Netflix is wrong to cut this one famous Pride and Prejudice scene – it's gone woke
Literary critics probably won't lose any sleep over the fact Netflix are reportedly axing an iconic scene from the upcoming Pride and Prejudice remake, which will star The Crown's Emma Corrin and BAFTA winner Jack Lowden as the central couple, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, but it is a ridiculously woke move which will come as a huge blow to fans of these kinds of period dramas. The popular scene, which previously featured in the 1995 BBC drama, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, saw Colin, playing Mr Darcy, emerging in his wet shirt from a lake after a swim. It spawned numerous fantasies, became a huge inspiration for Helen Fielding when she was writing Bridget Jones Diary and turned Colin into a star.
Although it doesn't actually feature in the book and was purely created for the 1995 BBC adaptation of the novel, its cultural impact has been huge. However the producers of the new six-part series based on Jane Austen's novel and written by Dolly Alderton and directed by Euros Lyn, are worried it objectifies men! This is the same channel which commissioned Sex/Life, the truly awful American Erotic Drama about a woman who indulges her sexual fantasies revisiting her wild-child past. This show objectified the lead actress and it was completely gratuitous yet it was given two seasons.
This is the streamer who has a whole category called "Steamy" for movies that "turn up the temperature". This category includes films such as the Fifty Shades and 365 Days series of movies.
While neither of these are Netflix commissions (or particularly good) the objectification of the women is strong in both.
They also commissioned Happy Ending, which is a Dutch dramedy focusing on a woman who has been faking orgasms througout her relationship, who proposes a threesome to spice things up!
Done correctly erotic drama can be engaging but none of Netflix "spicier" content has any great artistic merit. It's sole purpose seems to be to objectify - which is apparently fine when it is the women who are front and centre of the racy scenes.
For balance they do also feature Magic Mike to give the ladies and gay men a bit of erotic eye candy. But, although this movie is about male strippers, there is not much objectification going on.
The first outing, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was a gritty and dark drama. Meanwhile the second, directed by Gregory Jacobs, still benefits from the male gaze ensuring his impressively chiseled cast are never objectified.
The lake scene in Pride and Prejudice is not in the least objectifying. It is far less objectifying than the heaving bosoms that so frequently feature in the women's far too tight costumes in period dramas a la Bridgerton - another show that has no problem asking women to get naked but conveniently preserves the men's modesty.
It is a bit late for Netflix to be getting on their high horse about objectification. Unless they remove every show which objectifies women from their library their argument is moot. Give Elizabeth Bennet (and the viewers) the soaking wet eye candy they deserve.
Daily Express
