For Friday: Questions for the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion
NOTE: We’ll talk about the
film after we finish watching it on Thursday, though these questions won’t be
due until Friday at 5pm. Next week we’ll wrap-up the
course by considering what role Austen has in the college curriculum and
whether or not she should remain the dominant writer in the English literary
canon—the “Austen brand,” as James would have it.
Answer ONE of the following…
1. What are some of the most striking omissions in this version
of Persuasion? What scenes, dialogue, or characters are
missing, and why do you think the director/screenwriter chose to omit them? How do they change the tone or message of the
film? Are any of these scenes or
characters necessary (do you think) to truly know the book?
2. Remember that in Austen’s original ending (on pp.168-177),
we see the moment of “understanding” between Anne and Wentworth. She scrapped this as too much, perhaps, and
wrote the more subdued version we have today.
However, in Alan A. Stone’s review of Persuasion (the 1995 film), he chides the director for returning to
this ending, because “[the original ending’s] flawed depiction indicates the
kind of difficulty that beset screenwriter Dear, who took it upon himself to do
what Austen could not. To accomplish his task he ignored that fact that Persuasion
was a period piece.” What do you think
about this critique? Did the director
make Persuasion too modern, with its
kissing and romance? Did he go too
far—even farther than Austen dared allow herself?
3. Discuss the characterization of Anne in the film: are we
supposed to like her as much as we like the heroine in Persuasion? Is she as wise
and literate in the movie; or does she appear too passive and ‘good’? You might also consider why the director
makes her often say lines spoken by other characters in the book, such as
Captain Harville’s line that “But perhaps you will say, these were all written
by men” (156).
4. According to the director, Persuasion is the “first modern love story”. Did you feel this when reading the book? Does the film push us too far in reading the
book as a love story, even above matters of class, satire, family, and
education? Should we ultimately
celebrate modern love and its ability to defeat class and social pretension in
this work? Or does the film want us to
see a “modern” Austen much more than an 1818 one?
What are some of the most striking omissions in this version of Persuasion? What scenes, dialogue, or characters are missing, and why do you think the director/screenwriter chose to omit them? How do they change the tone or message of the film? Are any of these scenes or characters necessary (do you think) to truly know the book?
ReplyDeleteI missed the carriage ride scene in which Wentworth asked Ann's opinion on how to let the parents know about the accident. The omission of made the scene in my option a little awkward. You did not get a true sense that Wentworth respected Ann's opinion that was clear from the book. To me many parts of the movie came off awkward where in the book Austen was able to show the characters were still in love with each other despite the years and heart break.
One addition I thought was a little odd was Ann and Wentworth comments to each other about women not falling out of love. I'm pretty sure that was not in the book and at first I thought "please don't let that be the way the film covered that whole debate!!" You would have thought Wentworth would have figured it out at that point!
Over all it was good but I did wish for the scene with the annoying child on Ann's back as well as more of smith like we mentioned yesterday in class, but alas film makes cant out everything in or they would not likely have anyone watch the whole thing.
3. The movie Persuasion is a much more gritty adaptation than of the other TV series or movie adaptations. The actress and actor that play both Anne and Captain Wentworth are more rough and average than any of the other actresses and actors in the other movies. Captain Wentworth and Anne are not necessarily pleasing on the eyes. Anne is a likable character in the movie partly because she is an outcast, and that's something that a lot of people can sympathize with. When Mr. Elliot tries to woo her over, she pretty much doesn't pay him much attention. She knows that he's witty and charming, but she also knows that he lacks energy. He says all the right things, but it's a by-the-numbers type of deal. He has no passion. Anne is a character who can take care of herself, and certainly the others – that's why when Laura gets hurt everyone turns to her for help. It's hard not to like a character that is at once both knowledgeable, witty, and powerful in the sense that when things go bad she knows what to do.
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