Why Are Christian Women Drawn to Jane Austen Movies?

More from Joy: Fantasy is not Reality

Much of what Joy talks about in her video can be applied to Jane Austen novels, especially since many Christian women read these classics as "Christian novels." Why are we drawn to these stories, as Joy says, it provides a way to "escape into...endless possibilities." She describes what "women want" as "idealism, relaxation, and getting rid of our stress” (Eggerichs). 


Whether or not Austen was a sincere Christian, people view film adaptations of her work as safe, wholesome, and showing moral values.

In an article from crosswalk.com, Lori Smith finds comfort in Jane Austen's "love [for] her family and her friends" and her desire to "live her faith rather than talk about it, to do good work, and tell good stories" (2). Smith takes comfort in the fact that like her own life, Austen's may have felt "small, but it [was] far from ordinary"  (2).

Jerram Barrs, in his article, "Jane Austen - Great Christian Novelist" sites that Sense and Sensibility was the most widely seen movie, setting off such large sales of the book that it was in the New York Times "top ten" fiction list for several months...reaching as high as no. 5" (1). In his list of five reasons that Romanticism is so popular today, Barrs attributes Austen's "profound moral and spiritual vision" (2). He says that these "films...teach the importance of self-control, of courtesy, of a mannerly consideration for others...presented" as stemming from a "Christian moral order which pervades all of the novels" (2). "In several of the books the main characters have experiences of profound and permanent transformation, which reads like a conversion of deep repentance." "It is the individuals who fail to see their own folly...whose lives come to ruin and disgrace."

Some people may take the adaptations too far, and base their thoughts and behavior on the values portrayed in the films.

     In a section of Literature Through the Eyes of Faith, the authors share that they see "the experiences of Elizabeth Bennet" and “uncover my own pride and tendency toward prejudice" (Gallagher 50). These may be one of the less harmful actions taken due to the stories, especially since uncovering vanity is biblically sound, but there are more radical “morals” people take from these stories.

Under the Sense and Sensibility page on PBS's website, they actually have a video of a life coach who uses the movie to answer questions such as, "Are you hungry for a simpler way of life?" and "is there something significant missing from your relationships?" She offers that "Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility may have some unexpected insights for your life" (Richardson). These insights are not likely as biblically sound as “uncovering pride,” but audiences are using the advice to fill the significant longing in their lives.

Perhaps even more disturbing, is when Christians take Austen’s works too far. Rebecca Hagelin, in another crosswalk.com article, reviews Elizabeth Cantor's The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After, and treats Austen as a relationship-advisor. Her article, "Jane Austen's Advice: Choose the Right Man and Live Happily Ever After" would lead Christian women to believe that "the Jane Austen promise" is "that love and happiness go together" and that "happily ever after marriage are possible "if they recognize, expect, and pursue true love" (2). This Christian journalist leaves no room for the possibility that it might not be God's plan for every Christian woman to marry, and also leaves no room for his sovereignty in their romantic relationships. Instead, she suggests that women can follow her three-step recipe and find true love.


Escape:


Lori Smith affirms Eggerich’s guess that women use these novels (or film adaptations of them) as a means of “espcape.” Smith says, "Austen’s works, and the movies based on them, became the things I returned to whenever I needed to escape from the world around me" Smith admits. She equates this to "comfort food" (1). Compared to our world where there is "not nearly enough time to do everything that needs to be done," Austen's is a world of "tea and careful conversations" (2). Smith believes that Austen "captured" the "small ways" that "good and evil...work themselves out in our lives" as a Christian author (2). As Christians, we all believe that the Bible is where we should turn when we need strength, peace, or comfort. For many women, Jane Austen appears to be a harmless alternative to seeking God, as she displays Christian values in her work, but this alternative can prove dangerous. 

Works Cited

Barrs, Jerram. "Jane Austen - Great Christian Novelist." Bethinking.org. The Christian Unions. Web.

         23 April 2012.

Gallagher, Susan V. and Lundin, Roger. Literature Through the Eyes of Faith. New York: Harper and

     Row, 1989. Print.

Richardson, Cheryl. "Sense and Sensibility: Common Sense: A Life Coach on Austen." PBS: Masterpiece.

     n.d. Web. 23 April 2012.

Smith, Lori. "Following Jane Austen:,Finding Grace." Crosswalk. Crosswalk, 15 October 2007: 1-2. Web.

      23  April 2012.
Smith, Lori. "Our Year-Long Romance with Jane Austen." Crosswalk. Crosswalk, n.d. 1-2. Web. 23 April

      2012.