Review of Becoming Jane (2007) by Chads. — 18 Feb 2008

According to "Becoming Jane", Austen(Anne Hathaway) wrote canonical literature for the same reason that other women read disposable romantic pap, to add a little spice to their sexless prosaic lives.

Since "Becoming Jane" imitates the storyline for Austen's "Sense & Sensibility", the screenwriter intimates that the celebrated novel was a barely concealed memoir. In this sense, "Becoming Jane" has a patriarchal sensibility, by its very suggestion that Austen's calling card to the ether was a pioneering example of "me"-lit.

Happy endings were par for the course in Austen novels; as was her life, a happy ending indeed, if professional success could be measured by a barometer. Although "Becoming Jane" provides a seemingly objective ending about the synchronicity between career and family, the camera sees what the rhetorical screenwriter sees, that a published novel is no match indeed for a naked hand, which tips the scales in favor of family, which makes Austen's life an unqualified failure.

"Becoming Jane" leads the viewer to believe that Jane became a famous writer almost by default. Intentional or not, the film aligns itself with the spirit of the times; that a barefoot and pregnant woman is better than a witty, ironical one.