First things first!

A quick note to all whom it may concern:

If you saw my facebook post last month, you'll know that I hated the Jane Austen series on Masterpiece Theater this season. It's campy, corny, the opposite of taste when it comes to good literature and a genre that belongs only to those that can truly appreciate a long-gone innocence that is preserved with such detail in the Austen novels. It takes something sacred and vandalizes it for the sake of an idiotic mass - that is, the general American viewer(s). That is my opinion.

Anyway! They scored a hit with tonight Sense and Sensibility. Why? I will sheepishly admit the obvious: if you saw 1995's S&S with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson, this is pretty much a variant on that film. The same Devonshire coast setting, same Barton Cottage, almost the exact same blocking from scene to scene. More of the novel is introduced than is apparent in the film (for instance, Mrs. Middleton appears here, we see the excursion to Allenham with Willoughby -which provides a little more for the imagination - and Col. Brandon is far less taciturn, dare I say, less saturnine than Alan Rickman's broody Brandon. This one actor looks like Liam Neeson on a good day.).

Most importantly, this is the first new Austen adaptation that is actually split into two whole parts! Persuasion and Mansfield Park were both crammed quickly into a neat 2 hour time span. You can't do that. Not with Masterpiece Theater productions, you can't. They never turn out the same. It's not Hollywood. It's not a summer blockbuster. Treat it like good literature, as MP always does, and that's what you'll get.

The one word I have for this? Respectful. Without respect, not a lot gets done. This applies to life in general, as well as TV adaptations of great literature. ;-)

I will say, however, that while I worship screenwriter Andrew Davies (no, really...I worship the man. If it wasn't for him, I might be a Francophile - ask me and I'll explain), he's going off the deep end, borrowing from other film productions. That's all he's doing. He's sticking with the familiar that all Austenites know because I believe that he's afraid we'll be disappointed otherwise. That's babbling madness, but I'll forgive him.

The crowning moment: Elinor opens up the small book of botanical drawings Edward has given her and we see that he's inscribed: "Your Affectionate Friend, E. Ferrars." That did it for me. The longing on her face is unmistakable.

In other news, I went to the opera today - Don Giovanni. The first opera I've seen in a long while that I actually enjoyed from Opera Carolina. More on this next post, which shall be soon.