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catherineldfDear 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.
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.