Hi, contributing author Lynn Nightengale here. If you’ve been bored at home this summer, maybe you’ve picked up a good book – a well-worn classic or a new best friend. Or maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’ve popped in a DVD or binge watched something on streaming. Or is a podcast more your speed?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then you’ll love my new podcast, Jane in Space – a crazy, sideways world where literature and film collide.
Download, listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or read the full transcript of our inaugural podcast episode below.
Jane in Space Podcast: Spider-man is Mr. Darcy?
Full Podcast Transcript:
Hey there readers, welcome to our inaugural episode of Jane in Space. I’m Lynn Nightengale, contributing author at Anatomy of Adventure dot com.
This week, we’re going to take you from a favorite classic read to a modern superhero sci-fi.
Kindle Unlimited Membership PlansIf you’re like me, perhaps you’ve been taking solace in the familiar and predictable pages of Jane Austen. Numerous blog posts have commented on the quarantine-induced population explosion amid Janite society. Perhaps its because Jane’s unlikely heroes face life courageously and always end up happy in the end.
I’ve also found myself drawn back to nostalgic movies and shows I enjoyed as a kid. On a recent sleepless night, for example, I found myself swinging through the streets of New York with your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man.
Perhaps British Regency period romance novels and Modern Age comic book superheroes seem worlds apart, but as I was making coffee this morning, it hit me – Spiderman is Pride and Prejudice.
Yes, you heard that right. The Spider-man film trilogy starring Tobey Maguire as Spidey, which was released from 2002 to 2007, seems to be a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. How so?
The primary plot of Pride and Prejudice revolves around three characters – the rich Mr. Darcy, the daring Elizabeth Bennet, and the depraved Mr. Wickham.
This love-triangle is mirrored in the characters of Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, and Peter Parker. Harry is rich, and after his father’s death, inherits his vast estate. So, Oscorp is the Pemberly of Spider-man. Parker is also fatherless, but Norman Osborn seems to favor him over his own son, just as Wickham claimed of Darcy’s father.
Wait, wait, wait, you’re saying, all of the details don’t fit. And it’s true that Spider-man’s plot is simplified of many of Pride and Prejudice’s numerous characters. Like Elizabeth Bennet, Mary Jane does come from an uncomfortable family situation that is far beneath Harry’s on the social ladder. But she doesn’t have a pack of sisters to deal with, so there are no doppelgangers of Jane or Lydia. Neither do either of the boys have a sister. Finally, Peter’s Aunt May is nothing like Darcy’s aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
But what of the boys’ personalities? Well, what would happen if Darcy and Wickham were personality-swapped? You’d end up with something like Spider-man. Just as Lizzy was first charmed by Wickam but later saw the good in Darcy – the superhero-like action he took behind the scenes – M.J. first dates Harry but later sees all the good that Peter is trying to accomplish, despite his flaws. Just as Lizzy accidentally discovers the identity of Lydia’s rescuer, so does Mary-Jane discover who’s been saving both her and the city.
What about Mr. Collins? In the original Spider-Man film, John Jameson proposes to M.J., and she does eventually reject him, though under somewhat different circumstances.
It might be possible to draw additional character comparisons, such as assigning the role of Miss Bingley, who desired to marry Darcy, to one of Peter’s admirers, such as Gwen Stacy. But let’s avoid grasping at straws here.
Another interesting comparison is that Darcy’s and Parker’s first marriage proposals fail.
Spoiler alert: The trilogy’s ending does leave something to be desired. While Spider-Man 2 concludes with M.J. on Peter’s arm, Spider-Man 3 leaves off with hard feelings between the two. Many fans expected another sequel, which never happened.
Okay, so there are similarities. But were they intentional? We’ve tried to reach out to Director Sam Raimy, but at the time of publication, we had yet to receive a reply. We’ll keep you posted on that score, but in the meantime, we did a quick Google search to see if anyone else had drawn the same literary conclusions.
Audible Gift MembershipsSurprisingly, the search terms “Spider-man” and “Pride and Prejudice” turned up less than one page of results – mostly fan fiction crossovers and a meme of Spider-man cuddling a copy of the beloved tome. There were also a few video game walkthroughs for Spider-man 2. Apparently, the game contained a chapter entitled “Pride and Prejudice,” so it seems that someone noticed the similarities.
Try Audible and Get Two Free AudiobooksWhat do you think? Head on over to anatomyofadventure.com and drop us a line. We’ll see you next time on Jane in Space.
Lynn Nightengale is a contributing author to Anatomy of Adventure and host of the literary podcast Jane in Space.