Everybody loves Jane Austen … again
We all know that fashion is both cyclical and cannibalistic, so it’s only a matter of time before the nineties became the hot “retro” decade. While hipsters are still semi-ironically digging the clothes and music of the eighties, at least one grunge-era fad has resurfaced: Austenmania.
Remember when Pride and Prejudice was a book club champion? Remember when every other hit movie was a tart-yet-frothy romantic comedy? It’s all back.
Witness:
Jane Austen lived and wrote 200 years ago, but readers continue to delight in her six novels — and creative types keep basing movies, TV productions and spinoff novels on her books to feed an audience hungry for more.
Girls, lace up your bodices and brush up on your swooning techniques because a glut of Jane Austen movies and TV productions is coming as Regency mania sweeps the state.
Austen fans are flocking to Pride And Prejudice-themed balls and 18th-century dance classes as interest in the author and her era soars.
Eight versions of Austen’s life and works have been released or are hitting big and small screens in Australia, including Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway as the young writer. There is also a version of Mansfield Park, starring former Dr Who sidekick Billie Piper.
The number of people visiting a stately home in Berkshire has increased since the property was used for the filming of Pride and Prejudice, figures show.
A report by film and tourism bodies found coach tours at Basildon Park went up by 76% after it featured in the 2005 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.
