Transcript
Speaker: Hey, Stephanie. Hey, Melinda. What if today we didn't have a Pride and Prejudice adaptation and just had a chat about season two of Jane Austen Remixed?
Speaker: That sounds like a great idea. I've got a newborn strapped to my chest. Let's rock and roll.
Speaker: Welcome to Jane Austen Remixed, the podcast where we examine the curious and questioning world of Pride and Prejudice adaptations. I'm Melinda. And I'm Stephanie. And yeah, so there's no title or author or blurb today. We're just going to be answering some questions and discussing season two of the podcast, which can you believe we are at the end of season two and now officially over 12 months into this podcast?
Speaker: I can't believe it. It's crazy. It feels like it's taken such a long time to get here, but also like I blinked in 12 months past. Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker: But also life has lifed in that 12 months. My goodness. Oh, my goodness has lifed. Thank you everyone for your patience. ah You guys have seen a little bit of it, but there's also just a lot of like duck paddling furiously underwater. um yeah yeah Floating serenely on the surface while the legs furiously go underneath. Yep.
Speaker: Just trying to stay afloat. but Exactly. So let's get into it, shall we? We've got some of the questions we did for season one to reflect on and see if anything's changed. And then we've got a few questions for you. Okay. So Stephanie, we'll start with the first question.
Speaker: What are some of the things that you liked about season two's adaptations? gosh it feels like so long since we've done any of them we recorded so many so long ago that we had such a big gap actually really liked that we had a lot of different styles of adaptations this time like I feel a lot of the books were very different to what we had in the first season we had because we had a few classics in the first season but we started I mean we kicked off strong with our first in our run of YA adaptations yeah Yes, I really enjoyed. I thought it was quite fun to see how it was all how it was interpreted in different ways and sort of like that school and college setting.
Speaker: Doing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, of course, was a highlight for me in one way and a low light in another way. Sort of sort of kill my darlings on that one. But yeah I think it was the variety that we had that was so different to the first season.
Speaker: How about you? Yes, agreed. We had a couple of big ones this season. We had a couple of big ones last season as well, and we we have been trying to spread those out so we aren't sort of super front loaded with all of the well-known ones. There was quite a large variety.
Speaker: I agree with you. I also really liked the different takes on the YA novels. And listeners, you wouldn't know this necessarily. we We briefly mentioned it in the Bennett Women episode, I think, but we accidentally did this.
Speaker: It's a little bit difficult sometimes when you're looking at a title of a book and you go, oh, that sounds good. Oh, this one is about Georgiana Darcy and it's set in a high school. Okay. The Cuffing Game, don't really know what that's about.
Speaker: Oh, that'll be fun though. It sounds like it's reality TV and something or other. Oh, The Bennett Women, oh, that'll be different. So they all sounded really different. And we have to chop and change sometimes the adaptations that we're doing depending on life. But what I found curious was that we happened to pick these three, that we didn't realize that they were all YA adaptations. And then to have them all cover a Venn diagram of issues, like they weren't all identical, but they overlapped in certain key ways. Like we mentioned the drug use, how Wickham is used, I think, in a couple of them being non-romantic. Yeah.
Speaker: So it was ah it was a fun coincidence. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I also really loved that we had quite a lot of diversity in this season as well. Yes. With Bride and Prejudice and then the Bennett women and the Cuffing Game as well. It was really nice to see characters of different backgrounds.
Speaker: It adds like a lot of depth and richness to the story, I find. Definitely. Particularly, yeah, just it's a different take, which is always fun. And I think we've both said before that we like adaptations that either take a swing or really stick to their premise. And when something is so diversely different, it forces them to, which is always fun.
Speaker: So yeah. Yeah. So Melinda, flip side of that. Was there anything from this season, from the adaptations that you really didn't enjoy? Well, as well as us having a lot of YA adaptations, we also ended up with, by accident, because you don't know until you actually read a book, a lot of adaptations that fitted into that not actually Austen review level. books that we still enjoyed, but they weren't actually enough or we didn't think they were closely linked enough to Pride and Prejudice to actually warrant a higher rating.
Speaker: Again, purely coincidental, but we had a couple of books where a Pride and Prejudice character was the main character and it wasn't Elizabeth and Darcy. So thinking here about like Accomplished or Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective, where we had those yeah characters still playing a role and still being sort of, although, you know, with the adaptation elements, sort of like their originals.
Speaker: But yeah, they they weren't closely enough linked to the story of Pride Prejudice to actually warrant... i but i I totally agree. I think it's interesting to see how authors have taken Pride and Prejudice almost as the first stepping stone.
Speaker: And i think they rely a lot, and this is not a criticism for most of them, they rely a lot on readers like us having a solid working knowledge of Pride and Prejudice. Yes. to sort of fill in the blanks around things. Also, i'm just going apologise at this point. If you hear any vague snorting, that is my son snoring very gently on my chest.
Speaker: um So, yeah, a lot of them use Pride and Prejudice as that jumping off point. I really enjoyed the two that you did that you just mentioned that highlight those sideline characters and bring them more to the fore and examine their stories because I think – They are really interesting characters and it is really fun to see them fleshed out.
