any interest in a thread?
possible spoiler
Someone said to me “it’s like a parody of the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice” and then I found this:
https://decider.com/2020/01/12/sanditon-episode-2-recap-theo-james-sidney-parker-naked/
Thanks, enjoyed the article. And I agree that “a parody” may be one way to describe Sandition (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) There certainly were no nude men, or lovers of African descent, in any of the Austen books I’ve read.
OTOH, there were no post-coital wedding night kisses in Austin either, but I love the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice even with that rather silly (and unnecessary) final scene.
I’m watching it but I am not really enjoying it. They are not acting like a Jane Austen novel - too modern in behavior to me. I read that only half of episode 1 is from the chapters Jane Austen wrote before she died then they made up everything else going forward. Augh! Then I read an article from Britain (because they watched the whole series over there already) and without spoiling it I will tell you that the show doesn’t hold a candle to Pride and Prejudice. I don’t know why I am watching this series - probably only because I love Masterpiece Theatre.
It’s no spoiler that this is no P&P!
I’m the only person I know enjoying it: the settings, the costumes, the silliness of interpretation. Everyone else has given up except one viewer who may keep going in hopes of another sexy swim scene.
It’s not Austen. But it seems to me there are elements. There is a whole lot of sex in Austen, just off page. Villains attempt to seduce and run off with innocent young women. Sometimes they are successful. One young woman is left abandoned with an infant. A naive teen visits a vacant country house with her brand new beau. There is a school girl who doesn’t know the identity of her father. Lots of scandals we just get a bit of in a larger story.
Mansfield Park alludes to riches from enslaved plantation workers.
If Austen was writing today, would there be explicit sex scenes? I wonder.
I keep wondering where those incestuous siblings come from. Anyone have any ideas?
I doubt there would be more explicit sex scenes… Austen studied society as it pertained to women of a particular class and her specialty was understatement… and great wit.
“Silliness of interpretation” is a good way to describe this adaptation.
Yes, I recall the mention of slavery in Mansfield Park… The speech in the last episode seemed very anachronistic. Do you know any longer novels of that period that discussed Britain’s economic benefits stemming from slavery?
It’s not a novel, but maybe of interest if you don’t already know it?
When I looked it up on amazon, it was frequently bought with Mansfield Park. It looks like it’s available free on Gutenberg.
Jane Austen only wrote 11 chapters of Sanditon. One of the characters introduced is a Miss Lambe from the West Indies who is 17, in ill health, and who is described as “half mulatto” and from the West Indies.In the fragment, Lady Denham does decide her nephew Edward should marry her.
See e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanditon
So, while much of the story is invented,including a part Black character was Jane Austen’s own idea.
Yes, I’m watching.
Thanks @alh, I’ll look check that out. Looks fascinating.
I watched the first episode but I’m not interested in watching the rest. The characters were so un-Jane like. And the language? Jane was very subtle. These characters use vulgarities Jane would never have used.
H and I are watching. I jokingly tell H (who went to boarding school and university in the UK) that most Masterpiece shows are soap operas. His retort is that is is quality British television!
I’m watching and enjoying it for the most part. But I have a hard time with Mr. Parker’s characters because I can’t forget he played Colin in the “Love Actually” movie…lol.
I am enjoying it but maybe because I don’t think about Jane Austen as I watch it. I like seeing the costumes and the grand houses. I find it soothing escape from reality.
I’m liking it. And Theo James is very easy on the eyes! I don’t think too much about anything except that it’s entertaining and fun.
I’m finding it boring and I have to force myself to watch each episode through (I watch them the following day on the PBS site). I haven’t seen the ending yet, obviously, but I’m feeling like it’s very predictable. Would be happy if my predictions turn out to be incorrect!
Although I could do without the incest storyline
So, did anyone else watch the ending? THAT was decidedly not like Austen.
@jonri - I said “wait, that’s the end?” I was thinking, Miss Lambe has money; maybe she has changed her mind about Sidney and wants Charlotte to be happy. Wouldn’t that be a more Austen-like outcome?
Thanks for bumping this up, jonri. I was wondering if anyone else besides me finished it.
At first I’d hoped the series was deliberately upsetting Austen conventions to make some sort of comment on something. Now I think it was just unsuccessfully bad.
It is beyond me how someone with seemingly so much knowledge of Austen, who has made successful film adaptations, created this series.
Wardrobe and setting were lovely, however.