Is It Austen or Not?! Why Die Hard Austen Fans Are Outraged at the Movie Adaptation

We've had a school student on work experience with us in the office this week. Lily (like the rest of the team) is a huge bookworm, so we asked her to write a couple of blog posts for us. The choice of topics were entirely up to her, they just had to be literature based. We were super impressed with her work and wanted to share it with you!

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Whether you’re a big fan of the 18th century novelist’s work, or you choose to plod through the countless book to film adaptations, we’ve all heard of Jane Austen. 

‘Pride and Prejudice’, filmed in the 1990’s and starring Colin Firth as our favourite literary heartthrob, Mr. Darcy, or the newest 2000’s adaptation starring Keira Knightley as the brilliant Elizabeth Bennet. There have admittedly been some spectacular cinematic adaptations of her famous works; casting some unbelievably fitting actors to fit the image we all had in our heads. 

But does 2020’s ‘Emma’ do Miss Woodhouse justice? Although the music is fabulously fitting and the costumes are undeniably gorgeous, with a splash of colour here and a floral pattern there, does it really adhere to the standard Jane would’ve longed for? 

When the new ‘Persuasion’ film adaptation trailer was released, Austen bookworms nearly fainted with outrage. ‘How dare there be such a modern twist on one of her most incredible works’, ‘Austen wouldn't have wanted there to be such gen-z language’, ‘This is Jane Austen we are talking about, what is happening to the film industry?’ 

So do we agree?

The lovely Dakota Johnson playing Anne Elliot could be simply iconic for future generations, and not only this, but inspire the younger fans to go to the book. Die hard book fans may well have a ‘Persuasion’ army if they accepted the 2022 interpretation. 

We've already seen it with the Netflix phenomenon ‘Bridgerton’ putting a fantastic light on the regency era.  There’s the wonderful, show-stoppingly gorgeous, all inclusive cast and a fabulous outlook on costuming, language, and the regency hierarchy. Not forgetting the humour and let’s just say ‘risque’ scenes. It changed how we view the ‘olden days’ and brought back countless trends such as corsets, classical twists on pop songs and how the lords and ladies we tend to hear about in the history books were real people with lots of emotions.

Despite its magic, people still felt strongly about the lack of Austen compliance. It's not even Austen! Being a huge Austen bookworm myself, I do appreciate the disparing broken hearts of these fans, but for Austen to live on, we need to modernise at least some of her ‘thees and thys.’ But don't worry, with the ever growing demand in ‘royal core’ aesthetics, I'm sure we will get a well deserved throwback, and have a full on Austen fest in no time. 

Love Jane? You'll love this collection... 

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About the Author...

Hello! My name is Lily and I am a classical literature bookworm who adores everything from; cats, Taylor Swift, cups of tea, Gilmore Girls, fluffy socks and M&M loaded biscuits. But I especially love nothing more than sitting down and waffling about Jane Austen and bookish trends!