Mashing up Jane Austen’s fiction with zombies, erotica, or extraterrestrials has become so common in pop culture that such stuff may no longer raise an eyebrow. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies was, and feels, so very ten years ago. But who could have known then that the most fresh, funny, and moving mash-up was yet to come—and that it would take menstruation as its most unlikely subject? Jane Austen’s Period Drama, Julia Aks and Steven Pinder’s Oscar-nominated (and brilliant) short live action film, turns on a clever pun on the word “period.” The 13-minute film—recently made available to viewers on YouTube—also captured headlines when Emma Thompson signed on as its “Executive Menstrual Adviser.” Jane Austen’s Period Drama has emerged as a serious contender for the Academy Award.
Devoney Looser explores 19th-century attitudes about menstruation through Jane Austen’s Period Drama, the Oscar-nominated short.
