Author: Briana "Symmie" Simmons
•12:05 AM
Many of you may know that I absolutely love Jane Austen. I consider myself somewhat of a purist when it comes to Austen stuff as I like her books, I like some of the movies, but so far cannot get into any additional novels or modern day rewrites etc.
So, when I began to hear about Lost in Austen (on the JA Podnovel at
http://japodnovel.mevio.com/) I was curious, even though it is a strange twist on the typical Pride and Prejudice. I watched the entire four episodes yesterday.
On a positive note it was a clever idea and done fairly well. I enjoyed the story and was in suspense at how they were going to make everything end nicely. It was somewhat funny too, which I did not expect too much. The acting was pretty good. I am biased towards my favorite depiction of certain characters but it really was nice to see a fresh perspective. Plus there were a few spins (like Wickham turns out to maybe be good?) that was kind of a fun twist.
I had to really get my head out of the typical Pride and Prejudice and think of this story as a totally new story. And once the purist in me was gone I did enjoy it.
However, there were some flaws to the story line. The most annoying to myself was the main character Amanda Price. She claimed at the beginning of the first episode that she had pretty nearly memorized the entire book. Her actions throughout the rest of the four episodes said otherwise. First of all, she should have remembered that Darcy tries to separate Jane and Bingley to begin with so why would she tell him that they had to get married. Secondly, she is so offended by Darcy's rudeness and yet she should have remembered that he starts off unlikeable. Thirdly, why was she trying to change the story? Lizzy is, after all, more of an observer in most of the happenings, when she does speak she is usually commenting on what she is seeing. Amanda could have just filled that same role by saying the same things Lizzy would have or did say. Finally she is so frustrated with the "repressed feelings" and the fact that nobody says what they mean when wouldn't a true Austen fan who had been reading it since she was 12 not only understand the double meanings in the language of the day but also have gotten some of the culture into her mind?
The next thing that really bothered me was Mr. Darcy. I do not feel this series was true to his character. Though, I can try to understand more here than with the above objections I showed. I believe they were trying to show a more human Darcy, but I felt that some of his actions were not noble and the true Mr. Darcy was much more noble. Part of his charm for women throughout time has been his honor and noble type character and this Darcy loses quite a bit of that in the way he is depicted in his friendship with Bingley and his relationship to his sister. He is shown more as a manipulator and someone that cannot be reasoned with. Bingley, who is shown much more sniveling and wimpy in this version, is swayed by Darcy's advice alone where in the book it takes Darcy and Bingley's sisters to do the job. Darcy is determined to separate the two where in the book Darcy is simply offering advice which Bingley listens to out of respect and the belief that it is true. Georgianna fears telling her brother the truth and Wickham even says if he knew the truth she would be turned out of the house.
Overall it was entertaining and definitely keeps you in suspense of what will happen next. However, there were a few points that I feel could have been changed to be more true to the original characters. I understand the twists that were there for the sake of the story, but to change how the characters respond to situations...well...then you might as well just give them a different name for they could apply to anyone.
I am not in college anymore and this is not for a grade, so this is just a simple review out of the memories that I have from watching about 3 hours worth of videos yesterday...so forgive me if I do not back up my arguments or if my case is presented poorly.
