#netflix persuasion

[aquitainequeen]

Me watching everyone reacting to Persuasion 2022, from a safe distance:

[thatscarletflycatcher]

If you don't like

- period manners

- period fashion

- period language

THEN WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU MAKE A PERIOD DRAMA????

[scyllas-revenge]

I can watch no longer in silence. I must complain about you by such means as are within my reach. You've ripped out my soul. I am half agony, half hopeless. Tell me not that this is it, that such precious Jane Austen adaptations are gone forever. 

I offer you my screenwriting advice with a heart even more desperate than when you almost broke it with the release of the Persuasion trailer one month ago.

Dare not say that this movie is accurate, that this Anne is a stronger protagonist than her book counterpart. I have loved none but her. Pretentious I may have been, annoying and demanding I have been, but always with the film’s best interests at heart. 

The book alone has brought me to you. For it alone I sat and watched. Have you not realized this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I would not have waited even ten minutes after turning off the TV to write this, could I have mastered my own feelings, as I think you must have guessed mine. 

I can hardly type. I am in every instant recalling something which makes me want to punch a wall. You rewrote Anne as a snarky girlboss, but I can appreciate the nuance of her book counterpart when it would be lost on the Netflix execs. Too horrible, too disgusting adaptation! You do us insult, indeed. You do believe that there is not a single brain cell in your audience. Believe mine to have shriveled up and died while watching this movie, most painfully, in the brain of

-Everyone Watching

I must go, and cleanse my remaining sanity with the 1995 adaptation; but I shall return hither, to laugh at this adaptation with my friends, as soon as I can stomach it. But another sentence of clunky narration, another infuriating wink from this horrible version of Anne to the camera, will be enough to make me cancel my Netflix subscription forever.

[shouldisaythisoutloud]

I don't usually enjoy critic reviews, but I'm really enjoying these. 😂

[stardustkylos]

the new netflix persuasion adaptation (if it can even be called that) really opens up conversations about how hollywood has this persistent urge to girlboss-ify every female character and turn her into this smirking, quirky persona all while dumbing down stories into renditions that tiktok could’ve curated and taking away the entire purpose of a plot-line under the guise of it being a “feminist” retelling, when that feminism is just rooted in what hollywood BELIEVES it to be.......and if anyone criticizes it, they get accused of being an austen ‘purist’ like i am sorry for having a single expectation????? 

also dakota johnson has a face that knows about iphones and there was no chemistry or yearning so it failed from day one goodbye 

[chaosandstardust]

I will never understand filmmakers who claim to love the source material of something and then completely gut it of all of its charm, significantly changing the characters, oftentimes taking the entire story well outside the realm of it’s source material, before slapping the name of the thing on the title and insisting that they’re the same story and that they love the original

JUST WRITE SOMETHING ORIGINAL OR FIND A STORY THAT YOU ACTUALLY LIKE

[kajaono]

“It was important to me that Wentworth isn’t your typical Austen [leading man], a foppish, glamorous, socially able character. He’s more complex than that (…)“

But she has read the novels, yeah?

[incandescently-delirious]

I hate you cowbell. I hate you gravy. I hate you ''we're worse than exes, we're friends''. I hate you jam mustache. I hate you ''FREEEEEDERIIIICK''. I hate you sad boi wentworth. I hate you peeing scene. I hate you ''he's a 10''.

[millificent]

I’m no literary purist, but Anne Elliot being a drunk, bad mannered idiot isn’t just inaccurate. It’s unlikeable.

She really feels like every 40 year old ‘wine-mom’s self insert character.

