What Would Jane Do?

A lot has changed since Jane Austen’s time (the late 1700s), but not in the eyes of "The Jane Austen Book Club" fans.

There is a famous book called the “The Jane Austen Book Club,” which was made into a movie that is due out in September. It’s a chick flick that portrays a group of women who live by how Austen wrote her books. Each woman is dealing with different issues on love, and all relate their problems to at least one of Austen’s novels.

After seeing the films Pride & Prejudice (one of Austen's novels) and Becoming Jane (a portrayal of Austen's love affair) my fair share of times, I realized how Austen has lead the way for so many women. Austen never married and made a living through her pen – which was frowned up in her time. She has given inspiration for over 200 years, yet never got a chance to live the life she wrote about in her novels. And now people live by what she has written about.

Here is my concern with the film/book/society:

I know that the "Book Club" story is fiction, but I’m almost positive that there are people (after reading the book or seeing the movie) who follow life's situations by Jane Austen’s words.

The world we live in now has changed completely from what Austen experienced and wrote about - including the right to marry within your own family, but that was a good change. In this film there is a motto: “What would Jane Do?”

Could people actually think of this motto before making every decision about love?

I can see it now: “My boyfriend's a jerk... hmm. What Would Jane Do? Oh right, dump him.”

So can people really live a normal life in society by following the words of the great Austen?

Maybe it's their form of therapy - or maybe it's because they have no friends to converse with... I guess we can only wait to find our own "Book Club" members here at FAU and ask them.


Becoming Jane Trailer


“Jane Austen Book Club” Trailer