#austenadaptation

[anartsnotebook]

Prepping for tomorrow's Author Event with @sonali.dev 📚All #Janeites welcome! Ready to do my best "James Lipton from Inside the Actor's Studio" impression with my stack of notecards 🤓 If you lurrrve Jane Austen, definitely join us! Sign up at bit.ly/apl-sonali Links & lots more info at the websites for @ashlandpubliclibraryma & @massbaylibs #janeausten #sonalidev #austenadaptation (at Framingham, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdyw-2iPQUm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[doctorkugler]

Why do reality television’s most popular stars so uncannily resemble the heroines of the 19th-century writer’s work?

“For Austen's heroines, an advantageous marriage is a necessity in a world that offers them next to no other choices—a fact that radically distinguishes the 18th-century husband-hunters from today’s dating-show contestants. Without a husband, Lady Susan could very easily end up on the street. Without the ability to work or inherit property, the Dashwood sisters of Sense and Sensibility are forced to move to a tiny cottage while their manipulative sister-in-law takes over their family home. “One of the points Austen is making is that Lady Susan is just what … books advised women to be,” Tomalin writes. “She has perfectly mastered the art of using the conventions of society to get what she wants.” So, too, the best reality-show stars master the conventions of their genre—without ever seeming even slightly tempted to question them.”

Beginning with an analogy between Blac Chyna and Austen’s Lady Susan, Atlantic senior editor, Sophie Gilbert, makes the case that a large portion of reality tv today echoes the concerns of image, gender performance, wealth, and status found in Austen early 19th-century novels. There is an implied difference between one body of texts critiquing conventions and the other reinforcing them, as well as the argument that women now have more choices than Austen’s heroines. But there is also the idea that performing idleness or other behaviours on a reality tv show is a form of work: that they are playing a part. Which leads to the question, why are we entertained by these shows? What draws us in? (You can excuses yourself from that collective pronoun, if you wish, but these are popular genres. Someone is watching). 

I also found it interesting how much Gilbert includes recent adaptations, such as the film Love and Friendship and the novel Eligible. To what extent, if any, is it possible to discuss Austen’s influence on popular culture without also speaking about adaptations?

[doctorkugler]

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel ~ Showreel

Delightful ladies & gentlemen performing 'The Improvised Jane Austen Novel' across London & the UK. "High grade humour" ~ The Guardian. Featuring Amy Cooke-H...

What would an “improvised Austen novel” look like? Here the focus seems to be on light comedy and dancing. The satiric portrayal of an Austen scholar and improvised titles were funny. What do you all think? What elements would an improve performance need to have for you to view at Austen-ish?

[doctorkugler]

There are a lot of alternative P&P narratives out there (as well as sequels, prequels, etc). Some are caught up in the idealization of Darcy and Elizabeth, but there is also a large strain of fanfiction (a term I don't use in a derogatory way and it is a genre I think is worthy of study) that is highly skeptical of the couplings in the novel. What do we make of adaptations and re-imagining that are also critical of their source material? What draws writers and readers to explore the negatives of a text they seem to also love? And how similar is this to a scholar pointing to a novel's reflections of the imperialism that produced it (I ask this as someone who loves Jane Austen's novels, but also writes about its representation of empire, race, and sexuality)?

[doctorkugler]

A fast sample of some of the film adaptions (1995 onwards)

[blogaboutjaneausten]

SENSE & SENSIBILITY Comic Taps Into Jane Austen Mania Again

"Sense and Sensibility is the next Jane Austen book coming from Marvel Comics. The adaptation writer tells us more about the comic"

I posted this just because I thought that it was really cool and interesting to see the expansion of the fan base through yet another form of media, and was surprised to see an Austen Novel being adapted into a comic book.