[tercessketchfield]

Why do you think you can give Jane Austen’s heroine “a personality”? If she envisaged and created her as timid, quiet, and largely ignored by those she loves girl, then it was to the purpose? If she created her a gentle, thoughtful, unassuming, and merciful lady, then she meant it exactly like that, not because Austen was less clever than you and couldn’t create a “modern” heroine? While none of these qualities exclude sense, brain, originality, and strength of character. Isn’t that already a personalty, like it or not? You’ve no right to cross out heroine’s real personality just because you cannot understand, appreciate, or properly portray it, and turn her, instead, into another instagram girl or an underbread tomboy with no understanding of time and society, just to suit your vanity. Total absence of manners is NOT an equivalent of cleverness, wit, and free spirit; Jane Austen doesn’t deserve the insult to have those carefully and thoughtfully written characters portrayed as clovns. Go give a personality to Hugo’s Cosette or any other of those pretty-faced and empty-headed heroines who inhabit victorian era novels so densily, and have nothing but beauty to boast of. (Not to scold Hugo though, he had his own genius; - tbh, Cosette here is just the latest specimen of the kind I discovered, but one may safely write the name of any victorian heroine fitting the description, there are a lot of- and, yeah, I admit that the Cosette-child had a great deal more character than the adult- ; But I think Jane Austen had at least several-levels more qualified understanding of female characters than most victorian writers generally did).

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

😡

[starrbucky]

There are two wolves inside you: one wants period movies to be more popular so that they'll make more of them, the other wants everyone involved with Persuasion (2022) to drop dead

[agardenandlibrary]

me watching everyone's reactions to the new Persuasion movie:

[fictionadventurer]

I happened to see a good chunk of the Netflix Persuasion. I can't give a complete review or analysis or whatever, but I have thoughts.

This movie has some very pretty colors. I like cool color palettes, what can I say?

There was one shot of a purple sunset where I was like, "Oh, I could live in this picture."

The aesthetic was so trendy I couldn't take it seriously. The clothes were that 2019 Little Women cottagecore vibe with lots of poorly-fitted textures and layers and colors. I laughed out loud at the Big White Text announcing LYME or BATH, because it's such a specific vibe.

I tried to detach from any notion of it as an Austen adaptation, and just enjoy it as its own movie that just happens to take place in a history-flavored fantasy world where everyone uses modern speech. Because sometimes those stories can be fun. It still didn't work.

Because it mostly just confused me. It was this weird mish-mash of genres and tones that didn't really blend together. Oil and water. It was Pinterest and Hallmark and Austen and College Humor and Instagram and Feminism and it's all felt like it came from completely different movies.

It was trying to be a sincere period drama love story and a goofy parody at the same time and it just didn't work.

Like, there were some sweet moments in it. Anne talking about poetry to Captain Benwick was rather nice.

But then you've got things like the weird octopus-sucking-my-face story Anne tells at Lady Dalrymple's. Even that could have worked okay in context, because Mr. Eliot jumps in and turns it into a metaphor about identity, which helps to cover for Anne's awkwardness and shows that he's willing to help her out. But then they keep bringing up the octopus as a sort of pet name and it's just so weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the story.

I've gotten ahead of myself so I'm going to backtrack to some specifics.

Mary Musgrove was excellent. Spot-on. I love how she's visibly younger than Anne. First adaptation I've seen that emphasizes that.

It was interesting how they emphasized the Mrs. Clay storyline. It actually sparked some interesting thoughts about the differences between the male social climbing of the sailors (shown in a positive light in Austen) and the female social climbing of the marriage-seeking ladies (shown in a more negative light).

I've never had a clearer picture of why Mrs. Clay matters so much to Mr. Elliot. Even in the book, it's a bit muddy, but it's crystal clear here. Mr. Elliot telling us his schemes straight-out did have the benefit of making the story very easy to follow.

I've got to back up again.

They completely altered the Anne/Wentworth storyline by mixing around all the plot points.

After they go to Bath, Wentworth seeks out Anne, says that they haven't had a chance to talk, and tells her how he always admired how good she was in an emergency. And this was before the staircase scene. I was extremely confused, until it hit me--this is a dream sequence! This is how Anne wants it to play out, but then she'll wake up!

But no! This actually happened! Wentworth says all this very sincerely and passionately, leading up to him declaring...that he wants to be friends. (At least there's context for "We're worse than exes--we're friends.")

