Post B5lV7weTZDlaLVkqBc by artemis@dice.camp
 (DIR) More posts by artemis@dice.camp
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7uzfjRX7Cfejwm by artemis@dice.camp
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       I just rewatched the Pride & Prejudice miniseries with Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle, & I still love it (really, the psycho-sexual politics of the whole thing are just crazy) BUT it does hit different when I think about the fact that all the wealth comes from the British Empire plundering the wealth of other nations & enslaving people.All that wealth was not generated in England.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7vKwSMXyGdbj6G by artemis@dice.camp
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       Like...I never understood that.I always just kind of thought these wealthy people were hoarding the wealth of England, but that's not it at all. I mean, they were hoarding it, but it wasn't remotely enough for them at all.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7vfVDuzfIPE99E by artemis@dice.camp
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       So you've got these guys who make "10,000 a year" from...a plantation? Shares in a company exporting the resources or products of a country in Asia or Africa or the Americas? Darcy also has a family estate, but that's NOT where the fucking wealth COMES from. Not "10,000 pounds a year" it doesn't.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7vzM26sCHyW05g by artemis@dice.camp
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       Set today in the American Empire, instead of in the British Empire of yesteryear, Darcy & Bingley are finance bros.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7wIUswBZFLTHvc by artemis@dice.camp
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       So that's the men.Meanwhile Elizabeth Bennett & her sisters are in a very privileged but also very precarious situation.Their dad also has a small amount of ill-gotten wealth himself, but he hasn't fucking bothered to set any aside for them, & they won't be inheriting his estate.The whole patriarchal system is set up to make women into a commodity & make sure men (ALL of them: Mr. Darcy, Mr. Collins, AND Mr. Wickham) all have some access to women.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7weTZDlaLVkqBc by artemis@dice.camp
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       If they do not manage to attach themselves to a man who is going to actually give a shit about their well-being, they are *fucked*. Maybe just poor-little-spinster-lives-in-a-small-rented-room fucked, but the possibility of actual poverty & destitution exists.Mr. Bennett don't care. He's affectionate but completely indifferent to their plight. He doesn't understand that what happens to them is HIS responsibility, since they are not allowed to decide things for themselves.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7x1ACrulTsMxY8 by artemis@dice.camp
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       By the end, more than anything, Darcy has proved to Elizabeth that he would be a *very good* patriarchal owner & that the women he is responsible for are always looked after.There is actual attraction & affection on both sides, but what really makes Elizabeth go "being married to this guy would be a GOOD idea" is him saving her reputation by taking care of the unfortunate Wickham situation & demonstrating what caring older brother he is who takes responsibility for his sister's happiness.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7xOumYugfXTvZQ by artemis@dice.camp
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       Austen's works remind me of reality television. You know the "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" & "Real Housewives" shit. It's the drama of watching these really wealthy fucks navigate the ridiculous artificial world they have created for themselves.It's easy to have sympathy for the women, because it's a situation where even if they did object to all the injustice & exploitation, they could probably do nothing about it. But you cannot assume that they DO object. Most of them are thrilled with it.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7xkXUAD7kbbCHA by artemis@dice.camp
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       I love Jane Austen's works. I was obsessed in highschool, & I think they are absolutely brilliant studies of character, but they are actually pretty fucking dark & twisted if you contextualize them.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7y6ABlVYpfiSyu by ska@social.treehouse.systems
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       @artemis I attempted to read P&P as a teenager, expecting a romance story. I couldn't finish it. I was unable to see the romance in it; I couldn't get past the fact that it was dark, it read like a horror story to me, which was absolutely not the thing I needed.And that was teenager me, who wasn't politically awake at all. I didn't even see the stolen wealth angle; just the financial situation of the women gave me the ick.I haven't tried to read it again, or see an adaptation of it, since.I heard that Wuthering Heights was a romance story. Wary, I skimmed the book. Same thing. It is not a romance story.Who the heck are these people advertising these books as romance? Do they even understand anything about what they're reading?
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7yM7ESGhd9BCqW by artemis@dice.camp
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       But yes, watching through Pride & Prejudice I had to admit that where the money comes from has never been fully clear to me previously.It's not simply generational wealth. An initial starting amount of wealth & power was required, but money actually only multiplies for rich people because somewhere along the line someone's labor is being exploited.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7yopVhEl4Cc8bQ by artemis@dice.camp
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       It's insufficient to say that a man like Mr. Darcy likely would have made money off the slave trade (either directly or indirectly).That's true, but that doesn't cover it.That still could make it seem like that's some little background thing—an unsavory little detail—but it's not: ALL OF THAT WEALTH was made possible by plundering the world in the name of the British Empire & progress & efficiency & civilization (that is: ownership & exploitation).
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7zIFkIlyXSNdSq by artemis@dice.camp
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       Still, as much as the worst exploitation is basically never mentioned (though Mansfield Park comes close) there is a vast difference between Jane Austen's works &, say, Downton Abbey.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV7zky1Xk1yVoZDk by artemis@dice.camp
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       Downton Abbey is legitimately propaganda for the wealthy.Julian Fellowes is a member of the House of Lords & a piece of shit.Austen wrote light but insightful & pointed *satire* of the privileged class to which she (barely) belonged. That's a very different thing than entertainment intended to tell the poors to be grateful to rich folks for existing & being rich.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV80Gs6vGJZSk2wy by artemis@dice.camp
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       Ever since I had the slightest idea of what sexuality is (long before I found out the mechanics of sex...thanks religious homeschooling), I have been seeing romanticized stories where no one really acknowledges the fact that the women in the equation are owned sexual objects.Now I finally look back & it's like "I don't know HOW anyone ignores the implications of sexual ownership within this narrative."In any case, you heard it here 1st: Pride & Prejudice made me kinky.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV80oC71uvEoKetE by artemis@dice.camp
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       One thing Eliza Bennett & I have in common is we were both raised with the expectation that someday a man would own us sexually.*Of course* you figure out how to romanticize & sexualize that. That's how you find a way to fit your sexual urges & desires into patriarchy.Darcy is fucking hot because he's the "good man" within patriarchy. He's smart, funny, affectionate & takes a great deal of care over the women he loves. He still decides everything for them, obviously.
       
 (DIR) Post #B5lV81GYPabOelbJ5s by artemis@dice.camp
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       Anyway, I'm kinky because misogyny & patriarchy define our lives.