There are many reasons why Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice has lasted, and some of them are unrelated to the actual writing. However, I think the actual writing should get a substantial amount of credit.A modernized M/M romance version of Pride & Prejudice, Out, Proud, and Prejudiced by Megan Reddaway illustrates why.
Megan Reddaway adapts the locations and characters, specifically the Bennett family, to modern life. The "sisters" are now male friends/roommates sharing a house in a small college town in England. Bingley (Tim) and Darcy (Darius) arrive in the town, where Tim plans to buy an art gallery. The Elizabeth character, renamed Bennett (first name), is attending the local college, where he is majoring in hospitality.
Darius's family home, Pemberley, is now part-family home and part-wedding/convention center. His aunt runs the place (but is not the owner). Darius himself is a lawyer. And the Wickham character is a swarmy guy who attaches himself to a reality cooking show camera crew in order to pick up dirt on people.
Reddaway sticks to the plot points. She also sticks to the character's motivations. Bennett is ticked at Darius for being a jerk in their initial meeting (at a dance club). He acknowledges later that he may have misread Darius's dryly sarcastic comments. He regrets his misreading of Darius's character and his mistaken trust in Wickham. He holds his poor judgment (pride and prejudice) to account for that misreading. Bennett does engage in an excursion to Brighton (Rosings Park) where he and Darius go rock-climbing together and begin to form a tentative friendship. It backfires when yes, Darius does separate his friend Tim from Bennett's friend, Jamie, who is romantically holding out for a big wedding day. Jamie's reserve and lack of easy emotional connection make it easy for Tim and Darius to doubt his intentions. (Jamie later forgives Tim in a manner that Bennett considers way too accommodating; Bennett then shrugs his shoulders and allows that both Jamie and Tim will have to figure it out on their own.)
Bennett's friend Charlotte does in fact marry a waffling guy, Callum, who owes Bennett money.
Bennett does visit Pemberley--to work. And he does meet Darius's sweet, quiet brother. And he does begin to question what he actually knows. And yes, Darcy's aunt is a bossy, single-minded dragon lady.
Wickham does try to take advantage of non-brothers Kofi and Leon (Kitty and Lydia). However, in one of the book's hilarious twists, although Wickham's smutty movies (with bad editing) put Bennett and his college advisors at risk, Kofi and Leon are entirely indifferent to what people think about them.
However, the targeted characters are forced to consider how much money to pay out to stop Wickham. Darius does, behind the scenes, help the police get Wickham pulled in on other charges.
And the aunt, Catherine Brackenbrough, does try to get Bennett to promise to never date Darius by offering him a potential internship that he really needs. Bennett naturally refuses, which naturally gets back to Darius, which naturally results in him showing up at the house.All the same elements. I concluded that the reason they work--even updated, modernized, and turned into a M/M as opposed to M/F romance--is because Austen's series of events are organic. They may seem contrived when written out separately (oh, sure, Elizabeth/Bennett just happens to show up at Pemberley) but they really aren't. The world of gentry folk was not that big--people did keep running into each other. The world of hospitality--caterers, hosts, etc.--is not that big either, not for a newly graduated college student looking for a job.
Austen created a realistic series of events that still surprise and delight us without crossing the line into pure melodrama and gaping plot holes. Her characterizations support events and events support characterizations. Although we can see how foolish Lady Catherine is to challenge Elizabeth--and then tell Darcy--Lady Catherine is exactly the type of person who cannot see that she is shooting herself in the kneecaps. She misjudges Elizabeth/Bennett. Her sense of offense leads her to reveal how "rude" Elizabeth/Bennett was to her nephew, Darcy/Darius, who accepts the information as a sign.
Pride & Prejudice truly is a fine work of art. The many, many adaptations--from awful to great--reveal its core strengths. Out, Proud, and Prejudiced takes advantage of those core strengths to produce a worthy tribute.
