<em>Sense and Sensibility</em> and Jane Austen’s Accidental Feminists

When it comes to the most memorable men written by Jane Austen and brought to life on the screen, Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy tends to overshadow all others—and for good reason. The BBC’s 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice titillated audiences with the invented scene of a soaking-wet Darcy running into Elizabeth Bennet after a swim, and he became such a beloved symbol of Regency-era manhood that a 12-foot tall fiberglass statue of him was erected and displayed in a London lake in 2013 (where it remained until it was relocated to Australia). In more ways than one, Firth’s Darcy positively towers over his competition as the embodiment of Austen’s ideal man—with the exception of two characters from another ’90s adaptation of the novelist’s work.

Ang Lee’s , which premiered in the U.K. 20 yearsdeliberately imbued Austen’s first published heroes with qualities they either didn’t have in the novel or didn’t have to the same degree: egalitarian attitudes toward women, an affection for children, and emotional sensitivity. In other words, used updated versions of early 19th-century heroes to sell emerging ideals of manhood to the late-20th century, at a time when the pro-feminist men’s movement was challenging gender norms in the realm of politics and pop culture.