Book vs. Movie - should we really cheer for Jane?

Hi Vervainkryptonite! I believe that if we have to analyze for whom we should be rooting, the work has failed to pull us in, one way or the other. For me, and perhaps only me, Martin was too cute. In him, I sensed an adept charmer who would have put me on my guard if I were Jane.

For me, Nobly was genuinely disagreeable--no acting there! He hated the role his aunt asked him to play...until he sensed a similar frankness and unwillingness to 'follow the script' in Jane, which drew him to her in spite of his determination to remain aloof and unlikeable. 'As iron sharpens iron' her blunt unwillingness to go along broke down his reserve and his heart became engaged.

If Jane had fallen for Martin in the end, I would have been disappointed. She sought a true gentleman, on this her final voyage in period fantasy, and Bret was not he. True, Nobly was no Darcy, but in the end, he lived up to his name and behaved very nobly.

It can be a bit hard to decipher the intent of the ending. More so in the book I think. The book really emphasized Jane wanting to shed her daydreams and she ended up with her daydream-guy.

The movie worked better in many ways. For one, it seemed to take itself less seriously. Yes, the book was sort of chick-lit-y fluff, but with the theme of Jane seeking self-discovery being more obvious, and being too close to Jane's inner thoughts and motivations, it just came off a bit heavier or trying to be heavier, anyway, and trying to say Something Important. But the movie played up the humor a bit more and some distance from Jane's thoughts and waffling helped. The movie was enjoyable and fun, and the romance was fairly predictable, like most chick-flick romances. But since the movie didn't ask as much from the viewer, I don't judge it harshly.

Also, Henry being a fill-in and not a seasoned actor. The viewer can feel better about Jane and Henry being together, when the Henry character was never into playing his role (It's fairly easy to see. His halfhearted delivery of his lines to Amelia, when he was barely even paying attention vs. him actually being interested in his conversations with Jane). And that he wasn't even supposed to be 'enticing' Jane in the movie. So while the movie still has a sort of fantasy ending, it can be a little easier to believe these two fell in love.

Edit:


I've thought a bit more and have a bit to add on why I don't mind the movie having a "fantasy" ending. It is a part of why I like he movie better than the book. In fact, I don't think I questioned the ending of the movie when I first watched it - only after reading the book.


The book was very much about Jane getting past her fantasies. The movie wasn't. That was a theme that came up, but it wasn't her motivation for going. She was fully ready to fling herself into for fun. Consider her interaction with her friend at the start of the movie - she's defending her obsession. It's only her experiences once she's there that make her say "I want to get over this. I want something real".

But does that mean the gentleman is not real? Yes, the falling in love was a bit storybook - but it's a romance movie. The genre is the girl and the guy fall in love. In the movie - shaking off the fantasy is stepping out of the fictional world, stopping being obsessed with characters and places, and interacting with real people. Nobley is a gentleman with similar interests to Jane, and still a bit of a 'dream' character for the real-real world, but for movie-real world, it works.