There’s a trailer for Netflix’s new Jane Austen adaptation . . . and the internet haaaaates it.
There’s a brand new Jane Austen trailer in town (must be Tuesday). This time, it’s an adaptation of Persuasion, Austen’s final novel, starring Dakota Johnson and slated to appear on Netflix on July 15. Vogue calls it a “stylish, subversive new take on Jane Austen” and EW describes it as “cheekily modern.” And they’re not wrong! Like many Austen adaptations of late, the trailer is punchy and bright and swoony—with Johnson’s Anne Elliot breaking the fourth wall to smile wryly at the audience. Sure, fine. We’ve all seen Emma. Also Fleabag and what have you. The only problem is . . . all that wink and whimsy is assuredly not the vibe of Persuasion. As the Jane Austen fans of the internet were quick to point out.
An Anne Elliot who winks and smirks at the camera? Absolutely not!
— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) June 14, 2022
Persuasion is not Emma. Why have they tried to turn Persuasion into Emma. WHY
— Brandon (@blgtylr) June 14, 2022
I’m actually tearing up because Persuasion has some of the best writing in the English language and this is. Content.
— Brandon (@blgtylr) June 14, 2022
i truly, truly hate the move to do cheeky direct-to-camera address for 19th century adaptations, especially for ones like persuasion that are supposed to be devastatingly sad.
the problem is that direct address has a totally different context now. https://t.co/vJ3tHlQEZR
— Kathryn VanArendonk (@kvanaren) June 14, 2022
This is a famous passage from Persuasion, and Netflix has turned it into,
‘Now, we’re worse than exes. We’re friends’.
Whoever wrote that deserves jail pic.twitter.com/w1wHiSwVBz
— Jennifer (@Jennipeg) June 14, 2022
Re: Persuasion – I LOVE a good anachronistic mashup, but you gotta go BALLS OUT – you can’t be timid. I know it’s just a trailer, but the modernisms in Persuasion remind me less of The Great and more of someone throwing jazz hands where they don’t extend their arms all the way
— Amber Sparks (@ambernoelle) June 14, 2022
Here’s the thing – a lot of Austen is funny, but Persuasion isn’t. It’s sad, wistful and full of regret. If Netflix want a funny regency novel for the Bridgerton treatment, why not go with Northanger Abbey? Or literally ANY Georgette Heyer who has about 7 million unadapted books?
— Ruth Ware (@RuthWareWriter) June 14, 2022
Dakota unfortunately has the face of someone who has seen a cell phone
— hannah ? (@hcohenwriter) June 14, 2022
Oh no the Persuasion remake thinks it can be wittier than Austen. Big mistake. Huge.
— Hillary Kelly (@HillaryKelly) June 14, 2022
Persuasion the novel is achingly sad, a story about a woman with very little kindness in her life who keeps all her pain to herself – not a gorgeous woman engaging in Ferris Bueller style side-eyes and larks. Leave Anne Elliot for us sad plain women who love her, Netflix https://t.co/iuMQlSGC5I
— Katie Conaglen (@KatrinaConaglen) June 14, 2022
Is the novel dead? If so this trailer killed it.
— Maris Kreizman (@mariskreizman) June 14, 2022
Watch the trailer yourself and let us know what you think:
