I admit it openly, I loathed Sanditon series one. I thought Andrew Davis, once the darling of costume drama fans thanks to his adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice '95' had turned into a unoriginal, borderline plagiarist once he needed to write an original story to fill in past the beginning chapters that Ms. Austen was able to write before her untimely death. The modern dialogue and overfamiliar manner of the characters, the blatant sexuality (this is Jane Austen FFS) Charlotte Haywood design (admittedly not Andrew Davis's OR Rose Williams fault) the derivation of P&P with Sidney and Charlotte's love story, Charlotte Heywood being 'not like other girls' and doing ahistorical (and worst still, A-Austenian) behaviours such as running off to London at night on her own and walking around dark alleyways (WTAF?) and the lone black female character, surely a wonderful boon for representation, turned into a surly 'angry black girl' trope *sigh*
I made my feelings known, upsetting some fans whose Yum yum I gleefully yucked in mocking everything, including the (non existent to me) chemistry they swore that Sidney and Charlotte had. I made one of the first reviews of the show on two well known public reviewer sites and I was unsurprised when it was cancelled.
Then it was picked up by another network and Producers were smart enough to air it at the same time as mega fantasy Regency hit 'Bridgerton' so when thirsty, middleaged women like myself marathoned Bridgerton in eight hours straight, only stopping to go to the loo or yell at adult child to bring you food, the large gaping Regency era hole that show leaves has to be filled with something and for many of us, that something was Sanditon.
First the bad
So I watched the first episode and although I already knew that Theo James was not returning, whose character Sidney has died in the first scene, I supposed they felt that the only way to move fans away from hoping for Endgame of SidChar, it too is UnAusten-ian. Did Willoughby die for Marianne to move on towards Colonel Brandon? Did Mr. Knightly have to die for Miss Smith to move on towards Robert Martin? Jane Austen teaches us that we can have a crush, we could even be in love, but that first love might NOT be endgame and you can have a happy content new love whilst their living their hopefully miserable married life. The problem with modern romantic tropes is that first love is the (one true) ONLY love and MUST be endgame OR if this person is/has been in love with someone else, that other love is proven to be weak, false or yes, dead.
Two hundred years from the practicality of the Georgians, we have bound ourselves up in a romantic convention that has made for some disheartening expectations of love including the idea that the object of your affection must be yours because you deserve to get what you want regardless of whether it is a good or practical partnership for either one of you. Sidney could just as easily been living on his rich wife's Estate never to be seen again whilst Charlotte finds love with someone maybe a little less Byronic but fills her tank even more, but Andrew Davies is writing in 2022, not 1822 and apparently the only way to stop the passions of modern love is to die. Considering we live in a world of serial monogamy, second and third marriages and polyamory Is "death ends all possibilities of a life together" REALLY the message we want to give here?
I was annoyed to find out that Charlotte still has her hair out though thankfully, when she is working, she is more often seen with her hair up and is now joined by a sister, who also has her hair out often, though it is styled in such a way as to look more period so I am still at a loss as to why Rose Williams hair still looks like it is straight out of a Pre-Raphalite painting, sure they have straightened it a bit (don't think I didn't clock that, I did) but the fact is, her hair SHOULD BE UP and it isn't and it is not cute, it is fookin annoying.
We meet the new characters, including maybe one dashing Redcoat out of a whole Regiment, the rest are all scum, I am wondering whether Andrew is making a statement about men in the Military but goodness, I don't think dear Jane was ever that scathing, anyway they are setting up more derivative storylines picked from Cyrano d' Bergerac, P&P again and do I detect a little bit of Dickens too....?
The Good and Not at all Ugly
One novel and absolutely delightful addition that I have noticed is the wonderful SUGAR boycott instigated by Miss Lambe and her guardians, the Vicar and his sister. As an Afro Caribbean woman, my roots lie in a culture built upon sugar plantations, all of the sweetness that Georgians got to enjoy was thanks to the work done by my ancestors who toiled the field. Seeing boycotts and awareness raised by black people and white allies was absolutely lovely and has redeemed some of the show for me. Plus, I have the biggest crush on Alexander Vlahos
and seeing his messy, eccentric artist (who I suspect is bisexual) try his luck with the inscrutable Miss Lambe is worth gritting my teeth past yet another scene of Charlotte being a 'pick me' girl with her hair out like an 1800s lunatic saving the day with her ability to be daring and adventurous, always at hand to rescue children and grown men from angry horses and bad businessmen from hot air balloon folly.
Well......I didn't say I was totally over S1 entirely. 😉
Lolita as a fashion being reminiscent of the China Dolls of little Edwardian girls is therefore unlike other subcultures like Goth and Vintage, it not at all been sexualised and in my humble opinion, that makes it pretty feminist. 