A rant (skip if not an Austen fan. Really)...

[catherineldf]

Dear PBS,
I thought last year's adaptation of "Dracula" was the absolute nadir of "Masterpiece Theater" versions. Until tonight. Even the rather dubious Keira and Gwyneth films improve by comparison with this butchery of "Persuasion."
Some thoughts on adapting Austen,
1. If you don't write better than Jane, don't rewrite her. You are doomed to failure.
2. Significant scenes are significant for a reason. Why does Mrs. Croft talk about accompanying her husband on board ship? Because it presages Anne doing the same with Wentworth. Cutting that out leaves us with a bizarre landlocked ending in which Wentworth, the quintessential new Austen hero, is suddenly transformed into landed gentry. Oh and BTW, he got rich capturing French ships during the Napoleonic Wars. You may have heard of them - little Continental tiffs that went on for a bit. Not Spanish 'gold' - we're off by a century or two here.
Anne's speech about woman's constancy comes at the END of the novel where it triggers an actual ending and makes sense. Wentworth has to hear it first. Really. The writer actually knew what she was doing.
3. Regency ladies did not jog. They did not run all over Bath, particularly not with their friends who are BEDRIDDEN INVALIDS. They did not plant public smoochies on their beloveds (the previous version got away with it because it was, like, pretty good).
4. Said BEDRIDDEN INVALID as a lady of reasonably good breeding during this time period would not jog up to her friend (even if she were capable of doing so) and blurt out that a man she thought her friend was in love with was about to take a mistress. Hint, sure. Yell it across Camden Square in Bath while jogging? Uh, no.
5. Anne is disappointed and depressed, what with being somewhat dented by life with her impossible family and losing her one true love. She is neither vapid nor stupid. How does playing her slack jawed and glassy-eyed convey that, exactly? I find I am unclear.
Gosh, what will subsequent weeks bring? A LOLcat version of Northanger Abbey? "Im n ur Castle of Udolpho editing ur mysteries." Or maybe "Mansfield Park" with cowboys?
Going to bed now. Seriously peeved.

Comments

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't own the book, and I kept wondering, "Was this in it? This doesn't seem right," etc. Especially at the end. Running around and kissing! What else will she do, show her knickers?

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Give them time - they've got 3 others to screw up. :-(
Actually, the 6 hour long A&E "Pride and Prejudice" is quite spectacular and highly recommended, Darcy wet shirt scene and all.

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

This is hysterical. Of course, now I have to see this film. I'm not very cultured at all, I'm afraid. I'm more the type to watch Sesame's Street's version of Masterpiece Theater. It's called Monsterpiece Theater with your host, Alistair Cookie.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Check out the Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root version first - it's way, way better and then this one's awfulness will leap into startling clarity. :-)
Oh BTW, I was editing a story of mine the other day and damned if a character didn't try to serve another a bear. I thought of you but did not inflict it on you.

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

LOL! You can "inflict" anything you want. I found a really awful typo in something I had just submitted a few weeks before. Argh! I'm a pretty good proofreader for other people, but for myself I really am not.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Well, the irony of it is that I'm usually quite good on my stuff but still missed that one. It's always the worst to find it after the fact though - my sympathies. :-(
I love the bear in the fridge image though - makes me giggle every time. :-)

I forgot to watch it!

[muneraven.livejournal.com]

Now I am glad I did.

But your idea of a LOLcat version of Northhangar Abbey made me spit my coffee on my desk, almost hitting my brand new keyboard. No being that funny without warning, dammit! You went from amusing to hysterical with no ramp up. I need a little advance notice. . .

This does not bode well for the pristine state of my new peripherals.

Re: I forgot to watch it!

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Always a goal of mine - death to peripherals!
It just kind of rolls out of the scary brain onto the keyboard or occasionally into the ears of the audience I'm inflicting it on. :-)

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

Now I will really have to watch the PBS version of Persuasion.
Several colleagues in the English Dep't warned me away from the latest big-screen flicks, including Becoming Jane.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Becoming Jane is fine if you just pretend it's not supposed to be Jane Austen. Then it's a nice little period piece.
There's an earlier A&E? BBC? version of "Persuasion" with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds; it's pretty good and far and away better than this newest thing.
The best of the lot are (in order): A&E/BBC's Pride and Prejudice - 6 hours long and they do it up right!
Emma Thompson and Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility
The Tamil language Bollywood style version of same - Kandukondain Kandukondain
modern Emma - Clueless
The earlier Persuasion
period Emma - Gwynnie Paltrow, but just barely
The Bollywood P&P
Kate Beckinsale's Emma
Patricia Rozema's Mansfield Park
The 80s version of Northanger Abbey

[thaedeus.livejournal.com]

"Im n ur Castle of Udolpho editing ur mysteries."

Best rant I've read all year! :)

Even amusing for a non-Austen-tatious geek like me.

I can picture a story-by-committee meeting where one
guy says "We have just GOT to have some jogging! And...
what about stairs?"

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

It so looked like they did that! How they held themselves back from product placement, I'll never know. Argh!

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

I saw the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet version of Sense & Sensibility - fabulous! Also saw Clueless before anyone else in Saskatchewan. That was when I sat on the government Film Classification Board and got PAID to watch current movies. Those were the days.
One of my phantom writing projects: non-fiction book, Confessions of a Reluctant Film Censor.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Go for it! :-D