Speaker: Whether or not we agreed with how they were fleshed out is sort of irrelevant because it was a fun exercise anyway. But, yeah, it would be, hopefully it will be nice next season to have a few more that sit in other tiers of the review rather just bombarding you guys week after week with, it's not actually Austin.
Speaker: And of course, it's not something we can plan. We don't know until we actually read the book. Yes, yes. And we do not have enough time to read them that far in advance. Spoiler alert. Exactly.
Speaker: Okay, so next question. Stephanie, what was your favorite episode that you wrote? That I wrote. I'm tossing up between Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Bride and Prejudice. And I think it's possibly going to have to go to pride and Prejudice and Zombies just because I really enjoyed the additional rabbit hole of research that I went down for that episode. Yeah. And boy, was rabbit hole. I learned a lot about, a lot more about things that I sort of had a vague knowledge of, like samurai traditions in Japan and the opium wars in China and things that I sort of had a surface level knowledge of and then got to dig into a lot more for that episode. to really examine what I felt were some missed opportunities in the book and how much more and how much better it could have been developed with a little bit more solid historical research. I think the book really missed a trick.
Speaker: I also really loved rediscovering the movie and actually finding out that it it holds up. It's solid. Yes. At least one of them does. At least one of them held up. I didn't have to ruin the the book and the movie for myself and for you guys.
Speaker: Melinda, what was your favourite one that you wrote? This is tricky. I really enjoyed writing and reading and experiencing a few of these adaptations this season.
Speaker: My runner up is going to be accomplished. The Georgie Darcy story, which is the first one, because i really liked examining Georgiana's character when that got updated. We don't see much from her in the original text and watching her recovery journey or the start of her recovery journey after Wickham, like what does life look like for her after Wickham was really cool. I really liked that. And the YA setting in that was very fun, I thought.
Speaker: but i think And this is slightly cheating because it was two episodes. But I think my favorite, purely from the achievement, was the Lizzie Bennet Diaries writing those two episodes. It has to be.
Speaker: I love that adaptation. i hope none of you want to kick me out. because of the things that I brought up, but it's important to look at things. And I also re-watching that in full was very fun, even though it was a lot of time given what we had. And it's our timeline. Yeah, it was such an achievement. I'm in awe of the amount of content you managed to watch and process and then really intelligently write an episode or two episodes about. Like that was incredible.
Speaker: ah You can't deflect. You can't deflect. I'm trying very hard to. But, yes it was it was good. I really liked revisiting it and all of the things I loved about it.
Speaker: And, yes, pointing out some of the flaws, but I really liked examining it again with a closer lens, which was cool. So, again, Melinda, let's flip that question around. What was your favourite episode to experience?
Speaker: There are a few fun ones for me that you looked after this season because I've realized I have quite a large blind spot for some well-known movies. So i think my favorite Bride and Prejudice just because I had no idea. I still can't believe I missed that.
Speaker: movie. I have no idea how. I even remember seeing the posters around. i don't know how I missed it, but I did. And i have now seen it listeners. I enjoyed it very much. So that was great.
Speaker: But yes, being introduced to that and like, oh, okay, this is really fun was awesome. So, and discovering it was a musical. which that was the best you guys got some of that reaction in the episode but yeah we had to cut some of it because I think it was just Steph screaming me going what do you mean it was just no this was a musical there was a lot of just hysterical shrieking and giggling from the beginning of that that really needed to get cut the thing that I enjoyed about that was they knew when you watch the film texting me your highlights and that message that was just no life without life
Speaker: You told me that was the banger and I was like, there is no way a song called that that is inspired by what Mr. Collins said is the banger. And you were correct. i was correct. It is the banger. It's the banger. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. So Stephanie, same question goes, what was your favorite episode to experience? I feel obligated to say Lizzie Bennet Diaries because you did such an amazing job. Oh, don't feel obligated. no, right because it was such an amazing, it was an amazing pair of episodes that were really well put together and really well analyzed.
Speaker: I think though, just for, for something that I had no awareness of and sort of coming in completely blind, I really enjoyed Caroline Bingley, Private Detective. And it just took all of my strength right now not to say Caroline de Bingley, Pet Detective.
Speaker: Excellent. Because that's how I think of that book in my brain. Yeah, I i loved that episode. I thought it was really interesting. I thought it was really fun. There were some nice twists and turns in the story, which made it super fun to listen to and experience as an episode. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: Okay. Now, Stephanie, the next question is for you. Yes. What happened with the episode that you promised us all at the end of the Shadow of Anubis episode about by Hathor's hand, which is the second part we're guessing the Shadow of Anubis.
Speaker: Yeah, I left you guys in a cliffhanger with that one. It is still coming, i promise. So last time we threw you guys a little mini-sode about the Marvel question. My plan is for that to be a little mini-sode that we'll drop to you guys during the break between these two seasons because I think we're going to have to have a bit more of a sizable break this time just to give ourselves some time to actually read some books and get some content together. So yes, it is coming. You can expect a mini-sode on that one.
Speaker: So, Melinda, there's a specific question for you as well. ah Did you actually wind up reading the epic epic adventures of Lydia Bennet? As you mentioned. did You did. Fantastic. I did.
Speaker: Got the Sparknotes version for us? Oh, no. Trying to write notes on that one was going to be really difficult. Good news is I really enjoyed it.
