There’s a movie called Mansfield Park, based upon the novel by Jane Austen, where some woman moves into some huge estate at the behest of her mother, and she’s belittled, bullied, etc., and treated like a piece of meat when she’d like to be appreciated for her mind. Well, after seeing some of it, and recognizing it’s based on a novel by someone whose first name is “Jane”, it made me think it would be fun to skewer it with a feminist twist by calling it Jayne Mansfield Park, where Jayne Mansfield is sent to live in the same place and circumstances, but because she’s Jayne Mansfield, she simply wraps all the men around her little finger, and they all agree to leave all their money and property to her in the hopes she will marry them, and when she dumps them all one by one, they commit suicide and she inherits everything, including the estate and all the money. And thereupon she becomes a very successful writer respected by all throughout the world, finally respected for her mind, after getting revenge against anyone who wouldn’t. And wouldn’t that be the perfect ending to any Jane Austen novel? Sure, Jane may not approve of how Jayne got there, but wouldn’t it be the perfect revenge against the male establishment for holding back women of substance for so many novels? And the great irony would be that she used the belittling of sexual attraction against the men to defeat them all. It may not be feminist theory, exactly, but it would make a good satire.
And guess what else: The lead actress in this movie version from 1999 is starring in a new movie called Jayne Mansfield’s Car (!). So there’s another connection to Jayne Mansfield! And guess what else? The star of Jayne Mansfield’s Car is none other than Kevin Bacon! So this is just another case of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”! I didn’t know you could reach Jane Austen from him in so few steps, but there you are: you can.
Here’s the proof about the Kevin Bacon connection to Jane Austen (Frances O’Connor, who was the lead actress of Mansfield Park, based upon the novel by Jane Austen, is also in Jayne Mansfield’s Car, with Kevin Bacon, which connects Jayne Mansfield, Mansfield Park, Jane Austen, the lead actress of Mansfield Park, and Kevin Bacon. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.):
