#janeaustentiktok

[tolerablebutnot-enoughtotempt]

This is a tiktok from 2021 of the “alors on danse” trend that was popular at the time. Creators would dance to a slowed version of the song “Alors On Danse” by Stromae and would often times include a bit of text describing something that the creator seems to be bragging about or praising in someway. In the tiktok shown above, the creator dances along to the song with a block of text references a line from Henry Tilney, which reads “when he says ‘the person, be they gentleman or lady, who has not the pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.’” Here, the creator presents Mr. Tilney’s favorable opinion towards novels as a sort of “flex” (as gen z would call it), suggesting that a man who thinks so highly of novels, and in turn, so poorly of people who don’t enjoy them, is something that is worth bragging about or showing off. The creator has also captioned the tiktok with "key to my heart," indicating that she would swoon over and fall in love with a man who says this.

Henry’s snide comment about people who don’t enjoy novels reminds me of Austen’s earlier commentary in chapter 5 in which she argues very defensively in favor of novels. This part was very striking to me upon reading it because authors usually don't interject within their novels to give such impassioned appeals about them, but given the ridicule aimed towards novels during Austen's time, it is understandable that our author would want to defend her craft. She points out how readers of novels, typically women, are usually dismissive of novels and ashamed of their interest in reading them despite the fact that novels tend to be rich with wit, humor, and knowledge. This makes me think about the reality in which women aren't really able to have interests without being mocked for them; society tends to treat women's interests and hobbies (makeup, fashion, etc.) as silly or frivolous when it doesn’t seem to really do this for men. In this sense, Austen's defense of novels could be considered an early feminist thought in a way; she argues that it is perfectly acceptable for women to enjoy something (in this case, novels) merely for the sake of enjoyment, something that men are so often entitled to do. Returning to Mr. Tilney and the tiktok above, I think it's funny that Austen decided to give the male love interest a piece of dialogue that directly supports her earlier argument about novels, adding to his appeal and swoonworthiness as a man who takes note of and supports the interests of women. It also contrasts with Mr. Thorpe's outward disdain towards novels that we see in chapter 7. In fact, as Mr. Thorpe is someone who evidently has not the pleasure in a good novel, Mr. Tilney would consider him intolerably stupid. By giving Mr. Tilney and Mr. Thorpe opposing opinions on novels, Austen is subtly, yet not so subtly, telling us (apart from all of the other times that she has shown us) who the better man for Catherine is; not only is Mr. Tilney more compatible with Catherine in terms of their mutual interest in novels, but he is also a better match for her in the sense in the sense that he would not ridicule her for simply enjoying something (something that Mr. Thorpe would probably do).

[unsociableandtaciturnbarbie]

This week's find is an edit of 2007 Northanger Abbey movie to the song Seven by Taylor Swift. The TikTok shows different clips of Catherine, Henry Tilney, and General Tilney as the lyrics run along the bottom of the screen in a stylized white font. Edits, generally, can be a range of things, but in my research are typically videos in which footage from a movie, TV show, or celebrity is cropped and rearranged to align with a chosen song. Taylor Swift songs themselves are becoming increasingly popular in mainstream media, but have been popular for quite a while in the #booktok and fandom scene on TikTok and Youtube. This song in particular, Seven, can be found in edits for everything from Harry Potter to Five Nights at Freddy’s. Typically, it is used to highlight an unhappy home life with the phrase “your house is haunted” and an escape from that home life with another character in a platonic or romantic relationship with the phrase “I think you should come live with me”. 

For Northanger Abbey in particular, I think this song was an interesting choice. With the first line, “I think your house is haunted,” over a clip where Catherine is talking to Henry Tilney followed by a clip of Catherine walking through what I assume is Northanger Abbey (side note: I have not watched the movie, but I did some IMDB sleuthing), it sets up Henry as the “your” in this song and thus the idea of Henry Tilney’s house being haunted. This brings us back to the idea we discussed in class of Jane Austen flipping the tone of the novel from a story about a naive girl on vacation to one of a gothic novel as Catherine arrives at Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey is described in a large amount of detail as Catherine tours it, but also in how Catherine sees it at night and daydreams about it. Northanger Abbey, in this way, builds up to this sort of scary haunted house in the mind of Catherine. Following this line is, “your dad is always mad and that must be why,” with a clip of General Tilney storming around a corner. In most edits, the creators use mad in a sense that I usually think of it, as being angry, which I think applies to how the General looks in the scene. However, while I was considering this edit, it seems like maybe there’s a double meaning here. As Catherine builds up this haunted house in her mind, she becomes convinced that General Tilney murdered his wife. She starts to obsess over all of his actions, turning what could be construed as pretty typical behaviors to evidence that he must be coping with murdering his wife. Mad, aside from meaning angry, can also mean crazy, something that could probably be used to describe someone who’s murdered his wife. I don’t often think about this meaning of the word “mad” but I think it’s a really interesting application here, whether the creator meant to use it in both of its meanings or not. After this is the line, “I think you should come live with me.” This follows with more scenes of Catherine and Henry Tilney together (side note 2: my best guess based on the emotions of the recurring scene shown of Catherine and Henry talking is that it is when Catherine tells Henry she thinks his father murdered his mother, I could be very off here because I haven’t finished the book, but I wanted to put an official guess out there for when I do watch the movie). As I have not finished the book, I can only really hazard a guess based on previous edits I’ve watched, but I think the general meaning of the rest of the video is to (hopefully) convey how Catherine and Henry find happiness in being together despite the sort of haunted sadness permeating Henry Tilney’s home.