Speaker: It isn't Pride and Prejudice, obviously, but it continues Lydia's story in a way that I think is really rewarding if you have been with Lydia throughout the diaries and throughout The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet.
Speaker: I suppose the slight content warning is that it does delve into, given what happened in the Lizzie Bennet diaries and everything she experienced with Wickham, it does go through a mental health recovery journey or the start of one. So, you know, she says some unkind things to herself.
Speaker: She gets frustrated when she seemingly relapses. I'm using air quotes with that and basically how to move forward or try to move forward. So i really enjoyed it. I think The two authors who are credited for this book are two writers from the show, one who specifically looked after Lydia's character a lot.
Speaker: So her voice is there loud and clear, and i really enjoyed reading it. But no, I did not take any notes because I've been trying to just read some books for fun rather than take notes. So that's the level we've got, unfortunately. Fine. I guess, I guess we'll just have to take that. It sounds amazing. It sounds really well written and it does sound like a really accurate portrayal of what it's like to recover from coercive control. So that's really good as well, just because they tackled it so brilliantly in the original. It's nice that that carried on and that voice continued to be really strong. I've just given our position on the character of Lydia.
Speaker: I can't believe we now have two pieces of media that where we absolutely stan Lydia. What is happening to us? what What has happened to us? Oh, I separate the two in my head or had done because I thought Lydia was incredible. The portrayal of Lydia in LBD was amazing when I first saw it a few years ago, but she's a very modern adaptation of Lydia, that party girl.
Speaker: You know, i still found original Lydia very annoying, but at least have a bit more empathy for with her now and for both of them really. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Empathy is definitely the word for it.
Speaker: All right, so we've got some fun reader questions. One of the ones that popped up, which I thought was really fascinating, was have we considered looking way back into the past, like the 50s and beforehand, for any historical adaptations of Pride and Prejudice?
Speaker: I mean, we've definitely thought about it. I read a few books before we started the podcast on like the history of adaptations and there were some incredible ones in that.
Speaker: I have still threatened that we need to try and find a copy of the 1940s version and watch it because reading the history of how that was made, ah just feel like we need to go in as blind as possible and then I just need to read that chapter.
Speaker: out to you. Yes. But in terms of actual adaptations, in the way that the podcast speaks about them. I mean, yes, but it's all about availability.
Speaker: i think that's the big thing. little bit of background. I bought Steph a copy of Unmarriageable for, think it was last Christmas. Yes. That book was released in 2017, 2018, 2017. Around there, i didn't look it up before I came to record, but I was really struggling to find a copy to get for Steph. Like it has just disappeared. And given how incredible that adaptation is, it was kind of sad. So book publishing, it's really difficult to find some of those old ones. It would be great. And if you've got any that you know of listeners, please feel free to send us an email and let us know because absolutely that would be great.
Speaker: We've said a few times now that any adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in the culture or the genre that it takes place in has something new to say as it interprets those characters into that context. Reading something from the nineteen fifty s or even the nineteen eighty s and how the dynamics of those characters would be a fascinating character study and piece of history and it would be great.
Speaker: I just don't know if it's doable. Yeah, agreed. There is that one that I have vaguely on the list, and I know they used to have a copy of it at my old local library, and it was the first adaptation i ever read. It was a continuation. It's called Pemberley.
Speaker: Oh, yes, I remember you saying that. And I mean, it's absolutely bonkers. I remember reading at the time and being like, is this woman smoking something funny? Because how on earth did she read Pride and Prejudice and then extrapolate this story as the continuation? So if I can get my hands on that, that would be a great historical one to do given like the context where publishing was at and like what movies were coming out in Hollywood and stuff around the same time because it was very melodramatic.
Speaker: So yeah if I can find a copy of it, we're absolutely to do it.
Speaker: Cool. So our next question, i do enjoy this one. Do you read the books in full and how do you find the time? but Well, I can tell you that sometimes it comes down to the wire on the reading.
Speaker: I do like to try and read them a couple of times and yet it does often involve reading on the train, reading on my lunch breaks at work, reading in every spare minute I have around my children.
Speaker: Yeah, so I guess the short answer is yes, we do read the books in full. We are not the weird people on TikTok who only read the dialogue in the books. Yeah, no. I don't know what that is about. Or the other people who only read like the first and last dialogue. sentence of a paragraph.
Speaker: Or the people who were like, oh, I've read like 200 books this month and it turns out what they've actually done is feed the book into an AI and they've read the AI summary of the book.
Speaker: No, no, no, no, and no. no no So we do read the books in full multiple times and we love it.
Speaker: Yeah. And I can definitely co-sign that. I read every adaptation that I have through once to try and get the broad scope of the direction it's going.
Speaker: And usually when I'm writing my notes, I write that first impressions is normally my review. So I read everything through once. Write that review at the end. I sometimes rate it straight away, but often I'll let myself sit with it for a bit. And then as I go back through and actually write the plot development and stuff, that's when i I read it a second time. I usually only go through twice, but it's a very thorough, closer reading the second time.
Speaker: That is a lot of note-taking. And yeah, the amount of stuff I've written is is insane. Just I'm having to cut like 2000 words out of these analysis, analyses. Yeah.
