How "The Other Bennet Sister" subverts narrative convention

We've seen it countless times in romance films. The unassuming heroine who never thought of herself as a beauty gets a makeover that makes her the most stunning woman at the ball. 

What we've been conditioned to expect 

Disney has practically patented this plain to princess trope from the time that it showed the magical transformation of Cinderella's torn dress into a sparkling gown to the depiction of beauty professionals smoothing the bushy-browed, curly-haired, bespectacled Mia into the general beauty standard  ahead of dressing her in her ball gown. 

In the conventions of such films,  a heroine who does not shed her ugly duckling veneer and become the graceful swan we expect to see is unthinkable. And that is what makes The Other Bennet Sister so  daring in challenging it.  

Being the odd one out

The Other Bennet Sister is Mary's story of how she comes into her own identity and happiness. Of course, growth and change is part of that story. But the usual account of a girl's metamorphosis into a beautiful woman who only gets her due after removing her glasses, doing her hair, and wearing the right clothes is replaced by the confidence that allows Mary to be herself instead of trying to impress others and win parental approval. 

In the book, Mary keeps applying herself to books largely to try to win her father's notice and affection. That is not really shown in the adaption, which highlights more of her awareness of constantly disappointing her mother because she is not pretty enough or lively enough and has the gall to wear spectacles. In her parental home, where her sisters have paired up without her and her parents either ignore or criticize her, Mary has no one to turn to.

But that all changes when the Gardiners take her in. Her aunt does everything possible to make Mary feel at home and to build up her confidence that Mrs. Bennet's constant criticisms have undermined. And we have the requisite new wardrobe for the heroine as she makes a switch from her usual drab colors, though it's all about Mary's self-esteem rather than the usual makeover.

Though she never blossoms into beauty, Mary with her glasses and unfashionable clothes manages to attract two suitor. Tom Hayward and Will Ryder enjoy her company and conversation because she is so different from other women they've encountered and says what she really thinks.   

Clothes do not make the woman, but choosing them does

Mary's new  spring green gown

Mary's new clothes are handled very differently in the book and in the adaption. The novel gave greater weight to Mary's feelings of guilt concerning Mr. Sparrow at the Assembly ball. Associating that with a becoming cream and gold gown that she had treated herself to for the occasion make her deny herself pretty dresses afterwards. Wanting to boost her nieces confidence, Mrs. Gardiner makes the argument her that she deserves to dress in smart clothes as a reflection of how she values herself and even persuades her to allow Elizabeth -- who wishes to make amends for having played a part in Mary's embarrassment when told to stop playing piano --to pay for it. 

In contrast, in the adaption, Mary has come to the Gardiners as an interim governess, and her aunt convinces her that the position includes a dress allowance. She urges Mary to choose the fabrics she wants on her own and refuses to direct her in any way. The resulting gowns are not what would have been called "smart" at the time. The spring green gown red gown is particularly unflattering. 

Yet, as she tells Miss Baxter, it makes her feel bold. That statement proves that Mrs. Gardiner achieved her aim of bolstering her niece's confidence in herself and her ability to choose for herself, regardless of how fashionable she may appear.  

Mrs. Bennet attempts to undermine that when she offers her own commentary on the red dress and forces Mary to wear Elizabeth's gown at dinner to look more attractive to Mr. Ryder. (None of this occurs in the book.) Mary wears the blue gown that her sister wore to the ball some 2-3 years and shows her discomfort by fidgeting with the neckline. 

Elizabeth selecting her gown for the ball

This dress is the one that Elizabeth selected over a yellow one in order to disassociate herself form her mother who was wearing a similar color. Mary will echo making that choice when it comes to deciding what to wear for the hike up Scafell Pike. 

Mary chooses her blue plaid gown

Narrating her actions, Mary declares, "I had made my choice!" when she selects her own blue gown -- the plaid one she has worn many times before, though she pairs it with a fuchsia spencer. She wears the same combination when she is reunited with Tom Hayward and finally gets the romantic resolution she had hoped for.

The choice she had made was not just about her clothes but about taking control of her own life. One was marrying Tom rather than much richer Ryder. The other -- an invention of the adaption -- was to put all her learning to use as a kind of tutor/governess and pursue a career even as a statement of valuing herself beyond attaining the position of wife. That is Mary declaring her own independence from conventional standards as she pursues her own form of happiness. 

