#Mr Elliot

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Propaganda...

Colonel Brandon (1995):

Alan Rickman has the sexiest voice. Just listen to him reading poetry to Marianne at the end to witness how hot he is.

Alan Rickman simply embodies the truth of Col. Brandon in a way that no one else every could. It's the perfect merging of actor and role. He brings the perfect combination of honor, decency, sensitivity and passion. He is the ultimate mensch.

Brandon propaganda in which even the film's director agrees that Brandon is sexy.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

After a reread of Persuasion, I’m thinking about how it relates to Austen’s character types discussed in this post. It stands out from S&S, P&P, and Mansfield Park in not haveing a ‘charming rake’ type as the main male antagonist, but instead a reserved, intelligent, courteous, cold-blooded and selfish man. There is no counterpart to Willoughby, Wickham, or Henry Crawford.

Instead, if Mr. Elliot is a counterpart to any of the characters in Austen’s other novels, he feels like a dark mirror of Darcy. They are both reserved; both (at least at the time of the main plot of the book) place a high value on social status, and look down on commonness and vulgarity. However, while Darcy’s arrogance makes him rude, Mr. Elliot has impeccable manners; and where Darcy in has strong principles and treats the people for whom he is responsible well, Mr. Elliot is a hypocrite and, though voicing good principles, is in fact cruel and uncaring to those who are dependent on him. Mr. Elliot is, really, the type of person that Wickham portrays Darcy as being. The other thing that brought this comparison to my mind is Mrs. Smith’s description of the friendship between her husband and Mr. Elliot, which very much recalls the one between Bingley and Darcy (as an additional note, both Mr. Smith and Bingley are named Charles):

From his wife’s account of him she could discern Mr. Smith to have been a man of warm feelings, easy temper, careless habits, and not strong understanding, much more amiable than his friend and very unlike him - led by him

I think this all goes with one of Austen’s common themes, and one that is especially important to Persuasion - the importance of not marrying in overmuch haste and without good knowledge of and, at a minimum, respect for your partner. Darcy is decidedly not like Mr. Elliot in character - but at the time if his first proposal, for all Elizabeth knew he might have been.

And on the flip side, Frederick Wentworth is not like Willoughby or Wickham - but given the short time Anne had known him when he first proposed, he might have been, and Lady Russell certainly sees that danger. He is, at that time, daring and charismatic, but not prudent, having saved none of the money that he won in his naval career. There’s also another reference to the ‘charming rake’ type in that, like Henry Crawford, he for a while courts two sisters, the elder of whom is attached (though, unlike Maria Bertram, not engaged) to another man. In Wentworth’s defence, he isn’t aware of the latter, and isn’t trying to make them both fall in love with him, just being his (naturally charming) self, and keeping his eyes open for who he might like to marry; and he very nearly gets himself badly entangled and, later, freely acknowledges that as his own fault. Really, Wentworth has elements of all three of Austen’s main male character types, and is the better for it. (Anne herself has, I think, the most in common with Elinor Dashwood in being the only sensible and intelligent person in her family, and in being very perceptive, and with Fanny Price is being rather quiet and imposed upon.)

On the whole, this combination of characters makes the book feel less on the side of intelligence and judgement, and more on the side of a warm and open heart, in making for happiness, whereas S&S and P&P focus more strongly on the need for ‘sense’ and intelligence. Intelligence may well be a necessary quality for a truly good marriage, but it is not a sufficient one, not when it is combined with a cold and selfish heart.

[firawren]

Captain Wentworth at the concert:

Source: mrjacob-santiago

[crazyrichxplainr]

Henry Golding for Town and Country (ph: Cyrill Matter)

[muresetivoire]

You watched netflix's Persuasion for the plot.

The Plot:

[hermajestytak]

I love queer icons

[scuttling]

Mr Elliot says happy Sunday!

[mametupa]

Anne finding out...

[neverscreens]

— PERSUASION.

File size: 131MB. Like or reblog the post of it was useful. Your interaction shows me that I should keep making screencaps. And if you want me to post some in separate posts, tell me! ♡

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Do behind-the-scenes anecdotes count as propaganda?

Samuel West (Mr Elliot, Persuasion 1995) is an ambassador for Jane Austen’s House, and recently led a discussion there of “What makes a good Jane Austen adaptation”?

(His introduction includes the question, “Who’s your Darcy - Laurence Olivier? Colin Firth? Matthew Macfadyen?” so he would totally get the vibe of this tournament.)

It's a great discussion - it focuses not only on Persuasion 1995 (starting at about 45 minutes in) but also on Sense and Sensibility 1995, Mansfield Park 1999, and even a bit on Pride and Prejudice 1995 (namely, why it was so important to have Darcy jump in the lake).

A few highlights:

Samuel West was rather cross at being asked to read for Mr Elliot - until he learned that Captain Wentworth was being played by Ciarán Hinds.

Because the costume designer for Persuasion 1995 didn’t have a big budget but did have time to be creative, she was able to make a great-looking, visually distinctive costume for Mr Elliot out of incredibly cheap materials - billiard-table cloth and mattress ticking.

Filming in candlelight, with triple-wicked candles, leaves actors’ nostrils completely black.

You can spot the cads in 1990s Jane Austen adaptations by their very pointy sideburns.

Samuel West saying Ciaran Hinds is so hot I'm not even offended you don't consider me competition is propaganda. This has also just sent me down a rabbit hole of examining all the 1990s actors sideburns and they really are all very pointy

Captain Wentworth (1995) Vs Captain Benwick (2007)

Cad with Pointy Sideburns (1) Vs Cad with Pointy Side Burns (2)

[rationalseries]

"Mr. Elliot was rational, discreet, polished—but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection."

[quinnthequeercaterpillar]

nah you can’t cast Henry Golding as mr elliot how am i supposed to dislike a character played by Henry frigging Golding !!!?

[kajaono]

Honest question for people who watched the movie

What story relevance do you think had Mr Elliot? And why do you think did they took away his evil backstory and gave him redemption?

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

Persuasion : The movie

Honestly, I didn’t like the end at all! Maybe I’m heartless, but at least I use my head in a better way. Because Anna should have married her cousin and at this era, it should have been logical of doing so. Reason instead of heart always. Marriage is a transaction, not a love affaire. And she was lucky to have some feelings toward her cousin, many didn’t have that even. So yes, the end sucks so so much and it was logical at all.

Skip it.

[eurekavalley]

Kinda intrigued by this calendar for Persuasion and its thesis that, "the book was supposed to have the same kind of underlying hidden ironic story that we were to find out only at the close of a third volume. Since Anne did not have an opportunity to tell Lady Russell the truth about Mr Elliot, we were to have a Tuesday of intense mortification and reversal for both Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth (either at a card party organized by Lady Russell, or a gathering at a performance of a play bought by Charles for a Tuesday evening in Bath). We were to learn that Mrs Clay and Mr Elliot had a longer-standing relationship than Mrs Smith knows; as it stands, Anne Elliot says more than once that Mr Elliot's conduct does not make sense: we were to learn more about why he happened upon the party at Lyme, and why he looked so at her; we were to what was the package he was delivering for Mrs Clay in Bath and why she wanted to walk with him to the point of nearly making a point of it; where he went; what they were conferring over near the White Hart when spied by Mary Musgrove... What we have is a novel which was suddenly brought to a close, curtain pulled down in the middle of a play whose further acts were in readiness on the stage of our authors' mind, but not yet dramatized."

The potential of Napoleon's escape from Elba, last gasp, and final defeat at Waterloo to define a final volume of the book's timeline is definitely eye-popping.