MacBeth on Prozac actually sounds interesting.

I am basing this on what they said themselves: “Piper makes a distinctly bouncy Fanny Price, romping around the exquisite location, in a blur of blond locks and flying petticoats. ‘She scampers everywhere like the bit of tomboy she is’”. She is NOT. “I am afraid you are very tired, Fanny,” said Edmund, observing her; “why would not you speak sooner? This will be a bad day’s amusement for you if you are to be knocked up. Every sort of exercise fatigues her so soon, Miss Crawford, except riding.”

What is next, Tiny Tim on steroids? Played by Schwarzenegger in The Timinator? Or Happy Macbeth on prozac? All said, thanks for giving me a chuckle, Tony A.

The for or against Fanny debate is one of the most potentially vicious in all of Austenology. I had a long discussion with several people on a historical fiction board where I was the only one defending Fanny. Personally I find Edmund to be a typical guy: so blinded by Miss I’m So Cute And Clever that he misses Miss Perfect Mate right in front of him. He’s just darned lucky the book ends as it does. If Fanny hadn’t married him I sure wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it.

I’m with Tony on reserving judgement. And, not knowing much about Billie Piper, I have few reservations about her portraying Fanny. So she’s not like Fanny in real life. So what? It’s called acting for a reason.

Persuasion. Well everywhere it’s mentioned I see the words “tender, autumnal love story.” Perhaps execs don’t feel like they can monkey with a “tender, autumnal love story” as much as those stocked with teenaged characters.

I’m actually not a fan of the pond scene, since I’m not bowled over by Colin Firth in any capacity. It wasn’t necessary, but it didn’t change the plot really.

Tony…contumacious? Quite the vocabulary you have there. I haven’t had to look up a word in quite some time.

It sounds as if he’s planning to do the same kind of party pooping with S&S. Lord knows what the dirty old man has in store for NA. I don’t even want to think how he’d “improve” Persuasion.

I’m getting a really different vibe from Persuasion than from MP and NA, just in the media presentation and commentary, not having seen the films yet. It seems like MP and NA are going one way and Persuasion is separate, and the media presentation of the latter is much more accomplished and sensitive to the sensibilities of Janeites. Simply stated: they’re doing everything right. That in itself probably should make me suspicious, but I’m rather enjoying being catered to a bit rather than being told to take my spinsterly purist scruples and shove them somewhere painful because We’re Bringing Jane To The Unwashed Masses And We Know Better Than You How To Do It, You Silly Blogger.

It may turn out that my mild confidence is misplaced. It may turn out that they’re more confident in their presentation because they have nothing for which to apologize. We’ll see, won’t we? (I remember how I was so positive I was going to hate the Master & Commander film with the fiery, red-hot passion of a thousand suns, but I loved it. Loved it SO much. I wish I could think that would happen from these films…)

Also, embellishments are one thing (and in a five-hour miniseries, The Everloving Pond Scene is that; it didn’t replace anything important) and rewriting is another thing entirely. Just saying.