Dancing as World Burns: Reflections on Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
It was very strange to watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Because in a small, small way[1], I have been a corset-and-crinoline lady in a world where you shoot undead. I’ve sat in a ladies meeting and sipped tea when an attack upon the camp means we are rushing out with guns blazing and swords aloft. I remember being told that there was dangerous undead about beyond the camp and that I should only proceed with an escort. I have hidden guns in my reticule, reloaded for another lady as she shot zombies and chosen a sword to match my ball gown.
So watching Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was for me very much about reliving those glorious, ridiculous days of being a Flembic Lady.
And what I learnt was that I am not the protagonist of the film.
This is probably not surprising to most people who have ever tried to engage with live roleplay as a hobby. Heroes in stories have some terrible habits that would make them terrible characters in a live roleplay game. Heroes tend to be reactive, only being spurred onto action when the villain encroaches upon their farm. There is even a stage in the Hero’s Journey called “Refusal of the Call.”
Heroes also have a tendency to be aloof and mysterious, not wanting to talk about their tragic backstories. They are secretive, unwilling to share information they’ve been given and often insist on acting alone.
These are all terrible traits to bring into a live roleplay game where one becomes one among a dozen, a hundred, or even a thousand players. A tavern where every patron is aloof and reactive would be a very boring place to be. The first piece of advice given to a new player is inevitably to have goals and motivations, things they want to achieve in the gameworld. Don’t wait for the Plot to come looking for you.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies never really gives a reason why the society still clings to balls and marriages and afternoon tea as the zombie apocalypse descends. Its sensible characters preach that one should be posting guards and make self defense a priority, that one should cast aside these frivolous things, yet still they go along with having dancing.
Mrs Bennett is single handedly keeping the very concept of polite society together, but why? She has gained no further characterisation beyond her original silliness. She makes mention of land and inheritance at Mr Bennett’s death (which would be all the more likely that everyone is being besieged by zombies) but the film still frames her as any other Pride and Prejudice production frames Mrs Bennett: silly and scheming.
But I do know why she’s that way.
Because I was her. Lady Odette has looked many in the eye and insisted that we would not allow the prospect of undead attack or demon incursion stop the ball. To discard our culture in the face of such would be a betrayal of our own civilisation. We are more than our military strength, we are also our fashions and our frivolities[3].
Conversely, I loathed Pride and Prejudice and Zombie’s Darcy. He was the sort of character Odette had met many times. The sort who wore a leather trenchcoat, carried a katana[2] and insisted that everyone go on guard duty. The undead menace were clearly far more important than witty debates at the salons and dancing at masquerade balls. He treats culture and its complex conflicts as a Gordian knot that he can dispassionately slice through with his sword of logic. He’s the sort of player who would shoot the non player character who is there to deliver the exposition for the plot and then be proud about it.
And of course, the plot vindicates the cult of practicality. Darcy saves the day with bombastic badassery and Lizzie loves him all the more for it.
Which is all to say I’m old, grumpy and nostalgic for the days when I organised dances in the middle of a thunderstorm and had canapes and drinks taken to the front line of the fight.
But it also reminds me to be careful in the fiction I write myself. What are my characters fighting for? What parts of their culture are they willing to give up in the name of practicality?
When the world burns will they still feel the need to dance?
[1] Through the magic of live roleplay. I played Lady Odette for four weekends a year for almost six years. For the curious, there are some photos of the character and extracts from the nation brief the old costume blog: Military gown, Purple Polonaise and a Flembic Jenny.
[2] Which he doesn’t wield like a katana because… reasons. This film (and one assumes the book) has a quite dubious steak of orientalism.
[3] Not to mention that the complications that come from our culture is what keeps us busy as characters. The ideological knots we tie ourselves in, the need to cleave to our rigid structures and social systems is how conflict is created. Marriages proposals must be conducted as a series of elaborate challenges. No one can be recognised if they have a mask on, no matter how obvious the disguise. The winner of a duel always has the right of the matter.
