Keira Knightley: Yay or Meh?

[retsuko]

So, yesterday, livyanne and I were talking about "Pride and Prejudice" and her annoyance for the Keira Knightly version came up. "What?!" said I. "Meh, Ick, Wishy-washy!" said she. (I paraphrase.) Apparently, Jennifer Ehle fans are more passionate than I thought.

[Poll #1184045]

I don't mind her one way or another--I just wish she'd stop looking like a stick and wearing odd clothes. Appearing in Go Fug Yourself's March Fug Madness Brackets and wearing things like this are not positive career moves, IMHO.

EDIT: For the record, Keira Knightly was in "Pirates of the Carribean" and in the feature-length adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" that came out a few years ago.

Comments

[psychoe.livejournal.com]

She's pretty and all but she's just wayyyy unrealistically thin. I generally enjoy her movies but the lady just has to chow down on some burgers or something.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Yes, I absolutely agree with this.

She is pretty and I think she's a decent actress (although I think Jennifer Ehle is a better Elizabeth) but honestly, EAT SOME FOOD!

She looked better in Bend It Like Beckham, when at least she had a little meat on her bones, although she was still probably a size 2 at most.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I agree--she was very good in "Bend it like Beckham".

And it's probably true--Jennifer Ehle is a better Elizabeth, although I don't see why the two versions can't coexist more peacefully. ;)

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

I own both ;)

I think they CAN coexist...but people who like the more staid-in-pacing BBC version find the Keira Knightley version too sped-up, I think. They do miss out quite a lot of the story.

I must say, though, I find Matthew McFadyen just as appealing as Colin Firth in the role of Mr Darcy, although for different reasons ;)

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I find Matthew McFadyen just as appealing as Colin Firth in the role of Mr Darcy, although for different reasons

Me too! Colin Firth for me is all about being dreamily unattainable, whereas I just wanted to give McFadyen's Darcy a big cuddle for at least half of the film :).

I like Keira Knightley (not as much as Jennifer Ehle, but...) but ugh, she looks scarily thin in that GFY photo. I had no idea she was that skinny - just thought she was naturally slim.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

I think she is naturally slim...but I think she's purposely lost weight past slim. In this photo (http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/arts/2007/03/02/benditlikebeckham460.jpg) from "Bend It Like Beckham" she's obviously thin, but she's not skeletal. These days she's definitely skeletal!

[lyras.livejournal.com]

She looks great in that photo - very slim, but healthy. How awful that she seems to have felt the need to lose weight beyond that!

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

I agree that it looks as if she's been starving herself somehow... but can you really call the way a real person actually looks "unrealistic"? The fug photo didn't look doctored. All too real.

There's a piece in the latest New Yorker about a famous digital photo editor (works with Annie Leibowitz etc.), and they had an example of some of his work. What he did? Took an emaciated model's photo and added some flesh over her hipbone and some breast. Basically, he *fattened her up* in the digital editing! This is a weird, weird country.

[(Anonymous)]

I think by "unrealistic" I mean that people don't naturally end up that way unless they go through some extreme means.

I think I've heard she's claiming that's really how she looks but you would think it should be something she should be ashamed of and work against rather than flaunt (like in that photo).

[psychoe.livejournal.com]

I think by "unrealistic" I mean that people don't naturally end up that way unless they go through some extreme means.

I think I've heard she's claiming that's really how she looks but you would think it should be something she should be ashamed of and work against rather than flaunt (like in that photo).

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

Hm... I have a problem with that statement. If we believe her that she is naturally so skinny (her cheeks I think belie that, but anyway) then I don't think she should be *ashamed* of it, any more than an overweight person should be ashamed of the way she naturally looks.

I do have somewhat of a personal stake in this in that I'm naturally kind of a stick myself, and have had other women insult me by calling me "anorexic bitch", mutter behind my back about it, constantly tell me I need to eat more (gets old REALLY FAST), or tell me they "hate me" because of it. I think that there's an underlying problem here: on a certain level it doesn't matter what you look like-- if you are a woman, you WILL be insulted and judged in terms of your body, because you are always susceptible as a woman to being reduced TO your body. The ideal is always unattainable, no matter which side you err on.

Well, I hope she's healthy. I don't think she's a particularly good actress (unlike Jennifer Ehle!)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I think it's her ribs in the picture that bother me the most--I have friends who naturally on the skinny side, but I don't see their ribs like that at all. And, yeah, her cheekbones, too. And if she is in fact starving herself because she wants to look that way, then I hope she gets help.

(And, apintrix? If anyone says anything like that to you when I'm around, I will go all HULK SMASH! on them for you. )

[psychoe.livejournal.com]

on a certain level it doesn't matter what you look like-- if you are a woman, you WILL be insulted and judged in terms of your body, because you are always susceptible as a woman to being reduced TO your body. The ideal is always unattainable, no matter which side you err on.

I definitely agree with this point and I retract my former statement because it was judgmental on my part. Thank you for calling me out on that. :)

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Urgl. I'm sorry you have to deal with that, apintrix. Bodies come naturally in different shapes and sizes!

What I like about the KK P&P version is that they really get the class gradations nicely right - and the UST is very hawt.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I agree with you there--it was made much more clear to me why the Bennett girls were not "prizes" for their respective suitors.

Plus, Judy Dench!

[psychoe.livejournal.com]

Whoah! Reverse editing ftw! XD We definitely need more of that.

[jtaylor2.livejournal.com]

I was okay with her in the first PoC movie. The second one, I wasn't such a fan of and I haven't even watched the third. My one criticism of her is that she isn't very dynamic. She does period pieces well or whatever.

She tried to do something different in Domino, but it didn't jazz me. And, I want to give her a big sandwich to fill in those sunken cheeks. :)

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

Well, I had to spend part of Sunday watching or trying to ignore bits and pieces of that movie. I didn't want to watch it because:

1) I do not like Keira Knightley. I didn't like her in Pirates (except in the first movie and the famous kiss in the second one). I don't care for her looks (i.e. I wouldn't want to look like her, not that there's a problem with them in general) and her general attitude in films. She seems to play each line the opposite of the way that I think that it should be played (either that or she has bad roles).

2) I liked Jennifer Ehle in the role of E. Bennet as well as her playing off of Colin Firth. I loved the chemistry between them. I saw no reason for a remake because the miniseries was fairly faithful to the book and dialogue... and had additions like the lake scene... and the fencing scene.

3) If anyone should have been in a remake, it should have been me. ;D

Unfortunately, the husband thinks she's lovely and my family kept comparing me to her through the whole movie that they watched. She just rubs me the wrong way.

However, I don't care if people like this version, I really don't. I just don't want to have it forced on me. I'm glad that people see it, like it, and want to read the book...