The Autobiography of Jane Eyre
Dec. 7th, 2013 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI heard about The Autobiography of Jane Eyre a while ago, kept the link, was reminded of its existence by redbrunja this week, was intrigued and watched a batch of episodes last night and a pile more this morning, so I’m up to episode 20. I've had one window open with the Story list and been mainly watching the vids on YouTube.
I have thoughts, which I have tried to synthesise rather than dumping my reactions to each episode, but it still got long.
First, it’s very moreish. It made me realise that I haven’t reread the book since the last film adaptation.
The fact that it explicitly puts itself in a world where the Lizzie Bennet Diaries were the work of one Lizzie Bennet is something I could write a lot about. Initially, it made sense to me, with Bronte coming after Austen, and I liked that Jane took Lizzie as an inspiration to be brave, and understand why the creators took it as an inspiration and admitted it upfront. Not all the comparisons are flattering – I like the things that make it different like the fact that Jane will take the camera out and about (to the moors!) I don’t think it faces all the issues of its metatextuality as well as LBD, but also there’s the budget to consider. We don’t have a Charlotte or media studies to explain the editing. Up to a point, that’s fine, because Jane is mucking about, but she never talks about posting the vids, even the ones where stuff was caught on camera because she accidentally left it on.
Jane doesn’t have a Charlotte or a Jane or a Lydia, which is the point. She had Helen (aww).
My headcanon for the reason why the first vid is sooooo different is that Jane was trying to build herself up to starting a vlog and so she did arty stuff and used the voice over. I loved that it looked like we were going to go outside and the imagery and that Jane’s artistic sensibility was coming through. I love the photography and how she connects to Adele through art, plus the interest in fantasy (the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being her favourite book makes sense for the character and is a nice nod to Georgie ‘Lucy Pevensie’ Henley playing a young Jane once and Jane and Rochester geeking out over GoT makes total sense).
I did find Jane a little more...chirpy than book!Jane, so I’ve liked when it’s been shown as an effort, as overcompensation, and her vulnerabilities come through. I really do like the actress, who at some point, I realised, reminds me of Claire Danes. I am definitely on Jane’s side – I thought having her lose her phone and nearly her nerve in the third episode was brilliant.
Grace Poole...is larger than life, and I thought that casting an Asian-Canadian was hanging on a bit too closely to LBD’s template, but otherwise I can see why they ditched Mrs Fairfax and did the rest of what they did. The more I see of Susanna, the more I like her, and I liked that Jane really tried to make amends to her after being a bit faily. Adele – well, making her Rochester’s daughter and a hothoused crammer makes sense, but is a shift from the book. However, it works in their favour when the poor kid stumbles over all the words, and I really like the actress playing Jane around her.
Rochester? I approve of their not waiting 60 episodes to introduce him, and mostly the slow reveal. In the main, as with LBD, the locked shot only showing body parts or profiles has worked – boots, stubble, hint of a tattoo, rumpled shirt, night clothes... I mean, it’s worked in drawing us into the story and making us realise that we’re not privy to Jane’s thoughts in the way we are in the book. I am not sure whether he’s enigmatic or um, played by a weaker actor, but in ‘Crash’ he could not keep his eyes off her. I like that they stick quite closely to the book in their interactions, even if it makes them intense. There’s a slight danger that Jane is someone slightly different when she’s around him to who she is around other people (less confident around Grace) and on her own/with The Internet, although I know that one of the big draws for her is that she can confidently be herself around Rochester. Except when she is realising he is her boss.
The show isn’t just about the romance, although as I know what the solution of the big mystery is, I’m not that invested (and surely its target audience is fans of the book and LBD) or fussed about the horror riffs (although that moment where we saw a shadow that could have been Bertha OR Jane was brilliant) and finding out about Jane’s past is as powerful as it should be.
It’s not perfect, but there’s something I like a lot in almost every episode, a lot of it coming directly from the source, but some of it inventiveness in how they’ve updated it, and they move the story along in the Q&As. I thought ‘Confession’ was a good exploration of Jane’s character, Helen’s effect on her and what her beliefs were, but it felt weird that it came straight after episode 19 with no explicit mention of what went on at the party. There are a few things like that, and I’m not sure if it’s lack of budget or experience or planning. Also – and this drives me up the wall – there’s empty tea cup acting when they are making such a big deal of Jane, the tea drinker.
