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“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

—Jane Austen

The first sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is extremely well-known, and for good reason. It immediately captures the reader’s attention by making a bold statement, and also offers a concise summation of the entire plot. The book revolves around a group of sisters and their potential suitors, and highlights the centrality of advantageous marriage in the Regency era. It has managed to captivate readers for well over 200 years, and though different print versions all had their own style, the core story is what has people coming back, generation after generation.

“Netherfield Park is let at last!”

—Mrs. Bennet

As Ashley Fell explained in a TEDxUniMelb talk, good stories have colour, picture and movement. Given that so much of the novel is set indoors, in ball rooms and drawing rooms, it may seem as though the characters aren’t really going anywhere. However, there is in fact constant movement, with individuals calling on friends, attending events, gathering in the drawing room for conversations and more. Austen also peppers the story with visual details that allow the reader to truly immerse themselves in the world, documenting everything from the trim on a dress to the scathing look delivered across a dance floor. These rich descriptions mean the story lends itself well to adaptations, such as the 1995 miniseries or the 2005 feature film starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet.

“To Elizabeth it appeared, that had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit, or finer success.”

—Jane Austen

As outlined in “The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar,” good stories are universal. While the customs and courtship portrayed in the novel are from an earlier time, the concepts of love and family are themes that every human is impacted by.

There are several different models of marriage presented in the novel, from the passion-filled courtship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to Charlotte Lucas’ decision to marry Mr. Collins, simply because the match would provide her with financial security. Every character navigates the expectations of the Regency period in their own way, deciding what they value most.

The family connections that characters have serve a tremendously important role in the process as well. Elizabeth often feels embarrassed by the behaviour of her family, from her younger sisters’ antics to her mother’s schemes, and must navigate those complications as she tries to make sense of her romantic feelings.

“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”

—Elizabeth Bennet

One of the reasons Elizabeth is such a beloved character is precisely because of how opinionated she is, particularly when contrasted against many of the other, more passive women in the novel. As the above quote demonstrates, she’s quick to point out that Mr. Darcy has unrealistic expectations of women, and through their interactions she proves time and time again that she considers herself his equal.

This is particularly notable when considering the stakes at play. The Bennet sisters were in a social class where an advantageous marriage was the only real way to achieve stability and independence, a fact underscored by Mrs. Bennet’s clear desperation to get all her daughters married off ASAP.

This undercurrent amplifies the significance of Elizabeth’s bold nature — she is unwilling to compromise, as Charlotte Lucas did, and marry someone she doesn’t feel is the right match, even though it would promise her a life of comfort.

Elizabeth Bennet, 2.0

In a 2016 piece published for NPR, Alison Macadam urges her followers to look beyond the simple 5W’s of journalistic storytelling and ask an important question — “what will the audience remember when it’s over?” In the case of Pride and Prejudice, it is the characters that truly stand out, which is perhaps one of the reasons they have been at the centre of so many additional works. Readers were desperate for more about the characters, and there are countless new stories that explore the world through their eyes.

Breaking Bad series review

The TV series Breaking Bad the story featured, a chemistry teacher, who found out he had terminal cancer, and wanted to leave his family a nest egg and decided to start a new part-time job on the side as a meth cook.

The entire plot of the series follows the reading materials outlined in our course story spine

If you were faced with similar circumstance would you consider turning to a life of crime to support your family?

Most people get excited about cold hard cash, what would you do if you had 80 Million Dollars?

This is the amount of money that Walter White had stashed away.

Most would retire, travel, buy a business, donate some of it, help family, you get the point.

The overall plot of the show showed the lead charter Walter White turn from a shy unassuming teacher to a killer, who was more motivated by money than everything else.  He would keep saying that he was doing this for his family, but at the end of the series admitted that he liked cooking crystal meth because he was good at and world renowned.

His family was totally in the dark regarding his crime spree until later in the series he kept everything a secret from his wife Skyler and son Walter Jr.

Walter’s, brother in law Hank who worked for the DEA was hot on his trail throughout the series finally catching up to him near the end of season 5. 

In one of the episodes, Walter ended up burying 10 barrels full of cash valued at 80 million dollars in the desert in New Mexico.

Most of us have fears of leaving the planet before we are ready and leaving our families in a tough spot financially and we can relate to this.

He ended up working with one of his former students Jesse who turned into his full-time business partner, they would take on rival drug gangs and have many confrontations over the course of the series.

Jesse was an interesting character, a high school drop out, who cashed in bigtime as a meth cook.

Throughout the series, the life of crime took a toll on him and eventually he made a run for it relocating to Alaska.

Throughout the series Walter developed a major loyalty and friendship for his partner Jesse and would have done everything for him.

In a strange twist at the end, Walter ordered a hit on Jesse but ended up instead of having him killed he saved his life.

The major characters in the story followed the 22-rules-of-storytelling/

The story also had some comical moments to it one episode featured a fly which would have contaminated the lab where the cooking was taking place, and it ground everything to a halt for a full 2 days, as Jesse and Walter tracked down the The Fly.

Also, a highlight for me was when Walter White purchased a new Red Charger for his son, his wife Skyler made him return the car.  On his way back to the dealership he did several doughnuts lighting up the tires he turned into a total badass Walter’s Driving.

The final episode was sad, as Walter said goodbye to his young daughter Holly, he knew that everything had caught up to him, his cancer returned, and he didn’t have long left to live.   

 The final episode featured Walter taking out rival gang members before he was shot, he freed his partner Jesse.

Walter made me feel good at the end he sent a large amount of money through his former business partners to his family through his son Flynn (Walter Jr.).

To wrap it was a wild ride Five memorable seasons filled with every twist and turn imaginable and really it will test a person’s thought process of what would you do if this was you?   # 80 million dollars

Would you consider a life a crime to support your family? # Family Values Breaking Bad wrap up Breaking Bad followed the 5 W’s

This blog is part of the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension Social Media Citation program (EXSM 3989 Digital Storytelling).

It is a class blog that will be populated each term with posts from students learning about digital storytelling.