Rereading Mansfield Park for the first time since my teens, and I find Mrs. Norris’ behavior to Fanny so strange.

Why the dislike? Or is it just coz Fanny is lower in the social hierarchy?

I’ve been rereading it and noticing how much of the book lives in single sentences. The famous opening line is obvious, but I keep getting caught on smaller ones, like Elizabeth’s quieter retorts or the moments when Darcy’s pride slips.

Which line, for you, is doing more than it looks like? Doesn’t have to be famous.

Disclosure: I’m building a small free reader called Margin where you can swipe through the text and tap any sentence to react to it, and Pride and Prejudice is the current book of the week. It’s very early, so if any of you want to try it and tell me whether line-by-line reacting adds anything, I’d be glad to hear it. No pressure, and happy to take this down if it doesn’t fit the sub.

The review I found is written by W.J. Kimble on the 1995 movie, Sense and Sensibility. It received four out of five stars rating the romantic drama; morally good. Kimble states the movie is aimed towards adults and teenagers. Kimble advises seeing Sense and Sensibility if you’re looking for a movie that’s sure to be clean but an entertaining watch. 

Balance 

Rated four out of five stars, Kimble found Sense and Sensibility to be a gentler paced movie that will keep adult's interested yet on the flip side found it is not the right movie choice for younger teenagers. Kimble states "If an action-packed adventure is your preference, don’t see this one." But he goes on to say, "However, if you want an evening out with your spouse, friend, etc., go see Sense and Sensibility”

In the review Kimble goes into the differences found in the movie stating, while it is rich in satire it is a romance filled with disappointed heartaches. Whether it’s the passing of the father in the beginning, losing their house or unrequited love. 

Attitude 

According to Dr. Gan, in this key we should ask ourselves what attitudes, values, or biases we bring, and how those might shape our understanding when reviewing or consuming media. We should recognize and reflect before we take that step forward and review or consume. As I looked at the review on Sense and Sensibility, I see that the review written by Kimble, put forth from the site Christian Answers is lacking in the Catholic sense. The Dashwood sisters themselves, Marianne especially, had to avoid men who were harmful or misleading just like we everyday have to do with media. 

Dignity of the Human Person 

Dr. Gan emphasizes that seeing dignity in every person is an essential principle in the media keys when consuming media or reading reviews. When looking at this review I tried to see if it is respectful of that and of good content. Being that one of our mission's in life is to seek the good, the true, and the beautiful I wanted to find a review from a site that seemed as though it supported that mission. Being that the name at the top of the site reviewing Sense and Sensibility says "Christian Spotlight on Entertainment" it gave the idea that the material can be of good repute. The review itself advertises that Sense and Sensibility is a clean romance that will not leave you feeling ashamed after watching. A win in our society when these days the movies being produced are usually not clean and more importantly are not affirming human worth or dignity. 

Truth-Filled

Finding movies in our world today where the content is truthful, avoids deception and turns away from distortion is a struggle. In the review, Kimble gave Sense and Sensibility a morally good rating proving that he found the movie to be aligning with truth. However, Kimble does not go into Christian teaching when discussing his thoughts on the movie quality itself. Kimble doesn’t not ask the questions that we should ask when reviewing and consuming media: is this content truthful? Does it distort facts? Should this content be avoided or encouraged? 

Inspired

In the review Kimble goes into how the Dashwood family had been thrown several misfortunes, each of them handled it differently yet with grace. They are all learning lessons from each of the stumbling blocks that were in their paths. Kimble writes: "ingeniously scripted it reveals that the choices we make can determine whether we will face lifelong misery or happiness" Just like when seeking after the dignity of the human person we should be asking the question does this media or review that we are consuming honor what is good? Does it honor what is truth filled? Ultimately is this honoring God or bringing us closer to him? 

Skillfully developed 

Dr. Gan teaches through this key that the principal part of the Church’s call to use media as a gift, not a distraction, and to ensure it contributes to us all becoming more skillfully developed in our everyday life. In the review Kimble speaks on how the Dashwood sisters are learning how to become more skillfully developed, not in media but in how to "...mix sense with sensibility. The remainder of the movie is their attempts to commingle between these two concepts." A more skillful review might go into how the Dashwood sisters grew into virtues throughout the movie. The sister go through lots of hardships in the movie, whether its losing their father, to have to move out of their home right after his death, to troubles of the heart. In that sense of not diving deeper into how the sisters grew in virtue, the review seems to be lacking where it could have developed profoundly into the sisters change. 

Motivated and Relevant to Human Experience 

Because we are all human, it is inspiring when we find media that resonates with the real experiences that we all go though, helping us to see our own lives reflected and inspiring us to live more fully as Catholic human beings. In the review for Sense and Sensibility it goes into the character of each of the sisters showing us all that the sisters too had temperaments, flaws and feelings. Whether its Elinor who is the cautious, responsible and realistic child or Marianne the passionate and impulsive second daughter. The review reminded us that were all growing and learning every day. At the end of the movie and the review we learned that the sisters have grown in virtue just as we can do every day if we chase after what God wants using the media keys.