Not Proud and Prejudiced Enough…
Posted on July 21st, 2009 in observations Jane Austen, Martial arts, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!, Steve Martin
I started listening to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it was getting boring. In fact, I ended up listening to Steve Martin’s autobiography instead.
My problem with the Jane Austen zombie adaptation is that the daughters were trained “in the fighting arts of the orient”, and in a “shaolin monastery” no less… Its something like this that will break my suspension of disbelief and make things disagreeable for me. Not only would this be very unlikely in that time period, when England was busy shipping opium to China, seeing the chinaman as a poor savage and nothing much else – but it would also be unnecessary. (Western) Fencing was not an unusual study for nineteenth century noble children (well, boys at least, but in a zombie world I would be as forgiving of this as the author), and other forms of martial arts have a long history in the west as well – savate, a French kick-boxing style for example, not to mention stick-fighting (like the Irish Shillelag, or the gentleman’s walking-stick fighting like in this treatise from 1901 – which was also for women as well, apparently) . I can’t imagine any western person studying eastern martial arts at that time period. And thus, an otherwise perfectly good zombiebook (I must assume) was spoiled for me.
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July 24th, 2009 at 8:19 am
wait, they were trained at a shaolin monastery?????
that’s the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard. you know, one of the best aspects of any zombie story is the idea that ordinary people end up being good at fighting zombies. people want to cheer for the underdog.
a professionally trained fighter is not the underdog.