We are no longer good society.
July 25, 2010 11:47 AM Subscribe
Jane Austen's Fight Club. [SLYT]
Is it bad that I really want to see this movie?
Why is it that girls always seem to want to appropriate boys only things?
Why is it that you think they're boys only things?
posted by Salvor Hardin at 11:59 AM on July 25, 2010 [8 favorites]
Why is it that girls always seem to want to appropriate boys only things?
Why is it that you think they're boys only things?
posted by Salvor Hardin at 11:59 AM on July 25, 2010 [8 favorites]
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a good ass-kicking.
posted by PlusDistance at 12:01 PM on July 25, 2010 [24 favorites]
posted by PlusDistance at 12:01 PM on July 25, 2010 [24 favorites]
Why is it that you think they're boys only things?
Please, everyone knows that only men read Austen.
posted by djgh at 12:03 PM on July 25, 2010 [4 favorites]
Please, everyone knows that only men read Austen.
posted by djgh at 12:03 PM on July 25, 2010 [4 favorites]
Well done! There can never be enough Fight Club mashups!
posted by Xoebe at 12:06 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by Xoebe at 12:06 PM on July 25, 2010
Why is it that girls always seem to want to appropriate boys only things?
Hi! It's time to step outside your house and talk to people.
posted by frobozz at 12:11 PM on July 25, 2010 [16 favorites]
Hi! It's time to step outside your house and talk to people.
posted by frobozz at 12:11 PM on July 25, 2010 [16 favorites]
I thought I would hate this, but... I have a feeling Jane Austen would approve.
posted by koeselitz at 12:13 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 12:13 PM on July 25, 2010
Is that your blood?
Oh! Yes, some of it!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 12:15 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
Oh! Yes, some of it!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 12:15 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
Ha! This is great. I'd have preferred it to stay completely in Austen-mode, so far as that's possible - the sunglasses and fur coats changed it from "the plot of Fight Club, as it would have happened in 19th-century England" to "girls in dresses hit each other".
Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, of course - slapstick works even better in inappropriate clothing...
posted by ZsigE at 12:21 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, of course - slapstick works even better in inappropriate clothing...
posted by ZsigE at 12:21 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ok, so now "Jane Austen" is on my list of famous historical people I would want to fight.
posted by dabitch at 12:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by dabitch at 12:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
I found the contemporary references a bit jarring, too (and the gray eyeshadow bruises), but damn, did that look like it was fun to make.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2010
Not great, but still better than Wilkie Collins' Less Than Zero.
posted by Bromius at 1:05 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Bromius at 1:05 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Painfully bad.
posted by schwa at 4:00 PM on July 25 [+] [!]
Yes, but if you look past that, it's really quite good.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:19 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by schwa at 4:00 PM on July 25 [+] [!]
Yes, but if you look past that, it's really quite good.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:19 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, motherfucker."
- Samuel L. Jackson, in Great Expectations
posted by darkstar at 1:31 PM on July 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
- Samuel L. Jackson, in Great Expectations
posted by darkstar at 1:31 PM on July 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
I am outraged by the shoddy treatment of that innocent, delicious red velvet cake. OUTRAGED, I SAY.
posted by elizardbits at 1:36 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by elizardbits at 1:36 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
darkstar - I think you're misquoting it:
"It was the motherfucking best of times, it was the motherfucking worst of times, motherfucker."
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:42 PM on July 25, 2010
"It was the motherfucking best of times, it was the motherfucking worst of times, motherfucker."
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:42 PM on July 25, 2010
loved the use of Kill Bill music
very good, but wish they had gone further with the whole girls becoming bad ass. Like, I wanted to see some sword play.
posted by angrycat at 1:58 PM on July 25, 2010
very good, but wish they had gone further with the whole girls becoming bad ass. Like, I wanted to see some sword play.
posted by angrycat at 1:58 PM on July 25, 2010
Also, is it sad that I found the cake to be more of a glaring anachronism than the sunglasses?
posted by elizardbits at 2:20 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by elizardbits at 2:20 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
I would read every post of a blog devoted to anachronistic cakes in movies.
posted by ifandonlyif at 2:39 PM on July 25, 2010 [12 favorites]
posted by ifandonlyif at 2:39 PM on July 25, 2010 [12 favorites]
It's not a real Fight Club parody without the Pixies.
posted by phunniemee at 2:46 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 2:46 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
I so want this to become an ongoing web series. (But with a better makeup person. The shimmery-gray/black bruises were a bit distracting.)
Hugely fun, though.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 3:15 PM on July 25, 2010
Hugely fun, though.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 3:15 PM on July 25, 2010
"If I had a tumor, I'd name it Fitzwilliam Darcy".
posted by Alice Russel-Wallace at 3:17 PM on July 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
posted by Alice Russel-Wallace at 3:17 PM on July 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
oh my god I want this so much
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 3:19 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 3:19 PM on July 25, 2010
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, motherfucker."
- Samuel L. Jackson
"Give me my snuff pouch back...the one that says 'bad mutha fucka' on it."
posted by PlusDistance at 3:20 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
- Samuel L. Jackson
"Give me my snuff pouch back...the one that says 'bad mutha fucka' on it."
posted by PlusDistance at 3:20 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
It's a bit sad that people think "Jane Austen" means nothing more than people in poor fancy dress. If you're not even going to attempt a pastiche of the prose it might as well be "Queen Victoria's Fight Club" or "Emily Dickinson's Fight Club".
