Jane Austen is considered one of the greatest English language writers ever, in the same league as Shakespeare. In order to competently review the various film adaptations of her books, one must have some understanding of the times in which she lived. There is an entire genre of romance novels that take their cue from the works of Austen.
The English Regency period is described as a transitional period between the Georgian and Victorian eras. Apart from its political significance, it was characterized by distinctive styles in fashion, literature, and architecture. A proper Regency novel is as rich in sociological and historical detail as any good science fiction is comprised of science and technology.
When these works are adapted to a visual medium like film, this attention to detail is even more important. Emma can morph into Clueless. The story is the same, but Clueless is not a Regency. Pride and Prejudice is a timeless story that can be set in any era or location. But, if detail is not paid to fashion, manners, and décor, it is not a Regency. Attention to historic detail calls for specific dress, manners, furniture, decor, and activities. Because of the historical record we have names, dates, and events. In order to be considered Regency, names, dates and events may be manipulated, but will always have a grain of truth.
The first most important rule for any writer is write what you know. The first Regency period novels were penned by Jane Austen, who created the genre, and literally wrote what she knew. Jane Austen, born in 1775, lived through a period of major political and social change in Europe. The American Revolution was England’s version of Vietnam, a very unpopular war promoted by politicians who took advantage of the fact that King George III was suffering from a very rare genetic disease called porphyria, which mimicked several different mental illnesses. The years immediately following Austen’s birth were also the final moments of the Georgian era. The fashions and behavior of that era grew so extreme they became the object of ridicule.
Georgian Fashions and Manners
This is the era of Queen Marie Antoinette, and the beginning of the end of the French monarchy. Fashion became so extreme men no longer resembled men, adopting the appearance of something akin to a china doll, with faces painted white and accented with bright rouge, white powdered wigs, and lush satins and laces. They wore pumps with brilliant buckles and heels on them. Women were even more extreme with massive hair creations that took hours to fix and were often thirty inches high, coated with flour, and became home to lice and mice. Dresses were extremely low cut, revealing most or even all of the breast and fit over hoops called panniers, and could be up to three feet wide on each side. Underwear did not exist.
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