Speaker: Just to make them fit. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I think my first draft of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, one of the first, i think the first episode was like 10,000 words and I have to get it down to like six and a half So it's just like, so when we say we're cutting detail, that's the detail we're cutting. It's just so much because yeah, otherwise we just end up talking for hours and you know, as fun as that is, it's also just not feasible most of the time.
Speaker: Yeah, it would result in very long episodes or us just cutting loads of material. Also, it just takes so much longer to edit as well. I think that's the other thing that goes into it, the amount of editing time that these take, which I have at least a brief experience of editing before we came into this, but I'm still surprised about how long the edit takes to get an episode up to almost scratch.
Speaker: And we have to let some things through because sometimes the internet connection drops out and you miss a word and it's like, great, well, we can't go back and fix that. Yeah. Or we're super focused and there's suddenly all these weird noises in the background that we haven't noticed when we're recording. The cars. Oh, my God, the cars.
Speaker: The joys of living on like main roads. I've had to learn how to edit sound, like edit an episode, which has been really fun. But I was so slow to begin with because I just had no idea what I was doing. Even now, I've just discovered a whole bunch more shortcuts that do things in the the editing software. And I'm like, what?
Speaker: I could have been doing that along? Yeah. All right. So i guess the next question that makes the most sense after that is, do we think we will ever run out of adaptation?
Speaker: ah I think ever since Steph and I started discussing this podcast idea. So we started, i think we've mentioned this before. We started discussing this back in like October, 2022. So yeah it took us like three years to get this thing off the ground, which yes yes again, life lifed guys.
Speaker: But every time I brought it up to someone, because once we discussed it and we're like, Oh yeah, we should totally do this. I started mentioning it to a few of my friends who like reading and stuff. And then people wider than that and like, Oh yeah, I'm doing this thing for fun. It's a podcast about adaptations of pride and prejudice. And people are like, what the 95 and the 2005. like,
Speaker: No, oh no, the entire sub-genre of the romantic version, the version from Georgiana's perspective and start explaining them. And people were like, surely there's not enough. Oh, my sweet summer child.
Speaker: I know, right? We haven't even delved into like the Kindle Unlimited variations that are out there. There are so many of those. I mean, I don't think we will on purpose, but like of the other ones, we came up with a list of like 40 or 50 before we even started the podcast. Yeah. And that was barely digging. Like we barely tried. Barely digging. Like that was looking up a Goodreads list and saying adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and just scanning through that list.
Speaker: Yeah. And then there's been so many released. since yes we started like Lydia Bennet Witch that came out just before we started that author has written another one since then as well there's the Korean one that you have found i had one advertised to me the other day that was like set in like historical China as well yeah but actually that might have been Sense and Sensibility so don't quote me on that but like there's loads they're coming out all the time Yes, because people love Pride and Prejudice. So not only have we got all of those historical ones, but then you've also got those side ones. So I feel like there are a lot of people who are writing the what if Pride and Prejudice, but from another character's perspective versions, because we know a lot about Elizabeth and Darcy. So let's attack it from a different angle. So that's where we get the Mary Bennett book. That's where we get the other Bennett sister. That's where we get Lydia Bennett, which accomplished. They're writing at it from these different angles and exploring the characters that have those knowledge gaps on Austin's original pages. Because in the original, we've said before, those original characters, other than sort of Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane, maybe the others are kind of just,
Speaker: A bunch of sexy lamps to bring back the pod favorite trope. They are just yes sexy lamps may not be quite right, but they are just tropes. Yeah. How many times can I say that word? They're fillers.
Speaker: Yeah. Lydia is there as the warning in the original. Yes. Was she not looked after well by her family? She didn't have the money and power and status of a family to be saved. Yes. So we know those elements, but there are also just huge blank slates in, well, hang on, what did this character actually go through? yeah, The other one that I found semi-recently, they've just released a second one, is Georgiana Darcy becomes a time-travelling crime solver, which I am just fascinated by and I think we absolutely have to put on the list.
Speaker: That's going on the list immediately. Oh, my God. found it when I was in the bookstore. Love. But it sounds incredible. I think she time travels and, like, lands in the filming of, like, an adaptation.
Speaker: So, like, she ends up at a Regency house. So meta. Yeah, I think it's either going to be incredible or terrible, and I'm just not sure which way, and I really don't care. I think I just have to read it. Por qué no los dos?
Speaker: I'm sure we can have it both ways. I'm sure it can be terrible and incredible. I'm very excited. The other thing we haven't really delved into that much... is also the books that are continuations.
Speaker: We do have a few on the list. I mentioned the deranged one from the 80s before, but there's a bunch of others as well. One of our very kind listeners emailed in to remind us that Death Comes to Pemberley is a great one. yeah So, you know, we've got that on the list for season three. I've got one about Mr. Darcy being a vampire lined up for you guys. so And the one where he, like, has a dragon list.
Speaker: Oh my God. Yes. There's just, we there's so many. That's all of a sudden become very important. Like dragon riding is very important. I haven't read any of those books, but you know, culturally dragons are very important right now. we're going to dust that one off.
Speaker: And the one that was about hockey. Oh my God. I know the hockey one. It's going to be hilarious. All my heated rivalry girlies.
