Comments on: The Complete Jane Austen News Roundup: Are We Outraged Yet? Edition

By: Alison

Alison — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:43:35 +0000

Has anyone ever thought about making a fan film of the movies and taking everthing straight from the book? It is one thing to sit around and complain, but another to actually do something about the problem. (just a suggestion!)

By: Reeba

Reeba — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:42:08 +0000

Tina B, that’s a wonderful description.

I have started to like Fanny very much. Though I didn’t dislike her at first, I didn’t pay her much attention either – like everyone else in the book
But having read it a few times one manages to enjoy not only JA’s writing (the main reason why I read and re-read her books) but the way she has drawn the characters.

The subtle humour in the book, and the wit – all very amazing.

I think not only should the book be a scriptwriter’s but also a director’s delight to have to deal with the *words* in the book along with these colourful characters.

This brings me to the excellent adaptation of the 80s by BBC. Most of the dialogue in tact, the characters so real, though as expected some don’t like this Fanny (though I think she’s very close).

By: brandykinch

brandykinch — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:34:37 +0000

Fanny has always been my favorite Austen character on the screen and in the book. She’s complex, but sympathetic. I haven’t seen the 2007 Mansfield yet, I’m saving it for a special day. I hope the new Fanny doesn’t let me down!

By: Julie P.

Julie P. — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:02:18 +0000

I agree with you Tina. I first read MP when I was 18 and I really disliked it. I had never read a book where I didn’t like any of the characters and I really don’t think I was ready for the book. It turned me off JA for years. But I re-read it in anticipation of Rozema’s movie, and I really liked the book. I finally realized that Fanny was not a doormat. That she was, in fact, a better judge of character than the heroine everyone loves, Elizabeth Bennet. Fanny knows her own mind and, again unlike Elizabeth Bennet, she doesn’t need a “lightbulb moment” to make her realize she’s made a mistake. Fanny refuses to do something she believes is wrong, despite the fact that the authority figure in her life is making her life difficult for not doing it. If Fanny doesn’t like someone (namely Henry), there’s a very good reason. I trust her judgment implicitly because her instincts are impeccable. Anne Elliot and Elinor Dashwood are other heroines I might not have appreciated as a teenager, but now that I’m a “woman of a certain age,” I admire them very much.

By: Kay

Kay — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:23:06 +0000

I’m not sure what I REALLY think about Mansfield Park adaptations, but Tina B., you have captured what I think about Jane Austen and her characters, the Crawford’s. I think we are meant to hope they redeem themselves and on every reading they just don’t. I think it is masterful.

By: Tina B.

Tina B. — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:57:05 +0000

I recently made myself reread Mansfield Park. I read it a couple of times in my 20s and didn’t like it. My reason is the same as that which Mags said in #3: I don’t like any of the characters. So then why is it that, later in the novel, I am wishing so hard for Henry to be able to change and live happily ever after with Fanny? After reading it this time, it occurred to me that maybe this is the point. Maybe Jane Austen makes Henry and Mary Crawford so much more likeable than the hero and heroine so that the reader will feel that pull between what feels right and what is right. I’m sure Edmund is caught in that struggle and the narrator says that even Fanny must have succombed to it in time. I know I always fall for it and then feel a little chastened at the end when I realize that Fanny was right about him after all.

My question is this: If this is the point, is it possible for an adaptation to portray that? I think it could.

By: surreyhill

surreyhill — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:48:22 +0000

With regard to needing to like Fanny for a Mansfield Park Adaptation to grip, I am not sure I agree. Fanny’s character is what it is. I think more pleasing dramatic traction could be gained by enhancing and adding depth to Edmund’s. He seems to be quite left out, yet he gets played by good actors and I think could be made over very well. He is the most interesting character and I think the one with the most modern interest (other than Pug, of course).

By: surreyhill

surreyhill — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:36:59 +0000

If Fanny Price were truly a Mary Sue, she’d have singlehandedly redeemed the characters of everyone in the story while saving Pug from being crushed beneath the wheels of a runaway carriage.

I like the FF when she is reviewing geek-centric material, but she continually gets the Janeite stuff wrong, and should be banned from future commentary.

Roger Ebert should never review any movie based on the works of Tolkien and the FF should steer totally clear of any and all things Jane.

By: Elaina

Elaina — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:58:25 +0000

Mary-Sue’s generally have purple hair and emerging, “special” powers. So I don’t think Fanny falls into that category very well.

By: Mags

Mags — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:39:22 +0000

Meggin, I refer you to the JASNA film page, which is a pretty complete listing of everything that is available. I would say in general that the older versions from the 70s and 80s are longer and quite complete, though the production values are not the best as they are made for television and obviously cheaply done. The versions from the 90s are the most historically accurate, in general, with a few exceptions, and generally very well done. The most recent adaptations tend to have been subjected to unfortunate "modern" sensibilities such as the use of a handheld camera ("Jane Austen's Cloverfield"), unique costuming decisions, and a general dumbing-down of the original work.