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Ang Lee Puts The “And” in ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (1995)
Lee’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel asks if sense and sensibility can co-exist
When faced with a dichotomy, we are inclined – so deeply tempted – to choose one or the other. Does the answer have to be black or white? Or can it be black and white?
In response to Jane Austen’s turn-of-the-19th-century novel, Sense and Sensibility, many critics debated the use of the conjunction “and,” suggesting a more fitting title would’ve been “Sense vs. Sensibility.” Their critique doesn’t come without its own merits, though, because it can be hard to find common ground between two values that seem so different. Sense, which is based in wisdom, reason, and rationality, doesn’t seem right sitting next to sensibility, which is emotional, passionate, and sensitive.
Ang Lee, the director of the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, however, answers the question of: Can two conflicting things exist at once? More pressingly, can they exist with each other instead of despite each other?
He replies, yes. Through Lee’s directorial choices in positioning his scenes both in similarity and in contrast with each other, Lee focuses on the “and” in Sense and Sensibility; he doesn’t concede that these ideas are mutually…
