Today, for part of my research into Jane Austen's personal life, I decided to watch 'Becoming Jane', a biographical romantic drama film which depicts the early life of Jane Austen and her lasting love for Tom Lefroy. I especially chose to watch this film as the screenwriter, Kevin Hood, said that he had "attempted to weave together what we know about Austen's world from her books and letters," and believed Austen's personal life was the inspiration for her novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Since I am focusing my study on this particular novel, I thought that this film may provide me with a bigger insight into Austen's personal bubble by exploring her first, and probably only, true love and the struggle for making their love possible in a society where social expectations and customs dictate how you live and who you marry. It was interesting to see how they portrayed Jane herself, played by Anne Hathaway, and Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy. After watching it, I got the impression that the film version of Jane and Tom parallels heavily with Elizabeth and Darcy in the novel as both pairs face turbulence in their relationships and the possibility of being together. Although there are similarities between the two stories, as Jame McAvoy himself said, "the screenplay was nothing like Pride and Prejudice. The screenwriter probably speculated on some of the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice but it is a completely different story. "

I recorded transcripts of key scenes I found useful and informative during watching the film so I can refer back to them in my study.

Overall, the film was helpful with helping me to find factors that could have possibly influenced Pride and Prejudice, while simultaneously educating me on the social customs and expectations of 18th century British society. While I am aware that some fictional features may have been added as it is a film, I plan on dissecting the film with other information I have collected so I will be able to separate fact from fiction.