Speaker: Are we going to run out of books? Never. Probably not. Never. I think there's probably enough material that even if we wanted to sort of veer out into some even wackier territory than we currently already have, I think there's space.
Speaker: And look, we can even chuck in some special edition episodes for you. I've got Jane Eyre, but it's Jane Slayer. She's a vampire slayer. i won't spoil any of the rest of it, but it gets real weird and real fun.
Speaker: Speaking of new versions of Pride and Prejudice adaptations, we did have one listener question about what do we think about the new Netflix version that is coming out recently announced on the 3rd of December, the TV series.
Speaker: So Stephanie, you can go first. Look, it has potential because Dolly Alderton is a fantastic writer and I have a lot of respect for her as a writer. So I am really interested to see how she approaches the adaptation and where it goes.
Speaker: I will say that I am not hopeful that it's going to be excellent Based on the set photos, don't get me started in the weird wig that they have on Emma Corrin. That is just, i cannot take her seriously. It looks so fake.
Speaker: Every time I look at it, I just wistfully think of the 1995 where it took me about years to realize that. that Jennifer Illy is wearing a wig. I thought that was her hair.
Speaker: Yeah, agreed. then I finally saw her like a behind the scenes one where she's sitting in costume and she's got like a blonde pixie cut and I was just like, what is happening here? What? It's just like my world tilted on its axis when I realised that that was a wig.
Speaker: Again, Emma Corrin appears to be wearing grandmother's curtains in one of the scenes. And it just reminds me that. Doth mother know she weareth your drapes? Yes.
Speaker: Her drapes. Doth mother know you weareth her drapes? Is exactly where my brain went when I saw her in that dress. And I thought to myself, oh, oh no.
Speaker: Plus the scene of her and Jack Loden standing on like a clifftop. And that scene, the only good thing that should be happening in that scene is more than meant to beer and tater tots.
Speaker: Excellent. Yes. Most of my opinions are about the casting at this point because obviously there's not a lot that we can tell. Yeah. So I am really interested to see Jack Loden's version of Mr. Darcy. I know there's been a lot of chatter about what he looks like, but I've seen him in another thing and I really think he can brood. so i am interested.
Speaker: Pretty interested to see his take on Mr Darcy. I guess we'll see. I was very surprised at who they had cast as Mr Bennett. So Rupert Sewell, he's really good looking.
Speaker: And I thought we were going to get a really interesting swing with Mr Bennett. And then I saw this set picture and they've made him look like an ugly old man.
Speaker: So no, yeah we're not getting, we're not, we're not getting hot Mr. Bennett. I am also disappointed. I'm also disappointed that they haven't done, was it I think we shared it on the channel, on the Instagram channel, hot Mrs. Bennett.
Speaker: Oh yeah, maybe. That one, I'll see if I can find it again and we'll link it in the show notes, but that one content creator that's like, all of you are cowards. Everyone talks about how Mrs. Bennett used to be hot and she's not that old in this because she would have started having the girls really young. So all of you are cowards because I want my hot Mrs. Bennett. And I thought with Olivia Colman, we were in with a chance of hot Mrs. Bennett.
Speaker: But no, I mean, she's Olivia Colman, so she's never going to be ugly, but she's not hot, Mrs. Bennett. So fine. Bingley is appropriately attractive.
Speaker: The actress who plays Caroline, Sienna, I cannot remember her surname. She is a theatre actress, so I am very, very much looking forward to seeing her play Caroline because I think she's absolutely going to nail the glare and the disdain. i'm very excited for that one.
Speaker: Kitty as a plus size person I found interesting. I find it interesting because when you think about how most people consider the characters and Mary's always talked about as the ugly sister, it's really interesting that they didn't cast Mary as a plus size character. I'm glad they've done it this way because I think casting Mary as plus size as a shorthand for ugly would be lazy. Yeah. So I think adding the layer of Kitty being the neglected and not talked about sister and having her as the plus size sister, I think that adds a really interesting layer to her characterization and see if it's acknowledged in any way.
Speaker: Okay. So Steph has lots of thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts. My final thought is I think we are in for a God tier Mr. Collins in this adaptation. Oh yeah.
Speaker: Jamie Dimitriou. Don't know if any of our listeners are also Fleabag girlies, but as soon as I saw that they had cast him, i had a visceral flashback to seeing his scenes in Fleabag.
Speaker: And all I thought was, yes, no notes. None whatsoever. i am so excited to have this man make my skin want to crawl off my body. Okay. So yeah, that's my thoughts on the casting.
Speaker: Again, i think unfortunately they have gone for the... everything from the Regency period was drab and brown form of costuming and scene setting, as we have just seen from the Sense and Sensibility adaptation as well. For the love of God, stop pretending that there was no such thing as colour.
Speaker: I blame Jo Wright for this. For goodness sake. Yeah. For goodness sake, they wore colours. Please, please. It's one of, and I haven't watched it, but from the clips I've seen of the other Bennet sister, I was just so relieved to see the characters wearing colour.
Speaker: Something that isn't brown. i mean, why are we doing Sad Beige Babies Regency Romance Edition? Anyway, that's just my opinion.
Speaker: i mean, so I don't really have many thoughts. This is Steph hasn't been sleeping very much and has had a lot of time to think about stuff.
