Has anyone seen 'Sanditon'?
Feb. 9th, 2020 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI noticed that 'Sanditon' was showing late last year, but failed to record the whole series and put it on my Christmas list instead. Got it on DVD, and we started watching a few days ago. Have now watched 5/8 episodes and…
Well. It's fun, and it's interesting. There are plenty of surprises, plenty of interesting characters with interactions that may or may not go the way I think they will. There are Austen-esque elements, like the brother and sister who provide a modest amount of comic relief. The Miss Bateses, if you will, though this pair are greedy and lazy/hypochondriac as well as silly, and their circumstances are far more comfortable, so I have less sympathy with them than with Miss Bates. There is a rich and curmudgeonly old lady, rather nicer than Lady Catherine de Bourgh although no less opinionated. There is a tall, dark and dashing chap who may well, I suspect, turn out to be A Good Guy with lots of rational and reasonable explanations behind his doings, although much of the time he comes across as a mannerless jerk — and by 'much of the time' I mean, in his interactions with young, female persons. Hmm.
There are things which must, I think, come from the original partial novel (which I really must re-read asap), like Mr Tom Parker's obsession with the creation of Sanditon as a prime seaside resort, and his utter stupidity in the pursuit of that goal. Our Heroine has much of Lizzie Bennett and Emma Woodhouse about her, and perhaps somewhat of Catherine Morland as well. She's fun (and charmingly acted). Sidney Parker (Mr tall, dark and dashing) irritates me, he's rather like Darcy with the sneery side turned up to eleven, and I hope Our Heroine picks the good-looking and ambitious young foreman instead. I'm a bit bored with the model of hero who is blightingly unpleasant to people with no particular excuse, but who turns out to be Noble And Right. I mean, why cannot Noble And Right come with good manners? And a modicum of common sense?
I have a horrid suspicion that poor Miss Lamb is being misled by her adored suitor, and that tall, dark and dashing is Quite Right to keep them separated. Which is a pity. Now, if tall, dark and dashing had had the common sense to mention to Miss Heywood that Miss Lamb is beset by fortune-hunters, most notable among them being one from the West Indies.... I mean, I'm thinking this is a distinct possibility, but when the guardian fails to mention it when he designates the task of watching over his ward to a young girl, well, how is she to know? *stifles urge to slap Sidney Parker*
The would-be incestuous brother and sister… seem to have strayed in from a Bronte novel, particularly with the sadistic little scene involving fingernails digging into a burn. And, well, adaptations, yes, I know, but while Darcy dunking himself in a pond is one thing, a handjob in the woods, for whatever reason, seems… shall I say, not entirely true to the source material? But perhaps I am wrong. I shall re-read the novel (and hope most sincerely that my copy indicates where Austen's work ends and Another Lady's begins, otherwise I shall be very cross).
What this adaptation is, I strongly suspect, is Jane Austen fanfic, which would carry several warnings if posted on AO3. Which is fine, and I'm enjoying it. Also, it's exciting to see a Jane Austen (with provisos, as above) story whose plot turns I do not know intimately already.
*
Incidentally, I was delighted to notice that one of the actors is called Turlough Convery. Having not watched Poldark or Ready Player One or the Les Mis TV mini-series, I had never heard of him before.
Well. It's fun, and it's interesting. There are plenty of surprises, plenty of interesting characters with interactions that may or may not go the way I think they will. There are Austen-esque elements, like the brother and sister who provide a modest amount of comic relief. The Miss Bateses, if you will, though this pair are greedy and lazy/hypochondriac as well as silly, and their circumstances are far more comfortable, so I have less sympathy with them than with Miss Bates. There is a rich and curmudgeonly old lady, rather nicer than Lady Catherine de Bourgh although no less opinionated. There is a tall, dark and dashing chap who may well, I suspect, turn out to be A Good Guy with lots of rational and reasonable explanations behind his doings, although much of the time he comes across as a mannerless jerk — and by 'much of the time' I mean, in his interactions with young, female persons. Hmm.
There are things which must, I think, come from the original partial novel (which I really must re-read asap), like Mr Tom Parker's obsession with the creation of Sanditon as a prime seaside resort, and his utter stupidity in the pursuit of that goal. Our Heroine has much of Lizzie Bennett and Emma Woodhouse about her, and perhaps somewhat of Catherine Morland as well. She's fun (and charmingly acted). Sidney Parker (Mr tall, dark and dashing) irritates me, he's rather like Darcy with the sneery side turned up to eleven, and I hope Our Heroine picks the good-looking and ambitious young foreman instead. I'm a bit bored with the model of hero who is blightingly unpleasant to people with no particular excuse, but who turns out to be Noble And Right. I mean, why cannot Noble And Right come with good manners? And a modicum of common sense?
I have a horrid suspicion that poor Miss Lamb is being misled by her adored suitor, and that tall, dark and dashing is Quite Right to keep them separated. Which is a pity. Now, if tall, dark and dashing had had the common sense to mention to Miss Heywood that Miss Lamb is beset by fortune-hunters, most notable among them being one from the West Indies.... I mean, I'm thinking this is a distinct possibility, but when the guardian fails to mention it when he designates the task of watching over his ward to a young girl, well, how is she to know? *stifles urge to slap Sidney Parker*
The would-be incestuous brother and sister… seem to have strayed in from a Bronte novel, particularly with the sadistic little scene involving fingernails digging into a burn. And, well, adaptations, yes, I know, but while Darcy dunking himself in a pond is one thing, a handjob in the woods, for whatever reason, seems… shall I say, not entirely true to the source material? But perhaps I am wrong. I shall re-read the novel (and hope most sincerely that my copy indicates where Austen's work ends and Another Lady's begins, otherwise I shall be very cross).
What this adaptation is, I strongly suspect, is Jane Austen fanfic, which would carry several warnings if posted on AO3. Which is fine, and I'm enjoying it. Also, it's exciting to see a Jane Austen (with provisos, as above) story whose plot turns I do not know intimately already.
*
Incidentally, I was delighted to notice that one of the actors is called Turlough Convery. Having not watched Poldark or Ready Player One or the Les Mis TV mini-series, I had never heard of him before.