#Amanda Root

[comicaloverachiever]

He drew out a letter and placed it before Anne.

Persuasion by Jane Austen (illustration by Hugh Thomson) / Persuasion (1995) dir. Roger Michell

[my-little-random-world]

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑼𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕... 𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓. | Persuasion 1995

[firawren]

Headcanon: Anne and Wentworth have a very fun time together on his ship after they're married

x

[adobongsiopao]

Some press photos of "Persuasion" 1995 version starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds.

[m-a-salter]

Period Drama Appreciation Week 2023 | Day 5: Favorite period drama film | Persuasion (1995)

[emotionallychargedtowel]

Intense Subtext in Front of Oblivious Side Characters: "I had no wife in the year six"

There's a thing, I guess it would be considered a trope, that is one of my favorite such things in any form of media but especially any sort of romance-centered story. I don't know of an existing term for this and I'm terrible at being concise so I'm not sure how I could put it briefly. Basically, it's the thing that happens when a larger interaction is happening with a group of people but there's a subtext to it that means something very different--and generally, much more meaningful--to the central characters. You could call it something like Intense Subtext in Front of Oblivious Side Characters.

I've been thinking for a while about possible parallels between BLs and Jane Austen novels and/or adaptations. This is my attempt at taking a small, specific example of a parallel I sometimes notice and talking about it. Austen's novels do a lot of this trope I mentioned. That's in part because of choices Austen made in what she wanted to write about. But it's also because of the social context of her time. There was a lot going on that people couldn't be explicit about, for a variety of reasons. I think one reason why I see similar things happening in some BLs--and maybe one reason for the appeal of certain types of BLs--is the fact that being queer in a homophobic society makes openness complicated in a way that doesn't come up as much for hetero relationships these days. Especially when we get into things like office romances, in which appearances have higher stakes. These complications around openness have a kind of similarity to the reasons Austen's characters had to play a lot of things close to the chest.

Fellow Old Fashion Cupcake fans will remember an example from that series that I think really fits here. Nozue and Togawa agree to attend a goukon, or "mixer" as it's sometimes translated--basically a group hangout intended to help men and women meet for the purpose of finding people to date. Nozue is hitting it off with a cute younger woman, which is bad enough. But then he mentions his "anti-aging" efforts, and because of the mysterious way he words it, the woman asks, "Does that mean you're in love?" which of course catches Togawa's attention even more. He's clearly affected when Nozue answers, "If I were, I wouldn't be here."

@jdramastuff did a great screenshot post of this scene if you want to see what this looked like.

After Nozue's comment, Togawa starts knocking back alcoholic drinks like it's going out of style, ensuring that Nozue will have to help him home instead of going home with the woman who's been flirting with him.

(You could argue that this isn't so much a case of subtext as it is the significance one person assigns to what another is saying. Subtext really requires some degree of communication between more than one person. But while Nozue doesn't fully grasp what's going on, I think he does understand in some ways what he's communicating. I don't want to go on too much of a tangent, so I'll just say that having just read the manga the series was based on, it strengthened my belief that while Nozue is repressed, insecure, even deluded at times, he has glimmers of awareness of his feelings for Togawa and even suspicions of Togawa's feelings for him, and on some level he knows what he's saying, though I don't think he knows in this moment how much these words will hurt Togawa.)

I have another favorite example of this, a scene from Persuasion. It's rendered really well in the 1995 adaptation of the novel with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root. (The whole thing is phenomenal, by the way--I think it's the best Austen adaptation ever made, personally.)

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with the story: Anne Elliott was engaged to Captain Frederick Wentworth in 1806 but was convinced by Lady Russell, her neighbor/family friend and a kind of surrogate mother to her following her mom's death, to break off the engagement. She has regretted it ever since. Wentworth was deeply hurt and angry when she broke things off, not surprisingly.

More than eight years later, Anne is visiting her sister and her sister's in-laws, the Musgroves, when Wentworth comes to the area and starts spending a lot of time at the Musgrove place (and with the Musgroves' eligible young daughters). Wentworth acknowledges Anne, but just barely, while paying enough attention to both the Musgrove girls that everyone is gossiping about which one he's going to marry. Anne's sister Mary was away at boarding school when her previous relationship with Wentworth happened, so neither Mary nor the Musgroves are aware Anne and Wentworth were involved and think they were only acquaintances.

At a dinner party, the Musgrove girls try to look up the ship that Wentworth first commanded, the Asp, in the Navy List, a book that chronicles the various ships in the British Navy, their commanders, and so forth. Wentworth tells them not to bother--"she" is not in the current version of the List because "she" no longer exists.

Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove are suitably horrified.

Admiral Croft, Wentworth's brother-in-law and superior in the Navy, remarks that Wentworth was lucky to get a command so early in his career at all, no matter how seaworthy (or un-seaworthy) the ship was.

(Remember, 1806 was the year that Anne and Wentworth became engaged and then un-engaged.)

Gut-wrenching. And nobody else sitting at that table has any idea what just happened. I love it.

I have some more thoughts about this languishing in an excessively long post in my drafts, which I'll try to get out one of these days. I know I've talked to a few people about trying to do some BL/Austen posts and had meant to tag them but the only person I remember talking with about it was @absolutebl. If you're reading this and you want a heads up next time I write about this stuff, let me know!

[pristina-nomine]

Amanda Root as Anne Elliot in Persuasion (1995)

[camyfilms]

BABY REINDEER 2024

When you spend so long swallowing your shame, it is so hard to stop it becoming part of you.

[janeaustenjunkie]

Gets me every time....

[ai-failure-ai-cartoonized]

Persuasion (1995 film) BBC

[itsawritblr]

The best "Persuasion" ever!

Someone uploaded the entire movie!!

This adaptations is AMAZING! The script perfectly captures the novel! The actors perfectly capture the characters! The period costumes, hair, setting, all fantastic and accurate! The characters act as they would have in that period, with the customs and courtesies their society would have expected, instead of modern characters dropped idiosyncratically into 1815.

This was shortly after new cinematic technology allowed scenes to be filmed in only candlelight, so we get to see how it would have looked then. The quiet pace is how the period would have felt; no quick cuts and ridiculous drone shots.

OMG, I love this adaptation so much! I will accept no other!

If you want to study screenwriting, acting, and period costumes/sets, this is perfect.

[my-little-random-world]

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 | Persuasion 1995

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Shabana Azmi as Rani Jindan & Amanda Root as Queen Victoria in The Black Prince (Film, 2017).

[adobongsiopao]

I still love this version of "Persuasion" starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. It's really great.

[ardentlyinlovedarcy]

[pristina-nomine]

Anne Elliot's costumes in Persuasion 1995 designed by Alexandra Byrne (as requested by @lulu-pink-cat-princess)