#modern persuasion

[rationalseries]

Anne Elliot and James Benwick through the adaptations

"He repeated, with such tremulous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness, and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood, that she ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely."

[smallblueandloud]

okay guys how do we feel about modern adaptations of famous books that reference the famous books as existing in-universe?

i've been pondering my own modern au of cyrano de bergerac today, and coincidentally i just watched "modern persuasion" (2020) which BY THE WAY WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD. but something that surprised me about the movie was that the "references" to the original material (for example, her cat is named wentworth) were actually in-universe references. the characters have read persuasion! the main character named her cat wentworth because she saw the similarities between anne elliot's situation and her own!

i find that fact by itself charming, i think. but it did start to frustrate me when they kind of... began to rely on the original work, instead of committing to being an adaptation? the love interest doesn't write a "half agony, half hope" text, he writes a text that says "i remember that book, with the half-agony, half-hope line. that's about where i am now". and it's an interesting theory of adaptation, for sure, but i think in this particular case... it felt lazy, honestly? it felt like they didn't know how to play the letter straight, so they didn't, ignoring the fact that the letter is THE most pivotal and iconic part of persuasion

(the other part that irks me is the idea that characters are able to see their similarities to existing stories -- because if so, why don't they use that foreknowledge to guide them? but i don't think that's a valid criticism, honestly. for god's sake, i've technically lived the backstory of persuasion, but lord knows if my ex showed up i would Not be making the assumption that we'd go in the same direction as anne elliot and captain wentworth)

i guess, for me, this makes me want to question How Much is Too Much explicit in-universe reference to the source material. can éponine quote cyrano's first line when she's doing her first public confrontation? can she quote the letters from cyrano while she writes her own love letters? is she allowed to recognize the balcony scene -- and maybe even choose to opt out of it, if she doesn't want to get caught in that kind of storyline?

i'm still trying to figure out where that line is. i would love to hear other people's thoughts, if you have them!

[showmethesneer]

I remember i saw Modern Persuasion a couple years ago when i hadn't read Persuasion yet. I liked it fine. Cute movie.

I didn't realize what a good adaptation this was. It's really good.

[gameofthunder66]

'Modern Persuasion' (2020) film

-watched 6/3/2023- 1 [3/4] stars- on Hulu

[metamehta]

Just watched Modern Persuasion 2020. This movie was truly the embodiment of "Go girl, give us nothing"

What this movie gave me:

Absolutely no chemistry between the leads. Main girl literally had more chemistry with her cat.

Main girl dressed like she was in the 2010's working for a really vague company

Scenes ending or cutting off before a conversation was done

The world's least convincing pregnancy belly

But bizarrely enough, it did somewhat remain faithful to the notes of the book. I am truly humbled by this movie.

[kcrabb88]

Okay so here’s the thing. If I see one more “who cares about historical accuracy in a historical piece of media” I am truly going to lose my entire mind. I’m not asking for TOTAL accuracy down to the detail (I don’t strive for that, and things should connect with a modern reader) but I AM asking that books and shows and movies ENGAGE WITH THE PERIOD THEY’RE SUPPOSEDLY SET IN. The new Persuasion is just the newest (and one of the most egregious) instances of this, but I’ve seen this sentiment a lot, recently. If you don’t care about historical stuff, then why create or engage with historical media? The goal should not be to “modernize” historical fiction, but to create and engage with more diverse historical media. Different settings and periods! More stories about queer and BIPOC folks! Historical fiction has so so much to offer without stripping it of all historical context. I’m tired. 

[angualupin]

I guess what pisses me off the most about the new Persuasion adaptation -- and I say this as someone who doesn't really consider herself a passionate Austen fan (but apparently making a bad adaptation of Persuasion is what turns me into one) -- is that if you want a Modern Austen, then my dude, make a Modern Austen. There are so many modern adaptations of Austen! Some of them are drek, some of them are decent, and some of them are exceptional, but they are all intentionally Modern Austen because that's what a modern adaptation is. For fuck's sake.

Don't go around making a period adaptation of a period novel and then spend your entire press tour complaining that the novel is just "too period" and "needs to be updated or no one would watch it" because a) you are demonstrably wrong; b) you look like an ass; and c) MODERN ADAPTATIONS ARE A THING THAT EXIST.

What the fuck.

