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Monday, February 4, 2013

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Dollhouses


Right before Christmas, my sister and I took a road trip to spend the weekend with my niece and bring her home from college. It was an awesome visit for so many reasons, but I forgot to bring a book with me and that's how I accidentally stole my niece's copy of "Pride and Prejudice." That's okay because I'm the one who gave it to her. I go on a Jane Austen kick every year or so, and this incident set off the latest round.

So today's musical selection is from the wonderful 1995 A&E miniseries, which I just finished watching for the umpteenth time. Elizabeth Bennet sings a beautiful song while Mr. Darcy looks on with undisguised love and yearning. Is it possible NOT to fall in love with Colin Firth after watching this scene? I know some fans would argue for the "Mr. Darcy goes swimming in the pond" scene, but this is the one that does it for me.



When I'm in this frenzy for all things Austen, I get disappointed when I run out of things she actually wrote, and movie versions thereof, and I start looking around for related things. For instance, I also happen to love zombies. I've been thinking about them lately because the movie "Warm Bodies" is coming out and I can't wait to see it:



Apparently, the number of people who like both Jane Austen and zombies is not a small one, because there is a book called "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," and it sold a LOT of copies.


The book has been around for awhile and I keep meaning to check it out, but I'm not sure that I could deal with Lizzie killing Darcy and eating his brains or something like that. (I would enjoy it if they both killed Mr. Collins and ate HIS brains, though.)  Since the release of "Warm Bodies" coincides with "Ange's Austen-Fest 2013," this may be the year that I break down and read it.


DHE Minis Celebrates P&P


This post was inspired when I looked at my blog list and noticed today's update from The Dollhouse Emporium:

Pride and Prejudice Free Wedding Gift Collection

They are offering "a charming collection of beautiful wedding gifts, created in honour of Jane Austen’s romantic novel, Pride & Prejudice, which is enjoying its 200th year in print."

Holy cow - I didn't even realize it was the 200th anniversary!  And I call myself a fan. Well, fortunately my dollhouse obsession continues to pay dividends, as it allowed this important fact to be brought to my attention.

Almost as soon as I finished the Mini House, I made these little pictures of for the top of the piano:

Lizzie and Darcy Photos on the Piano
I made them out of buttons from Michael's and images of Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth from the internet that I printed over and over again until I got them small and clear enough.  ("Who ARE these people?" my husband wanted to know, handing me a stack of papers covered with their images.)

I liked to imagine that Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy were the grandparents of the current occupants of the Mini House. Or maybe the great-grandparents? I would have to sit down and figure it out - and I really try not to have my Mini House be polluted by associations to unpleasant things like math.

One final thought on this theme:  I have always been iffy about actually having dolls in my house, but if ever I was tempted it would be by these Lizzie and Darcy dolls in full wedding regalia:

Wedding Dolls from the Dollhouse Emporium Collection

They really did a great job of reproducing the clothes from the movie!



But if I were to give in to the very strong urge to get the dolls, it would change the whole time-frame of the Mini House, which I imagine to be very late 1800's. And then I would have to redo the bathroom or find something else to do with that room, because while my beloved Jane never talks about it, I am sure they didn't have indoor flush toilets in her day. And on that glamorous note, I will end.







19 comments:

  1. OMG, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies oh my! I never knew this book existed! :D

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    1. LOL, it does seem like I made it up, right?

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  2. Oh I LOVE the button photos with frames you made! They are adorable! I totally thought that it was a pic of your house the first time I read it, ha,ha. Then I read it again thinking buttons wouldn't look like that on a real piano!

    Great post.:)

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  3. I love those romantic English movies and novels;)

    I think if you zombify all the classics it would make for some interesting events ;P

    I have a link for you from the miniatures community you might like, minis and zombies ;)

    http://girlzombieauthors.blogspot.com/2013/02/brains-anyone-perfect-zombie-and.html

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    1. Awesome link, LOL - thanks Jane! Hey, if you like romantic English movies - have you seen, "The Forsyte Saga?" I just got it out of the library and the first episodes were very good. (Except the main couple, who I am presumably supposed to be rooting for, seem like selfish a$$hats to me. Maybe they improve on further viewing though.)

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    2. I haven't seen it yet, Ill have to have look.

      life is so hard around tea, fans and gossip.. rude AH's are part of that ;P

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  4. Thanks for this fun post, Ange! I love how you created those ancestor photos--great fun! You know, I love Jane Austen too, but I'd never seen a zombie movie nor read a zombie book before, until I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I LOVED IT!!! It was really funny, and when I had finished it, I was SAD! I wish there were more of them, Jane and zombies. Maybe there are, but I'm not aware of any sequels. Can't wait for your next post. xo Jennifer

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    1. OKay, Jennifer, you just sold me on P&P&Z! I am going to download it on my kindle - let's have a chat when I finish it okay?!

      (PS - At Amazon, there seemed to be a sequel called, "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" but not by the same author. Also there was a book called "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!" So silly! I think I will try writing one: "Persuasion and Poltergeists!")

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  5. Now I really need to read it! Maybe not the zombie one though ;)

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  6. It is a very nice scene you created on the piano. Maybe I'm not a fan of but I am very happy for the book and movie, Pride and Prejudice. It might be interesting if you made your dollhouse based on that theme. It would be exciting to see.

    Hugs
    Wyrna

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    1. Thanks Wyrna - that is really a great idea! I need awhile to recover from building my first dollhouse, but I have always suspected that there was going to be (at least) a second one - and if there is I think I will do it with a P&P theme! I have seen the miniseries so many times I could probably recreate many of the rooms at Longbourne from memory!

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  7. Hello Ange,
    I have an overactive imagination, so zombie movies are not a good idea. I hope you enjoy Austen fest! I think dolls make a scene come to life but killt he illusion of realism. I plan to have servant dolls cooking and scrubbing floors, but all put in such a way that they are looking at the back of the house so you will not see their faces. I love Carabosse dolls and would eventually like to order a lady of the house...but at 900 euros that is not happening anytime soon...maybe when I retire in 31 years!
    Big hug,
    Giac

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    1. Hi Giac -

      Yes! That's exactly the way I feel about dolls. Of course I had to go Google "Carabosse dolls," and WOW! They would certainly not kill the realism - they are so realistic it's almost disturbing. I have an overactive imagination as well, and I think I would imagine them in the Mini House, plotting against me. Tell you what - I have been playing the lottery lately, as the unemployed are wont to do - if I hit the powerball on Wednesday, I'll send you one!

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  8. Un preciosa y romantica pelicula!!!
    Los zombies es un tema que aunque me encanten las brujas, no me gustan mucho :))
    Gracias por el enlace.
    besitos ascension

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    1. Gracias, Ascension! Que bueno saber de ti :)

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  9. Me too! For the Austen kick once a year (or more), and the umpteenth watching of the miniseries. I also agree that the piano scene is so much more swoon worthy than the lake scene, but I do giggle every time. I'm interested when you get around to reading the Zombies book. I can't stand them, and didn't want to pollute my beloved P&P with brains :-)

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    1. Nice to find another kindred spirit! Did you see Jane's comment above, she's an Austen fan and she loved it, so I'm curious to see how I feel about it ...I will post a review when I read the Zombie book:)

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