Image Credit: Alex Bailey
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice – first published in three volumes in January, 1813 – has left quite a mark on pop culture, far larger than Jane Austen herself could have ever envisioned. In celebration of the book’s 200th (!) anniversary, EW is singling out (in honor of literature’s favorite single gal) our favorite pop culture gems that we can trace back to an origin at Pemberley. We all may have eaten up the 2005 movie adaptation starring Keira Knightley, or other modern-day films that celebrate Austen such as The Jane Austen Book Club, but that’s only scratching the surface of Austen’s pop culture superpowers — and the lovefest isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Austenland, a new movie starring Keri Russell, premiered at Sundance last week. Read on below for more things we can thank Pride and Prejudice for in modern pop culture, and definitely give a shout out to your favorites in the comments.
Colin Firth: Not to diminish his Oscar for The King’s Speech, but Firth owes his career to Pride and Prejudice. Not only did he tackle the role of Mr. Darcy in the iconic 1995 British miniseries, but his performance in that version inspired Helen Fielding to write Bridget Jones’s Diary, which is basically just a modern-day Pride and Prejudice. The best part? Firth of course agreed to star in the movie version, playing a character named Mark Darcy. That’s a whole heck of a lot of pop culture gold all beginning with Ms. Austen. READ FULL STORY »
