By L.A. Winnen
March 14th, 2025
Jane Austin's book adaptations have spawned many movie and TV versions over the years, some more faithful to the books than others. The dreamy ideas of the era give a glimpse into the ideal values of the day. Many adaptations were modernized for contemporary audiences, with an attempt to stay true to the virtuous heroines' beliefs of propriety. I watched the 1999 adaptation Mansfield Park the other night, and the ideals of propriety in the movie were very much true to the era with a modern flare for a rebellious mood in the heroine. When watching with a modern woman's eye, the sadness of how women were subject to having limited choices for themselves, and always abiding by the honor of her father or husband, was disgraceful. I am a lover of Jane Austen's storytelling abilities. I enjoy the rise of how a good, honest heart wins with love and triumphs in the end. Unfortunately, in these types of stories, it's always at the loss of another woman stumbling into scandal. I am thinking of the main character in Mansfield Park, Fanny Price, being offered marriage from Henry Crawford.
Fanny almost expects the idea of marrying Henry, but then she changes her mind. Later, she stumbles upon him with her married cousin Maria Bertram, let's say, having some "sexy time". Of course, the inevitable scandal follows. When I was young, I empathized with Fanny and understood her disdain for the affair, but my older self felt sad for the cousin Maria who made a mistake due to the standard of 1800 sociality's expectations of women. When she stumbled and fell from disgrace, her whole life was ruined by that mistake. On the other hand, Henry, who was hurt by Fanny's rejection, ran to someone he felt would give him the needed attention he desired. At the end of the story, he finds someone to marry, because his kind of behavior is expected to a degree from men, but never from a woman. Maria was outcast into a tiny cottage with her widowed aunt.
It's the perfect example of the double standards that women faced and still do today. Maria is ostracized from her family and sociality, where Henry is given a free pass, with only the rumor of the tumultuous affair. Today's Women have more freedom of choice thanks to the efforts of Feminism, but we still lack a sufficient amount of respect for those freedoms from many. Mansfield Park was just one period movie that displayed the ideals of the day, but we see this "bias of women" ideology in modern pop culture to some degree. I have read and/or heard the utterances of things like, "She should have chosen better" or "she should not have spread her legs" in this generation from more conservative folk. The term "She" is used to degrade a woman without consequence to the details of a given situation. "She" is always the aggressor in any situation, regardless of how "he" instigates his part. In music, TV shows, podcasts, movies, etc, how women are viewed and how we are supposed to view love and marriage as a virtuous heroine with the ideals of propriety, are outdated. Of course we do this with a modern flare for modesty rebellion, while the scandalous second lead is cast as the aggressor, but this still lacks the multidimensional graces that dive into the depth of who women really are. A one-dimensional romantic notion passed down from centuries of women's suppression. An ideology built by the religious doctrine of the traditional submissive roles women are to play in human culture.
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