{"id":1566825,"date":"2022-07-22T15:49:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T19:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1566825"},"modified":"2022-07-22T15:49:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T19:49:13","slug":"netflix-dumbs-down-classic-persuasion-with-snarky-millennial-girlboss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netflix-dumbs-down-classic-persuasion-with-snarky-millennial-girlboss\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Dumbs Down Classic \u2018Persuasion\u2019 With Snarky Millennial Girlboss"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnetflix-dumbs-down-classic-persuasion-with-snarky-millennial-girlboss%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1566825&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Readers of Jane Austen know her as a remarkable literary talent whose explorations of the complex relationships between love and duty and family and society have made her just as readable today as she was in the 19th century. According to Netflix, however, she\u2019s a millennial self-help guru who just wants everyone to love themselves.<\/p>\n<p>The streaming service\u2019s \u201cPersuasion,\u201d the latest in a long line of lackluster Austen film adaptations, is more \u201cBridgerton\u201d than Austen, though that might be an insult to \u201cBridgerton.\u201d Its heroine is a sarcastic wine lover who flirts awkwardly and trips on walks \u2013 just like you and me!<\/p>\n<p>Instead of considering Austen\u2019s take on class, duty, and character, Netflix\u2019s \u201cPersuasion\u201d wants you to consider what life would be like in a society full of sexist people and backward social constraints. Its characters talk about \u201cself care\u201d and \u201cthe universe\u201d and sex. It\u2019s almost surprising no one ever announces their astrological sign. \u201cPersuasion,\u201d the film, may be a fine way to kill an afternoon, but fans of Austen \u2013 and critical thinking \u2013 will be sorely disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>Austen\u2019s 1817 novel, \u201cPersuasion\u201d tells the story of Anne Elliot, a 27-year-old \u201cold maid\u201d who has been single for eight years after rejecting her sweetheart Captain Wentworth\u2019s proposal of marriage because a family friend suggested he was too poor. Years later, Wentworth is now rich and back in Anne\u2019s life, and as they slowly, wordlessly reveal their unresolved feelings toward each other, Anne must grapple with the meaning of those eight lost years.<\/p>\n<p>In Netflix\u2019s 2022 rendition, Anne is a snarky millennial girlboss who makes fun of her vain family members with quick and meaningful glances toward the camera. \u201cAnne is over it,\u201d a trailer for the film announces. \u201cOver love, over this century,\u201d and \u201cover everyone.\u201d Thank goodness we have Anne\u2019s discerning eye to lead us through the silly standards of England\u2019s upper-middle class. Those eight lost years? They\u2019re more incidental than material.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are the problems more surface-level in this retelling, but so is the dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>Creating a tension-building love triangle is Mr. Elliot, a cousin and heir to Anne\u2019s family\u2019s estate. He pursues Anne, though she initially distrusts him. \u201cMr. Elliot was rational, discreet, polished; but he was not open,\u201d Austen writes. \u201cThere was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How do we know Anne has misgivings about Mr. Elliot in Netflix\u2019s retelling? \u201cAnyone that attractive must have an angle,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s a ten. I never trust a ten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such timeless wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>At times, Anne sounds like she\u2019s spouting Taylor Swift lyrics (\u201calone in my room with a bottle of red\u201d) or practicing for her career as an Insta-poet (\u201cI must rely on the instructions issued by my own heart\u201d). A line about being an \u201cempath\u201d comes comedically from Anne\u2019s self-obsessed little sister, Mary. At least she\u2019s not supposed to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Even the film\u2019s casting falters. Dakota Johnson is too pretty to play the role of Anne, a woman whose \u201cbloom had vanished early,\u201d according to Austen. On the other hand, its diverse casting allows a devilish Henry Golding to shine as Mr. Elliot. That may be the beginning and the end of the film\u2019s good decisions.<\/p>\n<p>In case you forget what the movie is about, Anne mentions that she has been \u201cpersuaded\u201d out of marrying Wentworth twice in the first ten minutes. Yet, for a film so ostensibly concerned about hyping up its persuasion theme, it does very little to explore it further.<\/p>\n<p>In the book, Anne concludes in the end that she was given bad advice, but she was right to take it, as it came from a parental figure. \u201c\u2026[I]f I mistake not,\u201d she says, \u201ca strong sense of duty is no bad part of a woman\u2019s portion.\u201d We readers are left to decide whether Anne is right or whether she\u2019s using duty to justify eight years of heartbreak. In the film, we are left with the final lines: \u201cIt\u2019s okay to find love on your terms, however unorthodox. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you how to live or who to love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersuasion,\u201d the film, clearly isn\u2019t trying to be a faithful adaptation to Austen\u2019s novel, and for that it can have some leeway. Though, why would filmmakers attempt to update a classic, if their spin on the novel would only serve to dumb it down? I think the viewing public can handle listening to Austen\u2019s prose, but the filmmakers seem to think otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>In the final shot of the film, the camera pans out on Anne and Wentworth, wrapped in each other\u2019s arms, and Anne winks at the camera as if she\u2019s sharing a secret with the audience. However, since the biggest gem of wisdom we\u2019ve been given from this film has been along<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Readers of Jane Austen know her as a remarkable literary talent whose explorations of the complex relationships between love and duty and family and society have made her just as readable today as she was in the 19th century. According to Netflix, however, she\u2019s a millennial self-help guru who just wants everyone to love themselves. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1575101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1566825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1566825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1566825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1566825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1566825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}