Watched the new Netflix film "Persuasion" based on Jane Austen's book, which has been thought of as the most sophisticated of all of Austen's works. Where do I begin??? I'm not a Jane Austen purist, and I get trying to blend these period pieces and the contemporary with colorblind casting, but my goodness, this is a bad Bridgerton wannabe, and I wasn't sold on the last season of Bridgerton. They have replaced a lot of Austen's characters with Black people, which in itself, I'm sick of and I'm Black. It makes the assumption that we can't write something that has nothing to do with slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow, segregation and generational trauma, so let's just stick Black folks in a period piece that's completely unbelievable. Yeah, I said it.
There were so many wealthy Black people around the globe, YES, even during this era...I studied history and I'm a history buff, why not showcase them instead of placing Black folks in an established IP where it makes absolutely no sense. Then Dakota Johnson keeps losing her British accent, and they are using the plot device I thoroughly HATE...breaking the 4th wall. That's distracting, coupled with the absolutely bad dialogue...UGH. No one in this thing has any chemistry, plus they made Anne, the lead character in "Persuasion", a drunk. Good grief. I won't go any further because it just premiered, but "Persuasion" is not for Jane Austen purists, and it's not for those of us who can't suspend as much disbelief needed to buy into this poorly written, poorly reasoned, poorly directed and poorly acted bit of period piece schlock.
There were so many wealthy Black people around the globe, YES, even during this era...I studied history and I'm a history buff, why not showcase them instead of placing Black folks in an established IP where it makes absolutely no sense. Then Dakota Johnson keeps losing her British accent, and they are using the plot device I thoroughly HATE...breaking the 4th wall. That's distracting, coupled with the absolutely bad dialogue...UGH. No one in this thing has any chemistry, plus they made Anne, the lead character in "Persuasion", a drunk. Good grief. I won't go any further because it just premiered, but "Persuasion" is not for Jane Austen purists, and it's not for those of us who can't suspend as much disbelief needed to buy into this poorly written, poorly reasoned, poorly directed and poorly acted bit of period piece schlock.