[cantsayidont]

July 2012. In a triumph for LGBT Representation, perennial hack and noted transphobe James Robinson establishes that the new, young Alan Scott (Green Lantern) of the New 52 Earth 2 is gay — and celebrates by burning Alan's boyfriend to death literally seconds after Alan proposes, so Alan can feel bad.

August 2020. In a triumph for LGBT Representation, writer James Tynion IV establishes that Earth-0 Alan Scott is gay by revealing that the guy standing next to him at the beginning of his first appearance in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16 (July 1940), killed in the train wreck that led to Alan discovering the Green Flame and becoming the Golden Age Green Lantern, was Alan's boyfriend. (Don't worry, he still dies horribly, so Alan can feel bad!)

December 2023. In a triumph for LGBT Representation, writer Tim Sheridan and artist Cian Tormey launch a new six-issue miniseries that celebrates Alan Scott's coming out by delving into the decades of official blackmail and murdered lovers that kept the original Green Lantern miserable and closeted for almost 85 years, so Alan can feel bad!

Look, it's fine that DC wants to establish that Alan Scott is gay. He wouldn't have been my first thought among the original JSA (short list: Charles McNider, Terry Sloane, Ted Knight, Al Pratt), but I can see it. However, DC's approach to it has been nothing short of ghoulish, and this new miniseries looks to be even worse.

[reliand]

now that I'm finally re-medicated I should start trying to finish that drarry Jane Austen AU I was writing.

[cosmicrhetoric]

you know i miss having ride or die opinions about lesser known austen adaptations. netflix should try and girlbossify mansfield park next just so i can complain about it

[rationalseries]

Captain Benwick and Louisa Musgrove through the Persuasion adaptations

[lily-s-world]

The fact that there are so many Jane Austen retellings and adaptations out there, but none of them is a sapphic version of Persuasion is downright criminal.

[lavellenchanted]

I knew netflix touching persuasion was a bad idea but wow that trailer managed to surpass even my worst expectations

[auutumn]

autumn court inspired by germanic folklore & fairytales, my beloved

[llycaons]

there's a lot of breaking up/making up fics due to miscommunications and while I can see the appeal bc they have so many mini-arcs of getting closer and then separating from each other for various reasons, it seems very trivial to make them break up over something less than the apocalyptic violence of what happened in canon. like once they actually sort themselves out as adults I think they're pretty solid. esp in the drama they both seemed reluctant to do anything they can't absolutely commit to. the exception is if they make the mistake of hooking up as like....impulsive 16 year olds who aren't really in emotionally or materially stable situations and they have to break it off bc there's still a lot of growth they need to do in order to make it work...or it's like a persuasion-style AU and the lans pressure lwj to break it off and he's still like 17 and insecure and sensitive to the judgement of his family so he does it

[teruel-a-witch]

Your post regarding Danny joking about Steve asking him to prom (really the comment about Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy) has now given me a MIGHTY NEED for a McDanno Jane Austen-esque story.

Well done my friend. Well done.

regarding this post

hee, I will never shut up about about the similarity of s1 mcdanno to pride and prejudice 😁 the very first mcdanno graphic I made was a web-weaving/comparison parallel of the 'i know' moment. seeing as how the working title of pride and prejudice was first impressions, it's so fitting because let's be real steve did NOT make a good impression on danny when they met. meanwhile he got insulted by this sassy firey short little number and immediately fell into passionate love because danny was like nobody he's ever met and he was NOT fawning over him like everyone. there's even a parallel with steve not being impressed with danny's 'family' aka police because he didn't trust them to do their job and danny being a very obvious stand-out, he was ready to dismiss him on the spot until he turned out to be a real challenge etc.

danny really humbled steve. then he continued doing nice things for danny without expecting anything in return (especially since he thought danny would never like him back anyway), like when he used his connection with the governor to strong-arm stan and rachel into keeping danny's visitation rights and wasn't even going to tell danny about it if danny hadn't deduced that. how very darcy paying wickham to marry lydia and not wanting lizzie to find out of him.

and then of course we have this 'i know you' moment from 1x08 which basically parallels darcy's 'i did it all for you' ...so yeah, there's a reason I have a #pride and prejudice in hawaii tag for everything mcdanno/austen related.

i don't have real fic recs for you but I did write sort of a modern au emma/S2 of mcdanno fusion what-if scenario.

there's also a modern persuasion au that's been kicking around in my head for a few months but I haven't written it out yet.

and here's an alternate version of the graphic in a link above that I never posted