st century woman.
As a polar opposite to the feminist tag, Austen’s work has also been described as 19th century “chick lit,” a label which I don’t entirely agree with. The subject, however, of women looking for their true loves and ultimately marriage is a tale which has proved to have enduring popularity. Whether it’s a Hollywood Rom Com, Sex and the City, or a Cecelia Ahern novel, the audience still very much wants to see the girl overcoming her own perceived inadequacies and insecurities and previous heartbreak to nail the guy and, (I type this through gritted teeth) live happily ever after.
Everyone wants to believe in the notion of true love, but this is rarely explored in popular culture without the climax of a big clunky engagement ring, marriage or a baby. Women indeed don’t have to marry for security anymore, and they can pursue careers without having to adopt an alias, yet there is some longing for marriage and children which appears to still be present in the younger generations of women today, and it is not rare for intellectuals to look down upon women who seek this.
The way in which brides to be and wives are depicted in popular culture very much present women as “the old ball and chain,” – an individual who wants to find a man, obsesses over keeping him, waits to be proposed to, then nags her husband into old age. There are numerous examples of this caricature on primetime television, such as Four Weddings, where four brides attend each others’ big day and rate their experience in a bid to compete for a honeymoon. It is full of bitching and a “mine’s better than your’s” mentality. BBC3 in the UK have a similar show called Don’t Tell the Bride, in which the groom gets fifteen or so grand to plan the wedding from top to bottom in three weeks, without any contact with his future missus. Cue tears and tantrums on the wedding day when the bride hates her dress, is given a cheap and cheerful ceremony after a disappointing hen night, whilst the so-called love of her life pisses off to a strip club and spends a fortune of the budget boozing with his mates. And I will be the first to point out that these kind of shows portray men in just as stereotypical a fashion as what they do the women. For surely there are men who want to find someone they love, to marry and have children with. Popular culture, both film and TV reality shows, would have my already cynical mind believe however that this is not the case.
Holy matrimony is often seen as an addition to a man’s life, but when it comes to women, whether intentionally or not, marriage and children is often looked upon as being an inevitability, and perhaps an integral part to the identity of the woman. This in turn can lead to an equally sexist view where women are chastised for marrying, as it is assumed they are doing it to fulfil some sort of need – negotiating their careers for marital bliss and housewife drudgery in the process.
Marriage was born out of inequality. The symbology associated with it is loathsome to me. The white dress illustrating purity, virginity; the giving away of the bride, signifying father property becoming husband property, and of course, the adoption of the male’s last name. These all demonstrate something from Austen’s time, where a woman would marry to secure a future for herself and adopt the last name of her spouse to reap the rewards of being on a par with his social standing.
When thinking of one of Beyonce’s latest hits, targeted at “all the single ladies,” to explain to men that if they liked what they see, they should “put a ring on it,” so little has seemed to change since the publication of Pride and Prejudice. It’s as though women aren’t complete until they get that final seal of approval from a man: someone who likes them enough to propose, and makes them feel some kind of worth through the size of the ring they are presented with.
Of course I’m not saying this to be true of all women, married or single. But getting a man to propose to you seems to be very much on the agenda and, in some cases, expected of you. A relative of mine is approaching thirty and she is unmarried and not in a relationship. I have heard family members mourning the notion that she “probably won’t ever get married now,” whilst the relative in question talks of how she wishes she could “find a husband.” It all sounds so archaic.
Compared to Austen’s time, women don’t tend to have to worry about being penniless unless they marry, or social ostracisation for being “an old spinster,” yet women still put pressure on themselves to marry as if they are unfinished works until they do, perhaps even negotiating love in the process. It’s interesting how generations have been reading Austen’s novels, and yet have learned nothing from Elizabeth Bennet.
Laura Cude is twenty-one years old and from a dead beat town called Leatherhead which is located in Old Blighty. She left Kingston College last year with three A grade A levels, and three university acceptances. She turned them all down in favour of practical work experience, which is what bought her to Her Circle originally as a blog coordinator for The Writer’s Life, and now as the writer of inContext. She is a music enthusiast and keen writer, using song composition and screenplays as her weapons of choice. Combining her interests in feminism, existentialism and pop culture, she aims to make inContext a revealing and energetic exploration of the politics in feminist literature and the 21st century.
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This is amazingly written! Blew my mind!