INT. OFFICE – DAY
Bright, sparkly white, modern LA office frequented by lonely Los Angeles singles. JESS, 20s, plain, timid, brutally awkward. THERESA, 40s, loud, sits prideful and confident behind her desk.
(Jess struggles to open the oddly heavy door to THERESA’S office)
THERESA
(overbearingly gasps with an open mouth grin)
Hello my favorite little client! Take a seat and tell me how that date went last week with the gorgeous Silicon Valley type I set you up with. And don’t leave out any details!
JESS
(Sits down on couch facing Theresa)
It didn’t go as you would have hoped, my energy to date and find a husband is waning. I try to come out of my shell, as you urge, but it seems all the single men in LA are mindless, egocentric halfwits. Maybe marriage just isn’t in the cards for me.
THERESA
Why would you say such a thing?! Everyone has a chance to meet the one, and that’s what I’m here for! Now, like we have discussed after each of your dates, you need to be more assertive and confident. LA Men aren’t going to be interested in the timid girl from “Smalltown”, Wyoming who shacks up in her Uncle’s apartment. You need to leave the person you were at the door and greet these men with confidence! -But not too much confidence, you don’t want to seem full of yourself. And dress sexy! -But not too sexy you don’t want them getting the wrong idea. If you do all of this, I can guarantee the one for you is just around the corner!
JESS
(sighing)
I’m putting my fate in your hands. Now, who’s next on this infinite list of LA bachelors you have stored on your desktop?
THERESA
(clicking the keys on the keyboard)
Here! I got it, he’s perfect. Thirty-four, tall, handsome, and the icing on the cake is -he’s rich!
JESS
Is this one kind hearted at least?
THERESA
(scoffs)
Who cares?! I’ll take care of everything, don’t you worry! I’ll email you the details; I’ll see you next week at our normal time. And don’t forget, perfect amount of sexy and confident!
ONE WEEK LATER
INT. OFFICE- DAY
THERESA
So, tell me everything! How did it go? Is he not everything you expected and more? I can just feel it you guys are meant to be together!
JESS
Sadly, no. I did everything you said, I dressed sexier and was way more confident I-
THERESA
(interrupts)
Well if it didn’t go well maybe you were too sexy and too confident! Remember I told you, the only way this will work for you is if you are the perfect amount of both.
JESS
You know, I have been seeing you for a while and have been on an endless slew of dates with men who are all the same. Every guy you set me up with is blindingly conceited, arrogant and oh, wealthy. Maybe you should be going on these dates, you’re unmarried! And it seems that the only attribute you look for is how large their bank account is!
JESS
(gets up, opens the door, and turns to face Theresa)
Maybe those are the things you find important when looking for a husband, but you should know by now those things are not important to me! I am going to find a husband without your help.
(slams doors behind her)
THERESA
(exhales in disbelief)
See? Too much confidence.
Crystan Salucci
ENG3950
05/15/20
Final Reflection
Throughout reading Jane Austen’s work it has become glaringly clear that marriage for her female protagonists is an essential and inevitable fate. Whether it is of economic necessity or traditional expectations, every one of Austen’s novels end in the marriage of the protagonist. I decided to focus my adaptation on economic necessity of marriage, Austen’s critique of it and a women’s pressure to conform to perceptional ideals. The screenplay I wrote takes place in modern day, and it portrays the meetings between a middle-aged female matchmaker and her young female client.
In creating my adaptation, I had two characters in mind: Emma and Fanny Price. I feel as though if these two characters were to interact in real time it would make for a very interesting encounter. The matchmaker in my adaptation, Theresa, was inspired by Emma, the protagonist in Austen’s novel, Emma; and the young woman, Jess, is inspired by the protagonist Fanny Price in Austen’s novel, Mansfield Park. These characters I created are by no means replicas of those Austen created but, I incorporated characteristics of each to their respective counterparts.
Jess is a single twenty-something plain jane, who is nervous, awkward and painfully timid. She is someone who has endured a lot of distress in her life; a young girl who moved away from her family and small hometown in Wyoming, to the large city of Los Angeles, California to live with her uncle. Although there is a significant age gap between Fanny Price and Jess, they share the experience of moving away from their immediate families to live with distant relatives, and like Fanny, Jess is not a stereotypical heroine. A very popular opinion of Austen’s protagonist, Fanny, is that she is not likable; she doesn’t fit the mold of the amiable heroine. In the novel, Mansfield Park, Fanny is presented as “small of her age, with no glow of complexion, nor any other striking beauty; exceedingly timid and shy, and shrinking from notice (43).” This is how I thought about Jess, someone who is perceived as average, shy and lacking intrigue. From this characterization, I began to think about how a character like Jess or Fanny would be perceived and ridiculed by a character like Theresa or Emma.
