Not a joke. Well, actually, maybe a little bit. So, maybe you’ve seen the internet video sensation called the Jane Austen Fight Club, but if you haven’t, you should. It will probably make you giggle, and it’s right up there. Definitely worth the watch.

NPR’s Blog of the Nation recently discussed this charming …

… combination of Jane Austen’s propriety and Chuck Palahniuk’s well, bad-assery (that’s a technical term). They quote Laura Miller of Salon:

Granted, we have a Jane Austen problem. Austen, like Jesus, is most misunderstood and misrepresented by those who claim to love her best. Somehow, a writer regarded by previous generations as among the greatest novelists of all time, widely read by both men and women, has lately been cast in the role of the grandmother of chick lit. Nostalgic fetishists of tea sets, balls, empire-waist gowns and Colin Firth choose to see the milieu of Austen’s novels as a theme park for genteel romance instead of as the unforgiving shark pond it actually was. Pop culture can only take advantage of what Austen has to offer when it realizes what’s actually there.

Gotta love the Jesus analogy, right? Simply endearing. But in all seriousness, although pop culture might be missing the point of the great Jane Austen (for whom, by the by, I have the utmost literary respect; Northanger Abbey made me a believer), videos like this take a interesting spin on the “grandmother of chick lit.” I am really curious about what kind of people are really loving this idea. Is it men, who find the whole concept of chick lit an insult to their sperm count, but can palate the polite Austean society as long as the women are beating the shit out of each other? Or is it the women who love the beauty and old charm of Pride and Prejudice, but really find the idea entertaining? I’m not sure.

Personally, I thought this was hilarious. I straight up laughed out loud. What do you think?

4 Responses to “The Jane Austen Fight Club”

1. Erin says:

   July 30, 2010 at 12:31 pm

   Hehe, this made me laugh. Although I probably would have understood more if I’d actually seen the original Fight Club.

   Reply
2. DeAnna says:

   July 30, 2010 at 2:10 pm

   Absolutely hilarious. But that’s perhaps due to the fact I’ve read all her novels, and seen Fight Club about a thousand times. I’ll be sending this one to my friends in the English department.

   Reply
3. Gigi says:

   August 9, 2010 at 2:34 pm

   Fight Club is one of my favorite american movies but I’ve only made it through one Austen novel: Persuasion. Damn Louisa and her annoyingly personality- too bad she didn’t die from that jump.

   Reply
   • Gigi says:

     August 9, 2010 at 2:35 pm

     *annoying

     Reply