Persuasion 2022 Trailer Reaction 

Congratulations on your baby!! I really appreciate your scripted essay-style videos on serious topics, I also think that this topic, since it is a review of something less serious, is fittingly unscripted and more spontaneous and I think it really fits well! You're doing great! Thank you for your videos!!

Your command of English is AWESOME.

Very exciting news! God bless the new mom and newborn...

I’m using my fingers to type and I have too much to say so I’ll just leave it at: “I agree!”. 😆 That part where you said constancy = stubborn is so accurate. Very frustrating to have in the heroines of today today 😖

I'm glad I came upon your video after viewing the Netflix trailer. Your comments largely mirrored mine. After being disappointed with some recent Austen adaptions, I've developed a grudging respect for the 90s Clueless film. It's not my type of film, but I find a wholesale reimagining of a "modern Austen" more sympathetic than a revision of Austen within her time period. The latter just seems very dishonest and pandering. A Clueless can actually be creative and effectively raise issues that might challenge a viewer. I find the historical revision approach shallow and self-satisfied.

Congratulations on becoming a mother! I really enjoyed your analysis and I think I tend to agree on all your points. Im really trying to keep an open mind but my first reaction was also that the tone and portrayal of Anne was all wrong. :( I do like that Anne breaks the fourth wall. So much of the novel happens inside Anne's head. I feel like it is impossible to get the same experience from persuasion on screen as you do reading without hearing Anne's internal dialog. I didn't *love* the 1995 adaptation the way I do other Austen adaptations I think for this reason even though I thought the actress that played Anne did a fantastic job. Anne is a really hard character to portray on screen, much harder than an Emma or Elizabeth. If you just listen to her spoken dialog and interactions with other characters it is really easy to miss how funny she is, how critical she is of her family members and their questionable values and choices, how suspicious she is of Mr. Elliot, how much more self assured she becomes over time, etc. She is very reserved and sensible (which I absolutely love), but I see how it can be hard to show what makes her so great on screen. The nuances you describe about stubbornness vs. constancy is such an important aspect of the book! Although, I don't know if the line about "dont let anyone tell you who you are or who to love" bothered me as much. I must confess though I am an American ;). Yes Anne tells Wentworth she thinks that she did nothing wrong in following the advice of her beloved maternal figure, but she also tells him that she would never give anyone (such as us the audience) the same advice that she was given. Also the whole conflict w/ Mr. Elliot was imo Austen's attempt get the reader to think about how even good people with the best intentions (like Lady Russell) can be deceived and persuade you to do things that make you deeply unhappy or are even wrong so you need to become firm in your own self and your own choices and be careful with how people and society try to persuade you. The comedy in the trailer also looks... very different from the book. I love the humor in the book and how it opens itself as a satire of the landed gentry so Im really hoping at least the sailors and Sir Walter are great characters and the comedy that is there actually serves the purpose it does in the book. I really hated the scene with Anne and Wentworth meeting again after years and the jam though... yikes. If it ends up being bad I really hope someone else gives it another try. Persuasion deserves more love!

congratulations on new motherhood! i hope it’s a fulfilling (and not too stressful) time for you! i happened to begin reading persuasion a few days before the trailer came out and despite only being a few chapters in i’m prone to agree with quite a few of the thoughts you presented. especially the personality of anne, she seems quite dissimilar to her novel counterpart as far as i can tell. i suppose we’ll see once i’ve finished my reading and the film comes out… i do hope the adaptation is faithful to the spirit of the novel though

Very interesting perspective on this new adaptation. But as I said in other video reactions I will not watch this as I feel if the writers and producers wanted to do a modern adaptation of Persuasion they should set in the present as the dialogue and casting choices are more for the modern age and not for a period drama based on a 200 year old novel. I have three adaptations of Persuasion 1971,1995 and 2007 I like them for their individuality, but as I discovered Persuasion when it was first shown on BBC 2 and then released in the Cinema due to its popularity. Then the 1995 will always have a place in my heart. Plus Amanda Root was an excellent Anne and Ciaran Hinds who had appeared in a Catherine Cookson with her was a dashing and perfect Wentworth.☺️

Really enjoyed you analysis and think that we'll unfortunately be disappointed when the movie comes out. Persuasion is my favorite Austen novel, I really like Dakota Johnson and just feel like this is such a wasted opportunity. Anyway at least I'll always have 1995 adaptation.

I think this is failing where Bridgerton succeeded. It tries to put modern manners and attitudes into history whilst Bridgerton explored the feelings everyone has throughout history and kept the manners of Regency England. What do you think of Bridgerton?

After absorbing your great news, I'm ready to comment ,lol. First, I like your off the cuff delivery, it came off very well. I'm no expert on fashion history, but I understand that 19th century British naval officers weren't allowed to appear unofficially in public dressed in uniform. I have no definitive source, but have seen this commented on. The TV and film adaptions visually seem to require the uniforms to keep the audience aware of the naval aura of the novel. Don't ever worry about critiquing American culture, it's ubiquitous, and always needs awareness and scrutiny. As a yank, I'm hypercritical of the popular culture around me, perhaps to an excessive degree. I'm happy you like the 1995 version. I thought it was nicely done. The 2009 anniversary BBC version was a falling off somewhat, but tried to keep within an Austenesque atmosphere. There was an egregious near final scene, where Wentworth and Anne threw themselves into a passionate kissing scene on a public street. Ugh. I'm interested to see how the film will deal with the issues of romanticism in the novel. Hollywood and media aren't known for a very nuanced portrayal of the culture changing Romantic movement. So, Im interested in seeing how Captain Benwick and Anne's attitudes are portrayed. I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on constancy as seen through Austen, in contrast with the modern world's demand that individual autonomy, devoid of communal, spiritual influence must be paramount. Along these lines, I thought of you as I recently reread Lionel Trilling's short book , based on public lectures, "Sincerity and Authenticity". An interesting section on Austen would be of interest. I'm looking forward to your next installment, very much missed seeing you! P.S. Ive only watched the trailer after viewing you and commenting. I'm not optimistic! I may have to rely on your viewing of the final film and comments. You're younger and your blood pressure won't rise as much as mine would. Lol.

Having the benefit of having watched the whole film now I can comment. Firstly you need to accept it’s not a depiction of the book, it’s mearly using the story line The actress playing Ann was brilliant in my opinion, I always thought the character was stronger than depicted in previous films. I was disappointed with Wentworth he was supposed to be very handsome this actor had been made to be very rough round the edges and couldn’t be described as handsome. I think a few others were miscast but this emphasised my opinion that this wasn’t intended to be a depiction of Jane Austen’s story, if it was then this was very badly done.