These two films, Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral are very much a typical pair of classic british media, they both star Hugh Grant who at the time of Four Weddings, was well and truly at the epic of his success. Sense and Sensibility isn't only as British as it comes, but the screen play was written by Emma Thompson who also stars in the film along with Kate Winslet who are both actresses who again and again creep up in the British films.
Although both films, are typically british they both portray this in complete different aspect but both concentrate on the same genre and subjects such as gender, romantism, and marriage. One and probably most obvious reason for this is because Sense and Sensibility is set in the 1800s where Four Weddings was set in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
With most period drama texts the main plot line is about marriage and love, and usually resolves around a typical young lady who is looking for her 'prince charming' and with most of these kind of films the way marriage is portraid for these women is in a way that they have no
other choice and that they are very much expected from others and for themselves that finding a man and settling down is the way of life. These women are also a bunch of goldiggers in a way, as the vast majority of women would marry into a fortune, as it was made legal in that time that the heritage left by the parents etc.. was only past down to the male generation. So in this time marriage was like the safety net.This is in complete contrast with Four Weddings and a Funeral where the idea of marriage is a seen to be something that isn't so important and women don't rely on marriage as much. In Sense and Sensibility it is expected of you to be married, where as in Four Weddings it really isn't, women have careers and jobs they can be independent and live without the help of a man and infact marriage in this film is a sign of desperation. Another very key point is that in Four Weddings there is infact a gay marriage which would not happen at all in Sense and Sensibility, another factor is that a couple have a baby without actually getting married which is something that wouldn't happen at all in Sense and Sensibility.
These factors both show how the idea of Britishness has changed in just a hundred y
ears, and how much culture and how we percieve it has changed. In the 1800s marriage was the key success to any women, you marry into a rich family and you are set for life, and no one disapproves of it they are congratulated for their success in marrying a good suitor for themselves. Where as in the 1990s marriage is seen to be a trap, something that couples who have run there course in their relationship and need to go to the next step so marriage must be the only option and a quote which goes along the lines of 'couples only get married because they have run out of things to say' is a key judgement of this film.
This is vastly compared to Somerstown which is British British British through out, with its grittyness and Britsh setting and actors, including Thomas Turgoose.