On the Loose: Same, Same

Eligible doesn’t disappoint though it is alarmingly modern.

I have recently finished reading Eligible, a resurrected 2016 version of the beloved Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice. For publishers and filmmakers alike, it is a truth universally acknowledged that if you give readers contemporary versions of their favourite books and movies, it’s a risk-free business move. They will fly off the shelf and generate massive revenues. For a diehard Austen fan, Eligible doesn’t disappoint though it is alarmingly modern. Without giving much away, one can’t help but wonder if Austen would turn in her grave at the Bennett sisters’ severely compromised romantic relationships: being strung along by a bunch of no good men while fumbling around madly for employment. Despite this, the author Curtis Sittenfeld doesn’t veer away significantly from the original plot. It would be a lot more interesting if someone would jumble up the characters, reroute their attachments and jolt us out of the book we already know so well.

Alas, that would never work. The recycle culture is here to stay because it appears people have a fundamental resistance to change and a desperate longing for familiarity. The same story, reimagined, gives a reader the glow of newness while sweeping us back into a nostalgic, rose-tinted narrative with absolutely no surprises. It’s why we have a Rocky 5, a Housefull 3 and even a zombie movie on Pride and Prejudice. Viewers have already invested time and energy into these characters’ developments and feel no desire to replace them with anything else. The justification of rehashing the old greats is that it brings into the fray a new generation of readers who may not have the patience to get through the classics. This is why taking inspiration from the past is no longer even considered plagiarism. The internet has changed all that. I was recently introduced to the term ‘fan fiction’ when I learnt a friend’s 14-year-old daughter has created an alternate universe for a popular rock band. She has 35,000 breathless followers online, who cheer her fictionalised meetings and imagined scenarios with the rockstars. Incidentally, there is also ‘fan art’ and ‘fan film’.

Eligible was an aberration for me. I generally stay away from derivative fiction from, possibly, a misplaced sense of loyalty to the writer who went through the excruciating pain of coming up with unforgettable characters, a plot and a sequence of events. It seems patently unfair that 200 years later some canny author can cash in on his hard work. Besides, there are so many wonderful, inventive books waiting to be read. Why would I waste my time reading something written with borrowed ideas which can never be anything other than an imitative rerun? This, however, doesn’t apply to music. Some cover versions are infinitely better than their originals. For example, a rendition of Sound of Silence, the old Simon and Garfunkel song, by heavy metal band Disturbed, casts the real thing into the shade. This only emphasises that if one must rework something popular and successful, it should bring something new to the table, a nuance, sound or emotion, that hasn’t been explored yet.