Speaker: So but my thoughts more come down to, i think, the let's call it commentary around the adaptation. Because every time a set photo has been released or something, now that we are sort of obliquely part of Bookstagram or BookTok or whatever, we're not actually on TikTok, guys, so ignore it. But, you know, we're part of that community now.
Speaker: What I find really frustrating is that people immediately go to, oh I'm giving my honest opinion and here is a list of criticisms about everything they've done wrong.
Speaker: And Steph, I apologize if I'm not saying this against you. Oh, stop tweeting me. Thanks. I know it sounds bad. i don't mean it like that though, but I just, I think I remember seeing some reels when this got announced that people were like, finally, something that in the 1995 and 2005 Pride and Prejudice fans can agree on, hating the new version. And I'm like, guys,
Speaker: Nothing's been released. Nothing's been released. We literally know nothing about this. And it just makes me sad that our immediate response to someone's piece of art is to drag it down.
Speaker: So, and again, I'm not saying that's what Steph did to be completely clear at the moment. I am kind of, let's say reserving judgment. I have had similar thoughts to Steph that when I saw the set photos released, so there was a new set with Mr. Bennett and the wider cast released a couple of weeks back. So that'll give you a timeline on when we're recording this. The one thing that I found a little bit disconcerting other than the weird wigs was the photo of Jack. Is it Loden or Loudon?
Speaker: Don't know. Okay. Apologies. Go with whichever one you feel. But Jack Loden has his sleeves rolled up in the photo and it it felt like the...
Speaker: idealized romance novel version of Regency England. Like, oh my goodness, he's showing his forearms. And I'm just like, okay. Now again, it's one frame of one photo from an adaptation that is a TV series. Like can't judge anything by what that's showing.
Speaker: Maybe that's this adaptation's version of the fencing scene that appears for no apparent reason in the 1995 version. And to be fair, Colin Firth does roll his sleeves up and is all like undone. He does. undone so when When he is writing the letter to Elizabeth, when he's writing the letter, it's true he's all like undone. So maybe this is him brooding.
Speaker: But yes the beef that you're having with this picture, which I do agree with you, it it worries me a little, but it's the same beef that I have with Mr. Darcy stroing across the moors half dressed to meet Elizabeth where they're both like in basically in their knickers.
Speaker: underneath their overcoats to declare their love to each other. That's the issue I have with that movie because there's no way he'll be caught dead wandering around the moors in that state of undress. He is a gentleman.
Speaker: Yeah. And also, why are there moors? This is not Wuthering Heights. Thank you. Why is that a little work? So yes, speaking of the 1995 and the 2005 version and comparing them, that's another argument that I find insanely tiresome on Bookstagram. Like have your preference. That's fine. I have my preference. I know Steph has hers.
Speaker: It's the 1995 version. If you like the 2005 version though, that's okay. Like there's no judgment, but this adaptation, it's a TV series. And then from the stills, it looks like it's the treatment of the 2005 version, like Steph said. Yeah.
Speaker: It looks like they've combined or they've tried to combine the two things that are most well known about those versions. That's the vibe that I'm getting anyway from, you know, five stills. Everyone that likes the 1995 version, the criticism of the 2005 version is that it is too fast. It is Pride and Prejudice on fast forward. Everyone's speaking quickly. They have to get through stuff because there is so much plot that trying to put this into a movie is really difficult.
Speaker: That's also why we've never done a 1995 versus 2005 podcast episode because we're just not interested in that. It's boring, but it's also they're just telling the story. It's not adapting it. They're adapting it to another medium, but they're not adapting it to a different setting, which is what we're both more interested in.
Speaker: But it feels like the one thing I love about that 2005 movie is it's a very pretty movie other than the brown costumes. Oh, white the light. The light stunning. It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. So if they've pulled that part of the 2005 movie and put it on a TV series that actually allows space to tell the story in more detail, it could be really cool. So at the moment...
Speaker: Despite that ramble, I am trying to reserve judgment as much as I can. i wasn't sure if I was going to watch it. I probably would have at some point, but we did put up a poll on our Instagram the other week. Yes, we And asked when the photos came out if people wanted to hear us talk about the 2026 adaptation.
Speaker: And the resounding majority of people said yes. They did. It was like 98% to like two or something. Yeah. And I would like to point out here, that I am actually still really excited to watch this version, despite my, my grizzling and Melinda calling me out quite rightly.
Speaker: Hey. No, no, it's fine. I'm really excited to watch it. I think it's going to be fascinating. My main criticism is that they couldn't get it out in 2025. Come on, guys. It all has to end in a five. What's 2026? You missed it by 12 months. Come on, man.
Speaker: Get it together. So yes, sneak peek into whatever our season three looks like. We'll include an episode. I don't know. We have no idea what it looks like at this point. That's a couple of months away.
Speaker: There will be a discussion about the TV series at some point. To your point before Melinda, our interest is how the stories are adapted to different contexts.
Speaker: So we're not going to do an episode per episode because then we would really just be discussing framing and costuming and all that sort of thing. And I feel like we can wrap that up into something really nice and tight for you guys. Just give you like an hour's discussion, picks up all the mate really main interesting points and does it in a short, sharp way.