Theresa is a single, forty-something, obnoxious, self-assured, matchmaker based in Los Angeles, California. Theresa pushes the idea of marriage being essential to her clients but, is not married herself. Emma, being somewhat of a matchmaker herself, never planned on getting married but, constantly medaled in the lives of those around her and tried to find the perfect match for each of her unfortunate subjects. In the novel, Emma, the protagonist is described as having “the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself (ch. 1).” This is how I adapted Theresa’s character, she is rather set in her ways and does not consider her own feelings of marriage when helping her clients. She is shocked when Jess says “maybe marriage just isn’t in the cards” for her, and although not married herself, Theresa revolves her life around finding (less than perfect) suitors for her clients. Theresa speaks a lot about money and looks, describing Jess’s potential beaus as being ‘Silicon Valley types’ and ‘rich’. Like Emma, Theresa is well off on her own, she sits in a pretty white office and therefore lacks the economic necessity for a husband but, for her client’s wealth through marriage is of foremost value.
Austen focuses much on the necessity of economic wealth through marriage. Marrying a man to improve upon a woman’s current economic and social rank was idealized, not only during Austen’s time but, in each of her novels. In the novel Mansfield Park, Austen mocks woman like Lady Bertram, who married in spite of love, and for the glories of “a handsome house and a large income (35).” Much like how Theresa looks at marriage as looking for a man of optimum success, Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park considers marriage a “maneuvering business (74).” This undertone of the economic necessity of marriage Austen portrays in her novels is derived from her own critique of the institution of it.
Austen hints at this notion through secondary characters like Northanger Abbey’s Catherine Morland, who says: “to marry for money I think the wickedest thing in existence (ch. 15).” These hints of Austen’s true feelings on marriage are not only solidified by her own decision not to marry but, through the advice she gave her niece Fanny: to marry for love rather than money. In the 1814 letter to Fanny Austen wrote: “I… entreat you not to commit yourself farther, and not to think of accepting him unless you really do like him…if his deficiencies of manner, etc., etc., strike you more than all his good qualities… give him up at once… Nothing can be compared to the misery of being bound without love (Prince).” This advice Austen gives her niece on marriage consolidates Austen’s true feelings and critique of marriage during her life. She felt that marriage should not be a ‘maneuvering business’, but a matrimony bound by honest affections. This underlying notion is displayed through the manner of living both Fanny and Jess maintain.
Jess is a young, single woman feeling the pressures of societies expectations to marry and to conform to the idealistic traits of women. Her awkward and shy nature makes this difficult for her. She repeatedly tells Theresa that she isn’t interested in men with inflated egos, and that money is not something she would consider before kindness. This outlook Jess displays parallels Austen’s opinion of marriage, as well as, Fanny’s. Fanny’s character is similar to Jess’s in their demeanor, but also their view of men and marriage. Fanny does not marry Edmund Bertram because of his families’ wealth or status, but because he was kind to her when no one else was and because she acquired genuine love for him. Although falling for or marrying your cousin is not the norm in modern day society, I think if Jess’s story continued farther than her revelation, she would have ended up with a man like Edmund. Characters like Jess and Fanny are considered ‘unlikable’ and atypical to readers of Austen’s novels as heroines who stray from societal conceptions of how a leading or desirable woman should look, act and present themselves.
Societal pressures to be perfect has not changed much since the 19th century. In its own appendix, ideals of femininity of the 19th century are spelled out in a series of historical contexts. Throughout her novels, Austen describes the ideals of woman as handsome, well-mannered, gentle and patient. In Henry Austen’s, “Biographical Notice”, he describes his late sister by saying: “Her stature was that of true elegance…her temper was as polished as her wit. Nor were her manners inferior to her temper (484).” Through her own descriptions of the characters she created and her brother’s description of her, it can be assumed that Austen may have felt this societal pressure herself. In my adaptation, Theresa advises Jess that she does not fit the mold of what men are attracted to, that she needs to be more confident and sexy. These idealistic attributes make up only a slice of today’s ideals of femininity but, it is clear that this pressure weighs heavy on Jess; much like Fanny who did not possess the ideals of 19th century femininity.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Emma. Broadview Ltd., 2005.
Austen, Jane, and June Sturrock. Mansfield Park. Broadview Press, 2003.
Prince, Emily. “Issue 28: For Love or Money? Marriage in the Time of Jane Austen.” Jane
Austen Literacy Foundation, Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, 8 Jan. 2018, janeaustenlf.org/pride-and-possibilities-articles/2018/01/8/issue-27-for-love-or-money-marriage-in-the-time-of-jane-austen.