It completely alters the trajectory of their relationship. Instead of jumping from the passion of hatred to the passion of love, Wentworth has gone to the other end of the pole--friendly indifference. He likes Anne and is totally okay with her marrying someone else.

I think they changed it so Mr. Elliot could be a serious contender in the love triangle. Wentworth has let her go--can she find happiness with someone else? I'll admit it's an interesting change, even if it's not Persuasion.

But it also seems like they're trying to make Wentworth a Suitable Love Interest for the Twitter Generation. Wentworth gets weirdly bristly with Mr. Elliot. Then Wentworth apologizes because Anne is a strong woman who doesn't need his protection. He tells her she should have been able to be an admiral. He's being mature and letting go of his resentment and wishing her well and showing that he doesn't like Regency Gender Roles. It's like they're shaving away his character growth in favor of a bland Nontoxic Relationship (TM).

But then Anne likes Mr. Elliot because he's bad? He openly talks about how he's trying to wreck her father's relationship to get the title. He insults her family. And she likes it.

This version of Anne holds her family in contempt. She doesn't like them or how they treat her and she openly disdains it. So she connects with Mr. Elliot. But the book Anne seems sad for her family--she doesn't like their behavior because she wishes they could be better people. She has compassion while movie Anne is resentful.

Persuasion is all about restraint. This movie is all about lack of restraint. People speak bluntly and say what they think and openly insult people. It's a completely different culture from the usual Austen movie, because it's modern culture. Which emphasizes how little we value good manners and restraint.

It's also weird how in changing the story, they also turn it into a generic rom-com. There's a more blatant love triangle between the good boy and the bad boy. Wentworth is starting to fall in love with Anne, but he's got an opportunity to advance his career, and he has to decide within a few days, oh no! It's textbook romcom plot points.

There was another point that I'll probably think of later.

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered! I think it was that the movie was so interested in the vibes and emotions of each individual scene that it didn't bother to try to stitch them together in a coherent whole.

The ending kiss looked 1000% like the cover of a cheap romance novel.

And the final moral of "don't let anyone tell you how to live your life" feels so simplistic and selfish and weird.

Overall, I'm not angry. I'm just confused. It's not the type of movie to arouse any kind of emotion other than "Huh???" And maybe a bit of regret that they couldn't have done better things with the interesting bits.

[fake-elizabeth-bennet]

After watching Persuasion, I came to this conclusion. The writers think the best bet to make a period movie successful is to make the audience believe that the main character is someone who is very different and no one is quite like them. Make the heroine not feminine (because people are used to the sophisticated and accomplished feminine women) and let her speak freely.

Writers need to understand that everyone loves Lizzy's and Emma's character because their personality was not so common during the Regency Era. There were very few women in those time who spoke their mind, were free-spirited and used their wit to their advantage. In short, they were different and didn't fit into the norms of normal and this is why their charcaters are celebrated. They were a kind of rebel.

However, Anne's character might not be the kind of "different" we are used to but it certainly is different. We respect her being different. She is kind, selfless and calm but she is strongest in the face of adversity and always knows the right thing to speak. Normal norms don't expect a woman to take decisions in critical situations and say right things at right time always. But here is our Anne suggesting every right thing while trying to help her father cut down on his expenses and then getting Louisa treated after the fall and never offending anyone with the things she says even unintentionally. She is a intelligent and empathetic woman who gets along with Mary and her in-laws simultaneously. This is not everyone's cup of tea and this woman is very strong and different from the conception of a typical woman.

Dear writers, making a woman witty, sarcastic and clever is not the only way to portray women who don't fit into the standard definition of woman. A woman with absolute presence of mind, no interest in gossips, devotion to others is also considered to be different.

You can't lure the audience eveytime making them believe that the main heroine breaks the norms of society and present only one kind of difference. Respect the different kind of DIFFERENT.

Thank you for coming to my half-witTED TALK.

[kajaono]

How is it possible that HALLMARK (!) Sense and Sensibility looks better then Netflix Persuasion?