Speaker: Yep. Agreed. And one last bit on all of that. I saw this really cool reel this week. That was an interview with John Green, who we did mention briefly a couple of episodes ago, and he's a bleak involvement in the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is to say it was his brother, not him.
Speaker: but he's got a new book out and he was talking about his favorite books and why he likes different things and how he goes about reviewing things. And one of the cool things he said, which really stuck with me, was that each book has a different audience and a different purpose or each text or each movie or whatever you happen to be talking about.
Speaker: And you have to really ask when you're reviewing something, does the book set out to achieve what it wanted to achieve? So the mark of success of the 2026 Pride twenty six private Prejudice, the creators have an audience in mind, whether that is just J-knights, whether that is a wider appeal, audience appeal, whatever that happens to be.
Speaker: And they have a specific style and something they're going after. And if both of those things work, work out, then technically it's a success. And I know that's something that I definitely think about. I'd never put it as articulately as John Green did, but I know that's something that I definitely think about when I'm reviewing stuff for the podcast is just because I didn't like something or just because i struggled with certain things doesn't mean that the book is a failure or that the book it's terrible. I just feel like review culture, there's either like this is the best thing in the world or it's the worst thing in the world. It's that binary system where it's one thing or the other and you can't have a nuanced opinion.
Speaker: We've lost nuance. We've lost nuance. It's the thing that we've lost in an internet culture. I agree. Yeah, it's not good. And I will link that reel in the show notes because I found it really fascinating and actually kind of summarized how I look at books for this podcast unintentionally, which is great. So that is kind of the attitude I'm going into the 2026 one with. Do I think it's going to beat the 1995 version?
Speaker: Probably not, but I'm just like Darcy's of the past. We've had Colin Firth, stern, serious Darcy.
Speaker: We've had who we've kind of nicknamed Tumblr Darcy, but it's not really like we've had swoony, emotional, slightly emo Darcy in Matthew McFadden.
Speaker: Sure have. Emo's, yeah, emo's close enough. What are we going to get with Jack Lowden? What version are we going to get with him? Scottish Darcy.
Speaker: Scottish Darcy. He's not Scottish. I tell you what, one thing we should do is try and find that linguist that I read about who, no, sorry, i listened to him on a podcast where he was talking about what actually posh accents from back at the actual Regency time sounded like. And honestly, you guys would be horrified because what we think of as a posh, like sexy accent, a la Colin Firth, is not even close Not even close to what a posh accent would have sounded like.
Speaker: We're talking like the deepest depths of like Yorkshire. I love of you most ardently kind of like just the most deranged accent you've ever heard. Honestly, we should get that guy in and do an interview about what Mr. Darcy would have actually sounded like. Yeah. It's going to change a lot of opinions.
Speaker: We might all be like, oh, really? This is who we like? Oh, that was what I felt like. Oh, dear. yes, those are our thoughts on the 2026 TV series.
Speaker: Basically, we'll see. or we've got so far is casting photos. Like I genuinely thought we'd have a trailer or something and we don't. We've just got the set photos and it's due to come out in like nearly two months. So, and the set photos are driving us all insane. As you just saw from my reactions, it's sending us all to crazy town.
Speaker: So Melinda, final question. What are you most excited for in season three? What have you got coming up? Ooh, well, I don't want to give too much away because quite frankly, the amount of adaptations that actually changed in season two was a little wild.
Speaker: it There were a lot of different ones that were supposed to be in that season that just did not happen because of life and availability and time. A couple of mine changed and then we had different ordering and stuff as well.
Speaker: I think what I'm excited for is just continuing to do this, looking at how stories are structured and how they've written and why they're written the way that they are and sort of interrogating that media literacy piece is something that I have always loved doing. There's a reason I'm an English literature major, guys. i love this stuff and how language is constructed and created and how we communicate and how we tell stories.
Speaker: and what different authors do with each of these characters to show a particular side of them. They changed our minds on Lydia Bennet, guys.
Speaker: We've had a couple of authors now who have actually changed our minds. Who knew? who knew? In terms of what's coming up, one that we will definitely be covering because let's face it, it's the big popular one, will be The Other Bennett Sister.
Speaker: I'm doing that one. I'm like, great. Another series and massive book to read first. i'm I'm taking a little bit of a break before I crack into that one, guys, so it'll be into next season a little bit.
Speaker: And we will see if it changes our mind on Mary Bennett. Teeny tiny spoiler alert. I read The Other Bennett Sister when it came out and didn't like it.
Speaker: so Given how beloved the TV series is, I'm going to reread the book because i should and I want to, but I'm going to be very interested to see why everyone loves this. So, and again, I haven't seen a frame of the TV series. I have kept myself completely blind so I can do this properly. So, you know, that's not a judgment on the TV series. It was just a judgment on the book. So I've got that one coming.
Speaker: I have the historical Korean one that I mentioned last mailbox episode. Finally got a copy of that. So I think that will make an appearance this season.
Speaker: And then the other one that I'm really hoping just lives up to the absurdity of the title. It's so simple. The book is called Pride and Prejudice in Space.
Speaker: That's it. Guys, in space. I mean, I feel like you guys should kind of say it as like pride and prejudice in space.
