Focusing the Gaze: The Role of Music in Film Adaptations of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"

Abstract

This article illustrates how four productions of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice both reinforce and depart from standard film conventions of male and female perspectives, which are coded by both the visual and soundtrack elements. The narrative of Pride and Prejudice, with its dual climaxes illustrated by the two proposals of Fitzwilliam Darcy, helps break some of the filmic conventions for media set in and close to the Regency period. Consequently, the perspective is fourfold, split by gender and circumstance and falling into the categories of male, female, joined (coupled), and society. Although the female perspective grows in importance in the twenty-first century, the music cannot escape the traditional patriarchal narrative. The musical and visual fusing of the couple reinforces the male viewpoint at the end of the film. This study examines the 1940 MGM production, the 1980 BBC miniseries, the 1995 A&E miniseries, and the 2005 Focus/Universal production.