And for some added enjoyment, here is some other Northanger Abbey media I found that made me giggle and I would analyze given more time:

#jane austen #northanger abbey #taylor swift #austen #Youtube

[soy--contradiccion]

[keepingupwiththejaneites]

[teableeds]

#caitlyn’s thoughts

[emtillsjaneblog]

The meme presented here is colloquially known as “characters as ____,” and generally shows how each character in a novel/fandom/show/universe would act in a given situation. In this TikTok, the situation portrayed is giving the drink to the character when going to the bathroom, a fairly normal occurance in college life (she also has one for Pride and Prejudice). This activity is an exercise in trust, because you have to believe the person won’t drug the drink or let someone else mess with it. The function of this particular video is to show what each character does when given trust--in the case of Northanger Abbey, Catherine trusts many characters blindly due to her general naivety, and I think this TikTok does a good job of illustrating the results of that mistake.

As you can see, each character’s personality is reduced and overexaggerated here--Catherine has an overactive imagination, Isabella is flirty and doesn’t care about others, Tilney is trustworthy with the drink, and Ms. Allen wishes she had an acquaintance. This action of “bouillon”-ing is very similar to Jane’s style in her juvenilia and Northanger Abbey. I’m intrigued by the song choice in this TikTok--the song in question is Money Trees by Kendrick Lamar, a popular choice from his 2012 album good kid, m.A.A.d city. This song is frequently used on TikTok when commenting on this cultural moment of letting someone hold your drink (a few examples here). I’m interested in how songs that have nothing to do with the action in the video can become so popularized--I wonder if Kendrick knows his old song is being used in this way, and I wonder if this trend will come to mind the next time I hear the song.

#Northanger Abbey #Jane Austen #jane jumps shark #Catherine Morland #tiktok

[jennausten]

This tiktok is made by Rachel Amber Bloom, whose tiktok handle is dramadork884, in which she dresses as a Jane Austen heroine, which is fitting as she is representing Catherine Morland. She mouths along to an audio from an episode of Parks and Recreation, during which one of the characters, Andy Dwyer is discussing his new business and says, “I  have no idea but I’m doing but I know I’m doing it really really well.” The tiktok has a text to explain how the audio relates to Northanger Abbey, as it mocks the way Catherine seeks out mysteries at Northanger Abbey (although it does spell her last name wrong). 

I found this tiktok to be rather fitting for the chapters that we have read this week because Catherine’s trip with the Tilneys to their gothic abbey fuels her desire to want to live out a horror novel. At the start of their trip, Henry amuses Catherine’s obsession with gothic literature, telling her a hypothetical story of her finding mysterious passages and going through violent storms. Catherine’s eagerness to experience that story in actuality is continually challenged by her realization that she is being irrational and I think this is mirrored in the way the Abbey is actually very modern instead of gothic. It reflects how Catherine is searching for something that would not happen in modern times. The audio really fits in well during Catherine’s first night at the Abbey in which she searches the large closet in an effort to conquer fears that she has imagined for herself. During this scene I’d imagine, is when she would say “I don’t know what I’m doing,” in an act of bravery and an attempt to be a heroine. When she finds the rolls of paper in the large closet and puts out her own candle by accident, forcing herself to sleep scared and thrilled all night, she’s “doing it really, really well”, the “it” being how she has gotten the fright she craves from reading all those gothic novels. Throughout a few chapters, Catherine continuously goes back and forth between getting carried away with her fantasies and realizing how irrational she sounds and a major one being hinted at is how she is starting to paint General Tilney as a murderer of his own wife, concluding that “he must have been dreadfully cruel to her” (124) because he doesn’t hang a photo of her in his room. 

While I initially found Catherine relatable, such as her “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) when it came to taking the trip with the Thorpes or going on the walk with the Tilneys, I found her to be more annoying during this section of the novel. Catherine came off especially childish in my opinion and I could imagine her running around in her room at night, tiptoeing near the closet just to run back into her bed with the sheets pulled up to her eyes, cowering in fear of nothing. The first couple of chapters introducing her did preface her inexperience in the world and I found her to be especially naive. It was almost as if her inexperience led her to perceive these gothic stories as fact and causes her to try to paint the world in that manner. I remember a peer mentioning that Catherine seemed “stupid” to her rather than relatable during one of our first discussions in class and I can see where that sentiment is coming from during this section of the novel but I’m interested to see how far she might take it or if she grows from learning that the exact events from stories do not play out as dramatically in life (although, this is a novel so perhaps it will be dramatic for us).

[teableeds]

#caitlyn’s thoughts