No wonder you are not a RT critic. Just a whole heap of rambling, you are not even a great writer and to think you have the audacity to critique others is embarrassing.
I think this probably the biggest movie bringing diversity to period drama to date along with Bridgerton, so this long piece sounding like a temper tantrum, but bravo job at keeping the Jane Austen Karen Fanclub alive and well. Whether you want to admit it or not a lot of the negative commentary make it feel it's toward the film not being completely white and I thought okay maybe it's just the direction and screenplay, but when I deep dive and seeing how Jane Austen Karen Fanclub hated the diversity in Bridgerton, it gave me all the fact I needed to come to the conclusion this white gatekeeping fanclub is completely racist.
I read and loved Persuasion at your recommendation, and have been ranting about the trailer for this silly little movie to anyone who would listen.
I came of age reading the child wizard books, and subsequently complaining about things being left off the books, and now I understand that the text was very much respected even if my favorite side stories didn’t make the script.
Persuasion is such a beautiful and melancholic romance, and the cheap Fleabag attempt of it all was never ever going to work. Clueless is a clever interpretation, and I didn’t know Bridget Jones was too! What I’ve come to love about Austen is how the humanity of her characters and the places they find themselves in feels interchangeably timeless but also of its time. The themes of Persuasion are also ever present in relationships today that I don’t understand how the many people it takes to make a movie missed it. Blew past every turn and sign post, and just drove right over Henry Holding’s Austen debut. It’s upsetting.
Anyway, thank you for writing this but also just writing all that you do.
‘Where it goes wrong is when the adaptation betrays a lack of interest or real understanding of the source material’ - this!! It’s nothing to do with gatekeeping. A good adaptation will highlight the relevance of the themes and ideas in the original work. I love She’s the Man & what it does with Twelfth Night.
When I showed my English lit teacher mum (mega Austen fan) the trailer, she just looked blank and said she couldn’t even be mad bc it seemed to bear no relation to the novel whatsoever. It’s almost like the writers hadn’t read it.
I think Cate Eland summed it up so well when she talked about society’s distaste for complicated, angry and bitter heroines. Why do we have to iron out Anne’s inner turmoil to make her worthy of screen-time? And all the more hurtful when you take into account what Austen’s life was like when she wrote it.
"This script is mediocre, but more than that, it just has no understanding of the source material. None of the character motivations make any sense." I think THIS is most painful aspect for me, because I'm afraid people will then see Persuasion and Austen through this lens
This makes me so unhappy! Like ‘the unhappiest I’ve been since I unfortunately forced myself to watch the second half of the tv adaptation of Sanditon’ unhappy! Persuasion is also my favorite Austen (and Northanger Abbey is her worst. Don’t fight me; facts), and I was so looking forward to seeing it! Because while Dakota is in fact not a great actor, like, maybe she could be? And Henry Golding is? And Richard Grant is always utterly brilliant? You have ruined my dreams, and the worst part is that I’ll most likely watch the damn thing anyway, and then regret not just trusting you.
This was great and I don’t think I’d be able to watch this ironically like it was Yellowstone! Persuasion was one of the last books I was able to read in one sitting before my brain broke and the letter haunts me and for everything to pan out the way it did is just big yikes!
I think the BBC adaptation of North and South is one of the only ones I’ve seen that has been able to properly adapt the a story that has romance and commentary on class without forgetting the latter.
This is a brilliant review, I agree with all your opinions (except maybe that I do like Matthew M as Darcy except for when he has to act unsure of himself -like when he sees Lizzie at his estate).
On an aside, I also love Bridget Jones, and one thing I love about the book is that it plays well with the gap between how people represent themselves when writing about them and their lives on a diary (or something like this) and how other people see them, and I love that.
On another aside, I’d love to know which Persuasion adaptation is your favorite one, and what is your top something of JA’s adaptations. And also, which books are your favorites!!
Your pain at the end of this review was so visceral, I'm experiencing it second-hand. Which is the only way I'm going to experience this (nightmare? travesty? perversion? incomprehensible refashioning?) version of Austen's work. Anne Elliott as a snarky wine-drunk motormouth. The mind reels. (I did enjoy Fire Island and wonder if you did, as well).
The reason the filmmakers made the movie this way is because they didn't adapt Jane Austen's PERSUASION for the screen. They made a movie called "Jane Austen's PERSUASION" to lure in people who recognize the IP and want the experience of Austen without the effort of reading her, a group vastly larger than those who have read her. In addition the experience, that is, what's in the movie is irrelevant so long as the viewer thinks they're more high-brow at the end. It's a classic comic book of a movie.
You see the same thing happening on movies like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and READY PLAYER ONE, which are both unfilmable by Hollywood standards today and thus had to have other films made to fit their titles. But so long as the titles put butts in the seats for the first week...
I watched this specifically so I could better enjoy this essay. That and I have covid and nothing better to do.
You are bang on, of course! I don't even hate Dakota Johnson, I'm pretty sure she did what she was directed to do, it was just so misguided and unnecessary from the start.
Biggest thing was, even with good casting, acting, costumes, etc, it was so FLAT. e.g. Anne's father is one of the funniest characters ever, and he was wasted here. And I'll never forgive the delivery of THAT letter.
No wonder you are not a RT critic. Just a whole heap of rambling, you are not even a great writer and to think you have the audacity to critique others is embarrassing.