Related: 

The Other Bennet Sister: Celebrating Mary Bennet
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Subverting the Cinderella Story and Assumptions About the 1950s in "The Solid Gold Cadillac"

 

The Solid Gold Cadillac is a 1956 comedy film starring Judy Holliday (pictured in the center of the photo above) as the irrepressible small stockholder, Laura Partridge. The car in the title alludes to the gift bestowed on the heroine by the other stockholders in the company for upholding their interests. The brief view of the gold Cadillac is filmed in Technicolor, though the rest of the film is in black-and-white. 

Holliday's character is somewhat similar to the one she played in her most famous role, that of Billie Dawn in the 1950 comedy Born Yesterday. In fact, there's a subtle allusion to that film in this one when she claims that the picture of the leading man in The Solid Gold Cadillac played by Paul Douglas resembles William Holden, her love in interest in the 1950 film. (There is no real physical resemblance between the two).   

In both films, the plot of marrying the love interest is secondary. The primary narrative is about the heroine's discovery of corruption and her determination to push back. It's not the traditional fairy tale in which all the princess needs to do is be discovered by the prince in order to live happily ever.  And that is something that is particularly underscored in The Solid Gold Cadillac.

LIke some other 1950s films, this one has a narrator -- voiced by George Burns in this case. He lets us know who are the bad guys and the good guys and draws parallels to the Cinderella story in describing the heroine's experiences.  

But this is not a princess who leaves behind a glass slipper for the prince to use to find her. The shoes she loses are sturdy boots. Twice in the film, Partridge finds a single boot of her own in the office she's trying to clear out. The second time, she thinks she'll find the mate in a file drawer, though as you see from the picture below, it turns out to be a boot from a different pair. 

I was wondering why so much emphasis on this sight gag until I connected it with the Cinderella narrative. It's an obvious subversion of the symbol of the fairy tale in which the drudge got to don a beautiful dress and ride in a carriage conjured by magic to  get swept off her feet by the prince who would save her from any future work.

In contrast, our heroine gets her man, her career, and a solid car rather than just a title and a carriage that turns back into a pumpkin

She's not the only woman in the film who continues working after marriage. Her secretary does, too. And the happily ever after of all the worthy characters is not just due to their marriages but to their careers, as well. This is the modern deviation from the traditional marriage plots that dominated fairy tales, plays, and  novels for a few hundred years.  Sturdy boots > glass slippers.

Related: Feminine Feet

Any other plain Janes?

Among Charlotte Bronte's claim to fame is her success in going against the grain of beautiful heroines. While her juvenilia did feature the standard beautiful type, in her two most popular novels, Jane Eyre and Villette, (The Professor also features a small and plain heroine, though she is not the central character of the book and is not as well delineated as her later heroines) her heroines fascinate based on what's inside rather than what's outside. They proved her capable of what she promised her sisters, " I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting as any of yours." 


I was thinking about this now because it seems to me that literature (and films or television adaptions) are still peopled by beautiful heroines. If the girl was born plain, all she has to do is get the right dress, hair style, and makeup (perhaps also eyebrow shaping) to appear as the beauty she was meant to be.  Typically the one who appears mousy just sheds her glasses, shakes out her hair and gets the right dress to get noticed. 


In contrast, Jane Eyre resists that convention of the ugly duckling blossoming into a swan. When Rochester attempts to buy her gorgeous gowns and jewels, she does not feel the elation that girls typically exhibit when donning such lovely things. Instead, she feels her cheeks burn.  


There is also an interesting take on dressing up in  for Lucy Snowe, the heroine of Villette.  Normally, she dresses in shadowy colors and stays in the background, but on one night she dares to wear pink and spots herself in the mirror as if she had come upon a stranger. But the dress (italicized for the central role it plays in so many Cinderella type stories) does not win her the attention of the man she adores who is smitten by a superficial beauty until he turns his attention to another whose beauty is less showy but is still distinguished from the plainness of the heroine. 


I'm wondering: do any other novel achieve a heroine who does manage to captivate someone in a romantic sense even though she remains  plain?