First Impressions: Why All the Austen Haters Are Wrong

Ep 78: Bridgerton Season 3

In our latest episode, friend of the podcast Priya joins us again, this time to talk about Season 3 of Bridgerton! The third season of this runaway Netflix hit features our favorite couple yet, "Polin," made up of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Fingerington, I mean, Featherington! This episode, as you might have guessed, is not suitable for little ears, but we had a lot of fun recording it!! Bust out the Flonase, grab your EpiPen, and get some pearls suitable for clutching, as we talk about this diamond season of the first water!

Ep 77: Hallmark's Loveuary Review with Priya!

Gentle listeners, for those of you who were entranced by Hallmark's Loveuary series this past February, we finally have an episode about it! Friend of the podcast and Hallmark-movie-enjoyer Priya has joined us for a breakdown of the charming Paging Mr. Darcy movie, and high praise of this entrancing version of Sense and Sensibility!

Ep 76:Review of Mansfield Park Radio Drama from BBC Radio 4

Gentle listeners, join us for our review of the delightful radio drama from BBC Radio 4, which features a star-studded cast including Felicity Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Tennant, James Callas and more! Adapted by Clara Glynn, this lovely radio play contains some surprising new takes on Austen's story and characters.  We certainly see Fanny, Edmund, and Henry in a different light after listening to this production. 

More information about the cast can be found on the BBC's website here. 

Ep 75: Barbie and Jane

Greta Gerwig's 2023 Barbie movie incorporated several seconds of the 1995 Firth/Ehle Pride and Prejudice miniseries, which officially makes this movie part of Austen's extended cinematic universe.  In this podcast we discuss our takeaways from this thought-provoking movie, and ponder the parallels between the evolution of Barbie vs. Jane Austen's own heroines. Some see Austen's characters as regressive today, but does Jane stand still so we can see how far we've come?

Ep 74: Jane Austen Hot Takes with Lexi

Time for some hot and SPICY Austen takes fresh from friend of the podcast Lexi, also known as @fourwhitetrees on X (Twitter), Bluesky, and other social networks! Lexi's funky fresh and sometimes controversial takes cover the mysterious appeal of John Thorpe, Mr. Knightley's questionable tastes, the unworthiness of Wentworth as a partner for Anne, whether Darcy is really the most obviously autistic character in Austen, and much more... like, is Northanger Abbey REALLY satire, or just a modern gothic? Our wide-ranging discussion is fun and surprising - check it out! [WARNING: this episode is DEFINITELY not for little ears! Explicit content included, most of it around or after the 1 hr mark].

Follow Lexi at @fourwhitetrees on X and Bluesky for more hot takes!

Ep 73: Movie Review: Mansfield Park 1999

Gentle listeners, join us as we finally review this 1999 movie adaptation of Mansfield Park, written and directed by Patricia Rozema. We delve into the artistic choices made by the director and weigh in on their merits in a very calm and evenhanded manner until about halfway through when Kristin gets shouty. This movie is undoubtedly an important acheivement in Austen filmmaking. Rozema makes the slavery subtext in the book explicit, challenging the way Austen stories are usually told on screen. She also takes a "prismatic" approach to the book's much-maligned heroine Fanny Price, infusing her with elements of Austen's own life to create a character that is more relatable to modern audiences. The results provide Much To Think About. 

 

Special thanks to Arnie Perlstein for directing us to his useful literature review on his blog, the Sharp Elves Society! Read it here: Jane Austen's Dead Silence: The History of Slavery Subtext in Mansfield Park

Ep 72: Fire Island

Gentle listeners, we're so excited to have Maya and Christian of Manners and Madness join us again, this time for a movie review of Fire Island, one of the finest modern Austen adaptations of our time and an overall fantastic movie.   We discuss the deep dive this movie takes into the characters of Noah (Lizzy), Howie (Jane), and Will (Darcy), and the way the modern story blends with the original. We also talk over the incorporation of themes of power (and reclaiming power), and the parallels with Alice Munro's short story "Powers." This movie is full of thoughtful and smart choices that reveal aspects of Austen's characters, and it also happens to be hilarious. In short, we highly recommend it!

 

You can also find Christian and Maya at @MannersandMadnesspod on Instagram and @MannersMadness on Twitter!

Ep 71: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Featuring The Muppets!

We are overjoyed to bring you a special holiday episode discussing A Christmas Carol, the novel by Charles Dickens, and A Muppet Christmas Carol, the finest adaptation of Dickens' work ever to grace the silver screen. The novel is an absolute delight, and extremely readable - it's a great time for a read (or re-read)! And a sing-along! With a glass raised to toast your health! (Glass raised to toast your health!) and a promise to share the wealth! (Promise to share the wealth), yes every night will end, and every day will start, with a grateful prayer and a thankful heart! For you, our listeners! Happy holidays!

Ep 70: Movie Commentary: Pride and Prejudice 1995, Part 6

Everyone, thank you, we're so excited to finally present the conclusion of our movie commentary series for Pride and Prejudice 1995! Join us as we swoon over this beautiful movie's final chapter, after which all our favorite characters live happily ever after.

By the way, if you are looking for the first installment of this movie commentary series, you'll find it all the way back in our archives - it's episode 26!!! 

Ep 69: Gothic Literature and Northanger Abbey, Featuring the Return of Tash!

Just in time for Halloween, we're back with our guest Natasha Junor (who you may remember from our Clueless episode!) to discuss Gothic literature and the ways it intersects with Austen's world and works. Tash is an Australian academic and Jane Austen scholar who is doing a deep dive into this topic in preparation for a possible dissertation on the subject, and she's stopping by to share her expertise with us! Join us for a fascinating exploration of how Gothic literature was received in Regency-era England, how it allowed women of that era to explore otherwise forbidden topics, and how Austen interpreted the Gothic in her novel Northanger Abbey. 

 

And I promise to finally release Ep 6 of our P&P commentary very soon! I know I said it was coming next! But I lied! -K