I think this probably the biggest movie bringing diversity to period drama to date along with Bridgerton, so this long piece sounding like a temper tantrum, but bravo job at keeping the Jane Austen Karen Fanclub alive and well. Whether you want to admit it or not a lot of the negative commentary make it feel it's toward the film not being completely white and I thought okay maybe it's just the direction and screenplay, but when I deep dive and seeing how Jane Austen Karen Fanclub hated the diversity in Bridgerton, it gave me all the fact I needed to come to the conclusion this white gatekeeping fanclub is completely racist.
The one true 2022 Persuasion adaptation is Our Flag Means Death
I loved this whole essay so much I am putting a line in my will requesting it as my epitaph.
Thank you for subjecting yourself to this movie so the rest of us don’t have to.
I read and loved Persuasion at your recommendation, and have been ranting about the trailer for this silly little movie to anyone who would listen.
I came of age reading the child wizard books, and subsequently complaining about things being left off the books, and now I understand that the text was very much respected even if my favorite side stories didn’t make the script.
Persuasion is such a beautiful and melancholic romance, and the cheap Fleabag attempt of it all was never ever going to work. Clueless is a clever interpretation, and I didn’t know Bridget Jones was too! What I’ve come to love about Austen is how the humanity of her characters and the places they find themselves in feels interchangeably timeless but also of its time. The themes of Persuasion are also ever present in relationships today that I don’t understand how the many people it takes to make a movie missed it. Blew past every turn and sign post, and just drove right over Henry Holding’s Austen debut. It’s upsetting.
Anyway, thank you for writing this but also just writing all that you do.
‘Where it goes wrong is when the adaptation betrays a lack of interest or real understanding of the source material’ - this!! It’s nothing to do with gatekeeping. A good adaptation will highlight the relevance of the themes and ideas in the original work. I love She’s the Man & what it does with Twelfth Night.
When I showed my English lit teacher mum (mega Austen fan) the trailer, she just looked blank and said she couldn’t even be mad bc it seemed to bear no relation to the novel whatsoever. It’s almost like the writers hadn’t read it.
I think Cate Eland summed it up so well when she talked about society’s distaste for complicated, angry and bitter heroines. Why do we have to iron out Anne’s inner turmoil to make her worthy of screen-time? And all the more hurtful when you take into account what Austen’s life was like when she wrote it.
A WINKY Anne Elliott?? 😤😤😤
"This script is mediocre, but more than that, it just has no understanding of the source material. None of the character motivations make any sense." I think THIS is most painful aspect for me, because I'm afraid people will then see Persuasion and Austen through this lens
This makes me so unhappy! Like ‘the unhappiest I’ve been since I unfortunately forced myself to watch the second half of the tv adaptation of Sanditon’ unhappy! Persuasion is also my favorite Austen (and Northanger Abbey is her worst. Don’t fight me; facts), and I was so looking forward to seeing it! Because while Dakota is in fact not a great actor, like, maybe she could be? And Henry Golding is? And Richard Grant is always utterly brilliant? You have ruined my dreams, and the worst part is that I’ll most likely watch the damn thing anyway, and then regret not just trusting you.
Also I love your writing, cheers :)
This was great and I don’t think I’d be able to watch this ironically like it was Yellowstone! Persuasion was one of the last books I was able to read in one sitting before my brain broke and the letter haunts me and for everything to pan out the way it did is just big yikes!
I think the BBC adaptation of North and South is one of the only ones I’ve seen that has been able to properly adapt the a story that has romance and commentary on class without forgetting the latter.
The film industry needs to overcome its collective delusion that Dakota Johnson is a good actor. We will all be better for it.
This is a brilliant review, I agree with all your opinions (except maybe that I do like Matthew M as Darcy except for when he has to act unsure of himself -like when he sees Lizzie at his estate).
On an aside, I also love Bridget Jones, and one thing I love about the book is that it plays well with the gap between how people represent themselves when writing about them and their lives on a diary (or something like this) and how other people see them, and I love that.
On another aside, I’d love to know which Persuasion adaptation is your favorite one, and what is your top something of JA’s adaptations. And also, which books are your favorites!!
Your pain at the end of this review was so visceral, I'm experiencing it second-hand. Which is the only way I'm going to experience this (nightmare? travesty? perversion? incomprehensible refashioning?) version of Austen's work. Anne Elliott as a snarky wine-drunk motormouth. The mind reels. (I did enjoy Fire Island and wonder if you did, as well).
The reason the filmmakers made the movie this way is because they didn't adapt Jane Austen's PERSUASION for the screen. They made a movie called "Jane Austen's PERSUASION" to lure in people who recognize the IP and want the experience of Austen without the effort of reading her, a group vastly larger than those who have read her. In addition the experience, that is, what's in the movie is irrelevant so long as the viewer thinks they're more high-brow at the end. It's a classic comic book of a movie.
You see the same thing happening on movies like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and READY PLAYER ONE, which are both unfilmable by Hollywood standards today and thus had to have other films made to fit their titles. But so long as the titles put butts in the seats for the first week...
I watched this specifically so I could better enjoy this essay. That and I have covid and nothing better to do.
You are bang on, of course! I don't even hate Dakota Johnson, I'm pretty sure she did what she was directed to do, it was just so misguided and unnecessary from the start.
Biggest thing was, even with good casting, acting, costumes, etc, it was so FLAT. e.g. Anne's father is one of the funniest characters ever, and he was wasted here. And I'll never forgive the delivery of THAT letter.