Hold Your Assumptions Lightly

I went to watch a movie tonight with a friend, and while we waited for the movie to start, we sat talking about different things. I can't remember what we were talking about when he said how he had to frequently remind himself to hold his assumptions lightly.

I was to recall this phrase when we went to see our movie, Pride and Prejudice. I am yet to read the book, but have seen several TV and movie adaptations - so much so that I feel like I have read the book. Personally, I've enjoyed all the screen adaptations that I have seen of Pride and Prejudice, but popular opinion seems to be that it is a 'woman's book'.

That is why seeing the gender ratio of the audience was the first big surprise to me. Almost as many men as women. Okay, I thought, the men let themselves be dragged to see this movie. Maybe so, maybe not. Then I was struck by how an English movie (an English period movie, at that) had managed to draw such a large crowd, in an era where American movies still reign supreme. I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised. The movie was incredibly funny and the story highly compelling and very familiar to us Nigerians. A mother's steely resolve to marry off each of her five daughters (and to marry them off well, to suitable and well-placed partners no less!)