Still, I want to know what they’ll do next. Even though I know what happens next.
I have thoughts, which I have tried to synthesise rather than dumping my reactions to each episode, but it still got long.
First, it’s very moreish. It made me realise that I haven’t reread the book since the last film adaptation.
The fact that it explicitly puts itself in a world where the Lizzie Bennet Diaries were the work of one Lizzie Bennet is something I could write a lot about. Initially, it made sense to me, with Bronte coming after Austen, and I liked that Jane took Lizzie as an inspiration to be brave, and understand why the creators took it as an inspiration and admitted it upfront. Not all the comparisons are flattering – I like the things that make it different like the fact that Jane will take the camera out and about (to the moors!) I don’t think it faces all the issues of its metatextuality as well as LBD, but also there’s the budget to consider. We don’t have a Charlotte or media studies to explain the editing. Up to a point, that’s fine, because Jane is mucking about, but she never talks about posting the vids, even the ones where stuff was caught on camera because she accidentally left it on.
Jane doesn’t have a Charlotte or a Jane or a Lydia, which is the point. She had Helen (aww).
My headcanon for the reason why the first vid is sooooo different is that Jane was trying to build herself up to starting a vlog and so she did arty stuff and used the voice over. I loved that it looked like we were going to go outside and the imagery and that Jane’s artistic sensibility was coming through. I love the photography and how she connects to Adele through art, plus the interest in fantasy (the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being her favourite book makes sense for the character and is a nice nod to Georgie ‘Lucy Pevensie’ Henley playing a young Jane once and Jane and Rochester geeking out over GoT makes total sense).
I did find Jane a little more...chirpy than book!Jane, so I’ve liked when it’s been shown as an effort, as overcompensation, and her vulnerabilities come through. I really do like the actress, who at some point, I realised, reminds me of Claire Danes. I am definitely on Jane’s side – I thought having her lose her phone and nearly her nerve in the third episode was brilliant.
Grace Poole...is larger than life, and I thought that casting an Asian-Canadian was hanging on a bit too closely to LBD’s template, but otherwise I can see why they ditched Mrs Fairfax and did the rest of what they did. The more I see of Susanna, the more I like her, and I liked that Jane really tried to make amends to her after being a bit faily. Adele – well, making her Rochester’s daughter and a hothoused crammer makes sense, but is a shift from the book. However, it works in their favour when the poor kid stumbles over all the words, and I really like the actress playing Jane around her.
Rochester? I approve of their not waiting 60 episodes to introduce him, and mostly the slow reveal. In the main, as with LBD, the locked shot only showing body parts or profiles has worked – boots, stubble, hint of a tattoo, rumpled shirt, night clothes... I mean, it’s worked in drawing us into the story and making us realise that we’re not privy to Jane’s thoughts in the way we are in the book. I am not sure whether he’s enigmatic or um, played by a weaker actor, but in ‘Crash’ he could not keep his eyes off her. I like that they stick quite closely to the book in their interactions, even if it makes them intense. There’s a slight danger that Jane is someone slightly different when she’s around him to who she is around other people (less confident around Grace) and on her own/with The Internet, although I know that one of the big draws for her is that she can confidently be herself around Rochester. Except when she is realising he is her boss.
The show isn’t just about the romance, although as I know what the solution of the big mystery is, I’m not that invested (and surely its target audience is fans of the book and LBD) or fussed about the horror riffs (although that moment where we saw a shadow that could have been Bertha OR Jane was brilliant) and finding out about Jane’s past is as powerful as it should be.
It’s not perfect, but there’s something I like a lot in almost every episode, a lot of it coming directly from the source, but some of it inventiveness in how they’ve updated it, and they move the story along in the Q&As. I thought ‘Confession’ was a good exploration of Jane’s character, Helen’s effect on her and what her beliefs were, but it felt weird that it came straight after episode 19 with no explicit mention of what went on at the party. There are a few things like that, and I’m not sure if it’s lack of budget or experience or planning. Also – and this drives me up the wall – there’s empty tea cup acting when they are making such a big deal of Jane, the tea drinker.
Still, I want to know what they’ll do next. Even though I know what happens next.