I wish I could have read Jane Austen's verdict on "Fight Club": alas I never will, but I'm willing to bet it would have taken two, maybe three perfect sentences to provide a sharp diagnosis of the heap of infantile crap it is and the depressing insights it provides about those of us - and I include myself - who enjoyed it.
posted by Phanx at 3:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [6 favorites]
I wish I could have read Jane Austen's verdict on "Fight Club": alas I never will, but I'm willing to bet it would have taken two, maybe three perfect sentences to provide a sharp diagnosis of the heap of infantile crap it is and the depressing insights it provides about those of us - and I include myself - who enjoyed it.
posted by Phanx at 3:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [6 favorites]
It was cute and well-shot, but I wish they'd used better costumes-- the Regency outfit I threw together for the Halloween masquerade dance back in high school looked better than what they used there. Personally, I think more attention to detail would have made it funnier (like the brilliant Mitchell and Webb Pride and Prejudice skit).
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 3:24 PM on July 25, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 3:24 PM on July 25, 2010 [6 favorites]
It's not a real Fight Club parody without the Pixies.
Maxence Cyrin would have been perfect for this.
posted by homunculus at 3:51 PM on July 25, 2010
Maxence Cyrin would have been perfect for this.
posted by homunculus at 3:51 PM on July 25, 2010
darkstar - I think you're misquoting it.
He also got the book wrong.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:01 PM on July 25, 2010
He also got the book wrong.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:01 PM on July 25, 2010
There are more than enough movie trailer mashups out there, but this is a good one. I loved "no crying".
posted by domnit at 4:33 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by domnit at 4:33 PM on July 25, 2010
> "Emily Dickinson's Fight Club"
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -don't tell!
The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.
posted by languagehat at 4:38 PM on July 25, 2010 [12 favorites]
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -don't tell!
The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.
posted by languagehat at 4:38 PM on July 25, 2010 [12 favorites]
The implied suggestion in the video is that Austen would give it her proto-feminist stamp of approval. Nonsense. Critics have famously noticed her "regulated hatred" of societal norms, but Austen didn't reject or try to subvert society, she critiqued it. There's a difference.
Still, I do love it when people appropriate cultural ephemera for their own purposes. It makes a body think, and sometimes it can be great fun, if not in this case.
languagehat is closer with Dickinson. She MIGHT have been interested in a fight club, if only on metaphysical grounds, and writing in secret where River God Daddy won't see.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:08 PM on July 25, 2010
Still, I do love it when people appropriate cultural ephemera for their own purposes. It makes a body think, and sometimes it can be great fun, if not in this case.
languagehat is closer with Dickinson. She MIGHT have been interested in a fight club, if only on metaphysical grounds, and writing in secret where River God Daddy won't see.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:08 PM on July 25, 2010
What are the Austen girls going to blow up, though? Wait, I know, they sneak a bunch of gunpowder and fuses into the British East India Company.
His name was Edmund Bertram.
His name was Edmund Bertram.
HIS NAME WAS EDMUND BERTRAM.
posted by telstar at 5:09 PM on July 25, 2010
His name was Edmund Bertram.
His name was Edmund Bertram.
HIS NAME WAS EDMUND BERTRAM.
posted by telstar at 5:09 PM on July 25, 2010
On preview: Oh, and Phanx... sorry about that omission.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:14 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:14 PM on July 25, 2010
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good family must be in want of a punch in the eye.
posted by wobh at 6:16 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by wobh at 6:16 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
It's better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that's for sure.
posted by Pseudology at 12:58 AM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Pseudology at 12:58 AM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
A momentary diversion but I still prefer Merchant Ivory Terminator
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:13 AM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:13 AM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'll confess: I liked this a lot more than I liked reading Jane Austen.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:55 AM on July 26, 2010
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:55 AM on July 26, 2010
Shouldn't Jane Austen's Fight Club have like 1,406 rules? None of them written down.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:14 AM on July 26, 2010 [7 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 7:14 AM on July 26, 2010 [7 favorites]
I liked it, partially because I think. It's satirizing all the weird appropriation of Austin's work that's been going on recently.
Then again, I'm still waiting for the "Bronte Ninja Sisters" film.
posted by happyroach at 11:11 AM on July 26, 2010
Then again, I'm still waiting for the "Bronte Ninja Sisters" film.
posted by happyroach at 11:11 AM on July 26, 2010
Very good. The one thing that bothered me was that some of accents were a little forced. Starting from the word "all" I knew that the narrator was American. Anyway, that's just nitpicking, but, after suffering from years of, often on first meeting people, having them imitate my accent (which is a long way from R.P but still) I'm a little over sensitive to Americans doing British accents. I am aware that, in films, this happens the other way around much more often.
posted by ob at 12:21 PM on July 26, 2010
posted by ob at 12:21 PM on July 26, 2010
the heap of infantile crap it is
I think you'll find that it is a satire of just the sort of people who make a big deal out of it.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:52 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think you'll find that it is a satire of just the sort of people who make a big deal out of it.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:52 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Random Mormon literary connection: the writer / director / girl who plays Fanny is Emily Janice Card, daughter of Orson Scott Card.
posted by rossmik at 6:39 AM on July 27, 2010
posted by rossmik at 6:39 AM on July 27, 2010
Holy crap, this came from a Mormon film festival.
posted by Tesseractive at 1:25 PM on July 27, 2010
posted by Tesseractive at 1:25 PM on July 27, 2010
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posted by joost de vries at 11:56 AM on July 25, 2010