We start off with Mrs. Dashwood finishing up a friendly interview with one of the female servants who will come with the ladies to Devonshire.
Continue reading “Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Devonshire”Category: Jane Austen
Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Sussex
S&S has more plot and arguably more appealing characters than Mansfield Park, but has a similar tendency to view character and plot developments from a thousand foot view, and also tends to focus a certain amount of attention on “alternate histories” that don’t come to pass, although it’s not as aggressive about it as Mansfield Park. Our hypothetical adaptation of S&S is a miniseries of four to six episodes of one hour+ apiece, on one of the major streaming services, with a hefty budget and a level of stylization similar to the 2020 Emma, although with a different color palette and “vibe.” I am breaking the story out roughly by location, to make these posts a more manageable size.
Continue reading “Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Sussex”Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Rest of the Characters
I felt that the Dashwoods, Ferrarses, and Edward’s secret fiancee needed to all be treated in one post, so here we are with the rest of this large cast of characters…
Continue reading “Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Rest of the Characters”Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwoods and Ferrarses
I recently finished listening to this book on Librivox (the Karen Savage reading), and decided to start blogging again about adapting Jane Austen. For an introductory essay on the subject, go here. For subsequent essay, click on the Jane Austen category in this blog. As usual, we start with the characters:
Continue reading “Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwoods and Ferrarses”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: Mansfield Park, the Princess Bride version
Mansfield Park does suffer from very “period” attitudes, although not as much as its detractors claim. You will see moments below where I have softened the characters’ behaviors somewhat to plug plot holes or smooth over stuff that tends to rub modern readers the wrong way. I personally feel like the novel suffers more from not enough forward momentum and too much thousand-foot-view of what’s going on; we’re often told what’s happening in general terms without citing specific incidents. Mansfield Park also has a highly intrusive, somewhat fourth-wall-breaking narrator who delights in telling the reader about hypothetical alternative outcomes.
In a word, the best solution to filming Mansfield Park is to go full Princess Bride…
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: Mansfield Park, the Princess Bride version”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Characters of Mansfield Park
I’m starting with my take on the characters, as for P&P. All the characters of Mansfield Park itself should be able to swing between a somewhat more stylized, off-kilter performance for reasons that will become obvious in the next post, and a more naturalistic performance for the actual events of the story.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Characters of Mansfield Park”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 3
We’re entering the homestretch of the story now…
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 3”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 2
When we left off, the Bingley party had just left Netherfield. We resume some time later in London…
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 2”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 1
I don’t claim to hit all the high points, but these are the ones that come to mind…This is part one of however many it takes to get through the book.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: The Major P&P Story Setpieces, Part 1”Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: Bingleys and Darcys and Wickham, Oh My!
I am lumping the Bingley-Hurst clan, the Darcy-De Bourg clan (and their former dependent Wickham) together, along with their residences. Next piece or couple of pieces will be on major setpieces of the story.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Adapting Jane Austen: Bingleys and Darcys and Wickham, Oh My!”
Jaglion Press 