This week, the trailer for Dakota Johnson's new film Persuasion was released.
Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis and Henry Golding star in the first trailer for the film adaption of Jane Austen’s ‘PERSUASION’. The film releases on Netflix on July 15.
The film is based on the 1816 Jane Austen novel Persuasion, a classic that has been praised for decades for its depiction of love, second chances, and emotional depth. Austen finished the novel shortly before her death in 1817.
When I watched the 2022 trailer — which shows the film as a cute comedy — I was like, "OMG, this looks really cute and witty."
But people haaaard disagreed with me, criticizing the trailer for making the film look like a comedy with slapstick elements.
persuasion is about love and loss and ageing and responsibility and devotion it’s not a joke it’s serious
@DiscussingFilm The tone shift from the book worries me a little, not sure about 4th wall break (Anne is really introverted so maybe it will be a plus to convey emotions but it seems way too light hearted) Persuasion is more nostlagique, mature... I'll try it but not optimistic.
One viral tweet from writer Brandon Taylor simply read, "Absolutely not."
Absolutely not https://t.co/KdP7cyRLjM
Taylor wrote a pretty interesting thread about his disdain for the trailer. You can read it here.
"Looks like they've removed the most interesting part of Jane [Austen] stories: the social settings of the time, and the women forced to navigate in them," one person wrote.
@DiscussingFilm Looks like they’ve removed the most interesting part of Jane Austin stories: the social settings of the time, and the women forced to navigate in them. This appears to be a modern teen drama with 18th century garb. No thanks.
People especially disliked how a famous passage from the novel was simplified into "Now we're worse than exes. We're friends."
I think writers should write whatever they want, but whoever wrote this needs to be sent to a penal colony for life.
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
In essence, the reaction from Jane Austen fans was essentially this:
Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by the new Persuasion trailer