#and often alienating the original audience by changing the story they're trying to adapt

[starlightandsunshine]

So I just finished watching the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion and like

It's a good film. It was fun and enjoyable.

It was also a TERRIBLE adaptation.

It would have worked so much better if they'd just used original characters. 'Inspired by Jane Austen' stories exist in the hundreds if not thousands. It wouldn't have been a reach to say "oh hey we took inspo from Persuasion for this new thing" and no one would have batted an eyelash and the film probably would have done better. Because it feels like an original story. It has the bare bones of Persuasion, yes. Also the character names. But so many of the characters feel so divorced from their novel counterparts that I kept forgetting that this was supposed to be Persuasion until someone got addressed by name again. Half of the motivations feel different, some of the changes to the storyline are baffling if you're making it an adaptation rather than just loosely inspiring it and the kitschy "talking to the camera thing" would have worked so much better if it had been literally any character other than Anne, like, say an original character. Also, the anachronisms would have been much more accepted in any film that was not an attempt at a Jane Austen Adaptation (see: the Bridgerton series as just one example)

If this film had been an original film that was only inspired by the plot of Persuasion it would have been well-loved. As an adaptation, I was cringing in minutes.