I overall enjoyed this adaptation a lot. They took a lot of liberties but it didn’t bother me too much. I think I was just happy to see a fun adaptation of this fun book. I do agree Catherine in the book was not quite as clueless and was a tad more sassy and well spoken.
I think Catherine was trying to play nice with John; he's her brother's friend and her friend's brother and if James and Isabella were planning to marry, she doesn't want to completely alienate one of her future in-laws.
I utterly adore this adaptation. It is delightful and captures the spirit of the book for me, JJ Feild and Felicity Jones are a great Henry and Catherine!
I have just been re-reading Northanger Abbey, so of course I had to see what you had to say about it. I very much agree that the Felicity Jones/JJ Fields version is far superior to the one with Peter Firth (who really creeps me out, BTW). You presented a challenge as to whether Isabella and James Tilney were “naughty” to use your theme of the day. I’m on the side of movie version here, although this is not directly from the pages. I give as evidence that James tells Catherine that Isabella is engaged to Tilney (movie Isabella assumes the same.) Henry and Eleanor give pretty candid assessments of the Captain’s character, that no woman is good enough for him to marry-a dalliance hardly seems out of character however, based on their side glances to each other (in the book). This hardly seems out of place for Austen, either, considering other villainous characters: Wickham, Willoughby, and Crawford. Austen doesn’t shy away from this behavior. Now here’s my question for you: James is promised 400 pounds per annum, which seems pretty meager, but understandable in a family with 10 children. But then when Catherine is allowed to marry Henry, she gets a settlement of 3000 pounds. Does that make sense? On the subject of Henry’s attachment to Catherine, I know Austen said it originated in gratitude, and her partiality to him, but I think she’s teasing her readers. It wasn’t long before he was enchanted by her demonstrating her own character by assuming that others would of course think and feel as she did. She was also eager to learn whatever he wished to teach her. I loved the passage where Henry describes to Eleanor the character traits she is to expect in her new sister-in-law (Isabella), that in fact describe a different sister-in-law (Catherine), and she readily agrees. Those siblings were definitely on the same page! I’m enjoying all your Austen analyses-thanks!!
You are correct in that Jane Austen didn't shy away from scandalous dalliances. I suppose the difference for me here was that it was more indirect, whereas the other times (with Wickham and Willoughby) it was more direct/less subtle. As for the James and Catherine situation. I interpret it as James being offered a living worth 400 per annum, whereas for Catherine her settlement was a one time sum. So in the end, James' is a lot higher as it accumulates. I could be wrong, though! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I'm glad you're enjoying the videos!
2007 version of Northanger Abbey is one of my feel-good movies and is one of my absolute favorites. I didn't really care much for the changes, too. Definitely, a better adaptation than that of BBC's version, cuz I feel I was hallucinating on that one.
I actually saw the mocie before reading the book, so imagine my shick at seeing how Catherine has some spine there 😂 i actually enjoyed the movie, but felt annoyed by how gullible Catherine was like you said. As for Henry, he was charming in the movie, but in the novel came off as more humorous and playful, which i enjoyed. I despised the thorpes, both in the book and movie, which was fun. Overall, it was an enjoyable period drama albeit with some flaws. I keep thinking if there were to be a remake, who do you think would be suitable to play the leads?
@luluwahbarakat6612 Oh I can imagine that being a pleasant surprise! 😅 What a fun question, but difficult! The first that comes to mind would be Vanessa Kirby as Isabella Thorpe... I feel like she would be amazing in that role.
Untill lately (excluding lady Susan) I read all of Jane Austen's novels except Northanger Abbey precisely because I could not stand Catherine in the movie. For some reason she just got on my nerves😊. Anyway, I finally started reading the novel yesterday and thanks to your review of her character being somewhat different in the book, I'm not dreading it so much. By the way, I mostly watch your videos while working home office on my computer so I often just play the whole playlists not subscribing since I'm in the middle of some work process at the time. But I will try to write a bit more🤗 since I do enjoy your book/movie reviews a lot (especially for books hard for me to read, like Pamela, which I did try to get through, but found absolutely no pleasure in reading - even listening to as an audiobook).
Oh I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in disliking movie-Catherine! I hope you'll enjoy her book counterpart better, I do think she has a lot more sass. I get it, I watch long videos while working as well and often forget to comment - so I know how it is! I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts now though ☺
I hope by now you have stopped dreading reading Northanger Abbey and started to enjoy the book! There is no adaptation of any of Austen's novels that is as good as the books, but the ones of NA are particularly bad. Don't let them keep you from enjoying the book!
Northanger Abbey is one of those Jane Austen books that, for whatever reason, I had kind of a hard time getting invested in. However, I love this movie. Honestly, though, that probably has more to do with JJ Field than anything else. He's so swoon-worthy in this film, I tend to overlook all the other flaws, lol. 🤷🤤