Speaker: That's what I was thinking as well. In space. just hope it lives up to the, like that title is absurd. it is so simple.
Speaker: And yet hilarious, I really hope, we get a sci-fi P&P. Yes. yes I need it to live up to the cover art because the cover art is beautiful. Oh, it's it's stunning. Oh, I can't wait. Oh, it's beautiful. And very minor spoiler alert, I have actually flicked through it a little bit. There's drawings throughout it.
Speaker: So she's got drawings of solar systems and stuff. And I can't wait. Oh, stop. Oh, it's going to be fun. So that'll be great. I am looking forward to that one. And hey, maybe we'll find another unhinged Christmas version for us to watch or something. Of course, there has to be. There has to be Stephanie, what about you?
Speaker: i just have to say off the bat that I second what you said at the start about like, I love looking into a piece of media and pulling it apart. And to the point that we have lost a lot of nuance in our internet culture, we have also lost a lot of media literacy as a society. So I think yeah doing stuff like this on a personal level to keep myself like sharp and thinking about things in a critical way and thinking about the media that I consume in a critical way is super important, but also keeping it entertaining as well. I think doing this is important.
Speaker: And I'm not trying to like make a grandiose statement about how we're contributing to like saving society or anything like that. It's more of a personal thing. On an adaptation level, there's two that I'm super excited about. As I mentioned before, the author Melinda Taub, who wrote Lydia Bennett, which she has written another one from Mary's point of view.
Speaker: So we're going to get another Redemption of Mary. Can this book change my mind on Mary? The way confessions changed my mind on Lydia Bennett. We shall see. And the other one I'm really looking forward to, which is one that you found for me, Melinda, and gave to me for my birthday, is one that is seemingly the Fast and the Furious, but with carriages.
Speaker: Version of Pride and Prejudice. And I, as a massive, massive fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise, I am so, so excited to see what it it is like.
Speaker: I think it's going to be fantastic. I'm super excited. i just... Guys, it's Fast and Furious, but bright prejudice but they're not driving cars, they're driving carriages. And this is where I go, well, I haven't seen any Fast and Furious movies. so Don't worry, I am not going to make you watch nine films and one side additional film that is ah with some spinoff characters. I'm not going to do that to you, don't worry.
Speaker: Yeah, look, I've seen enough of these movies in just general pop culture. I also have a lot of friends who love these movies. So I feel like I've just, by osmosis, kind of absorbed ah family and coronas. And that's about it. Yeah, a friend of mine and I, ah we're obsessed together. It's our mutual thing. And when she moved first moved into her new house, go like a decade ago, I made her cross-stitch that was a fast and a furious cross-stitch. And it said, i don't have friends, I have family. And I cross-stitched the two cars on it from the original film.
Speaker: Of course you did. Yep. Yep. yeah She still has it on the wall in her lounge room. Perfect. I mean, I also have a fun cross-stitch from you that is a Christmas decoration.
Speaker: Yes. Yes. Which is the Captain America shield with I'm with you till the end of the line, which is what Cap says to Bucky. He says it in Winter Soldier.
Speaker: But the most important one is Cap says it to Bucky as Bucky is in Winter so Soldier mode nearly beating him to death. Yeah. Oh boy. I also made my mum an Avengers one and it's the Iron Man mask and it says I love you 3000.
Speaker: Oh, nice. Yep. That will only hit to people who have seen that movie and that is fine.
Speaker: well That is the end of our questions, guys, which means I think it is an official wrap on season two of Jane Austen Remixed. So thank you for joining us on this journey again. We hope you've had fun with the books and the movies and the web series that we did this season.
Speaker: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Jane Austen Remixed. We love exploring this wonderful corner of the literary world with you. Please share the podcast with your friends, family, literary fans, and other Janeites.
Speaker: And we would love it if you would leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening. This helps us to reach other fans of Pride and Prejudice and build our community. You can also follow us on Instagram at janeaustenremixed. And if you have a question or a suggestion for a book, movie, or something you'd like us to review, drop us a line.
Speaker: You can email us at janeaustenremixed at gmail.com. And we will keep you guys posted on our Instagram and maybe a mini episode in the feed and let you know when we are returning for season three. We're definitely not going far and we're not going anywhere.
Speaker: Agreed. We are not going anywhere. But also, Melinda, for the most important question of the mailbox, how many times did Darcy dive into a lake?
Speaker: I didn't actually do this math before we started and I should have. I was thinking about it because last mailbox episode, we just talked about it generally and we didn't actually have a number and we should have had an exact number. so should have had an exact number.
Speaker: Season three mailbox, guys, we'll do one, two, three. Honestly, though, I feel like a lot of the episodes this season, they didn't dive into a lake. I think most of them were no's. But there was also like these weird stretches where we were like, okay, no one dived into a lake, but he had a wet shirt or another character had a wet shirt or there were abs. I feel like we've kind of... yeah You stretch the definition of what diving into a lake actually means. Yes.
Speaker: Yes. I can conclusively say there was a lake dive in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because it made no sense. Oh, yes, that's right. I don't think there were many others, though. so that's a bit sad.
Speaker: There were a few wet shirts, but that's about it. So on that note, we'll see you when we see you. It won't be too long, but see you next episode.
Speaker: Thank you.
