31 thoughts on “Confession Time: Why I Love Lost in Austen

  1. Oh man, I loved Lost in Austen! Sure, it is silly and goofy in many instances, but a new Austen adaptation or mini-series comes out every year, and it was fun to watch something that really tackled the text in an original and at times irreverent way. Like you point out, it kept me guessing (and laughing. Laughing SO HARD).

    I actually didn’t mind Amanda’s hair. Yes, it looks stupid. Yes, it would mark her as insane in the 19th century (but if her hair didn’t do it, her constant application of lipgloss and otherworldly vocabulary would anyway…). However, it marks her visually as from another time in a very visceral way, which is what I think they were going for. She stands out from the Bennett sisters in a way she wouldn’t have if they had put her hair up. I think they were doing something similar with the dress you hate. I’m neither a costumer or a dress historian, but the top of that dress *feels* very modern to me while still being believably Regency. If that was a shirt instead of a dress (or a knee-length dress) you could get away with wearing that now. (I swear I ordered something very similar from a Delia’s catalogue once in my youth…). But, you are totally spot on about Mr. Darcy’s terrible wig. I couldn’t figure out why I hated this casting, but I think you’ve solved the mystery.

    Also, I love the fact that Elizabeth gets a pixie. Elizabeth would have a pixie if she lived now.

    Speaking of other not-faithful Austen flicks, I loved The Jane Austen Book Club, though the book was better. It isn’t a period piece, however, so not as rewarding as Lost in Austen.

    1. It makes perfect sense why they wanted to leave Amanda’s hair down to remind us of her modern origins… but I can’t get over how stupid she looks!! And yes, Elizabeth would TOTALLY get a pixie cut. I thought the JA Book Club was very meh…

      1. Oh, she for sure looks stupid. I think this was the “in” style when the movie was made though? I remember having these thick, chunky bangs when I first watched Lost in Austen. Sooo not a good look for me, or anyone other than Zooey Deschanel, but so many of us bought into that style.

    2. I also love that Elizabeth’s hair is largely unremarked-upon by her family, because it actually does look period (if very modish). Well, mostly; I know Regency short hair was usually curly. But she doesn’t seem nearly as out of place as Amanda “Clunky Bangs” Price.

  2. Now I really want to do a Lost In Austen rewatch! I also thought it was good silly fun. (Amanda’s hair bothered me too. I mean, if you’re going to insist on keeping your modern hair at least make sure it’s a good style!).

  3. I was prepared to hate it but I loved it instead. Top marks. And yeah, her hair, but my reason for hating it so much is that was the haircut my mum gave me in the 70s and I’ve been running away from it ever since that!

  4. Yaaaaaaaas! I’m always so worried FF is going to hate things I love. This adaptation plays so fast and loose, but it’s a good AU fanfiction that clearly has a lot of love for the source material.

  5. I loved this adaptation. It was so fun and cheeky but still smart and the casting was great. I thought that this was one of the best Janes of any of them.

  6. I friggin love this series! Amanda got a little too OTT with her modern day idiosyncrasies, but I suppose that just added to the overall humor. And emo Bingley is everything! I so wish they would make another one of these with someone going into another Austen novel. My vote’s on Emma :)

  7. Hmmm, but the Bingleys are great friends of Darcy, so I don’t see Lady C not thinking they’re up to snuff. They wouldnt be titled like her and she’d privately sneer at them… But then she invites Mr Collins to her house, and who the hell is he, socially?

    1. I understood that she invited Mr Collins because she owns his house, she is his patroness AND his boss, and he is a man of the Church (by so, the moral compass of the community), by checking on him, she makes sure he tells the people what she wants. By mr Collins, Lady C controlls her comunity.

  8. What about the singing scene? When Lady Catherine insists that Amanda should perform and she sings Downtown? I personally thought that was the highlight of the series. Like others I hated her hair (and on a side note the actor has annoying underbity, pouty mouth I just don’t like in general) and the sad costuming choices on her. In my opinion Lost in Austen is a nice fanfic/retelling of a classic but in parts they could have got so much more out of it too.

  9. Please don’t be so flippant about self-harm. It’s hard enough to get taken seriously and the needed support without others treating it as an attempt at being fashionable.

    1. Think about all her comments after Elizabeth says “I am a gentleman’s daughter” — who are your connections? You’re a woman without fortune or family etc.!

  10. The Bingley’s wealth *derived* from trade, but the family had accrued enough to become gentry. The family was no longer involved in trade and it sounded like the children (Charles, Caroline, whats-her-face) had been brought up outside of it. They had yet to establish a family seat, but I always got the impression they were at least one generation removed fro actual trade. And you really can’t say with certainty that no one noble would have associated with wealthy tradespeople, you cannot make absolute assertions like that. There was significant social mobility going on at that time (really throughout the 18th century) and people had all kinds of compelling reasons to interact and socialize with others of a techincally different, inferior/superior social position. As the Bingley children appear to have been raised in gentility Lady Catherinevwould have had no problem socializing with them, just so long as the “distinctions of rank were preserved”

    1. Truth. Also, think about Emma’s evolution on the topic of attending the Coles’ ball in Emma. She starts off believing that her status would prevent her from attending, but then her desire to be part of the party wins out after all.

  11. The thing that bothered me most was that for a purported Austen lover Amanda knew very little of actual regency life outside of the plot of P&P. I can live with the hair even if she had showed a little more knowledge.

    1. I know! I felt the same way. Her carriage, her way of talking so much, her trying to control everyone’s life…Although the hair just bothered me the whole time.

  12. Just finished Lost in Austen and had to do a search on ‘why is Amanda’s hair so awful …’ I’m so glad you went off about this! HER HAIR drives me nuts – those juvenile bangs and layers of flat-straight-stiff overprocessed strands. Ugh. It makes no sense that someone in love with P&P who has found herself in that world wouldn’t at least do her hair in an up-do, even if it was a modern version. When they go to the ball and her hair is STILL down flat it just looks ridiculous!

    I thought Eliot C was gorgeous as Darcy. Love that huge jawline and scowl and his broad shoulders. His face lights up when he smiles. His voice is dreamy too. But I was also bugged by HIS HAIR- too fluffy and cottony looking a wig and too many strands down the forehead.

    With all the other beautiful hair in this I just can’t figure out how the two main characters ended up with the worst, most distracting hair!

  13. Watching this for the first time now and really enjoying it. I like all the casting apart from Mr. Collins. As with most adaptations, apart from possibly the Keira Knightly version, they couldn’t resist the temptation of making Mr. Collins too old. I guess it happens because the character in the book SEEMS old. But he’s only supposed to be in his mid 20s. The extra layer of icky is fun, though.

  14. I thought the casting was great (apart from Mr Collins, Mary, Mr. Bennet, and Charlotte) but the plot was just way too crazy. I didn’t even understand it. And the whole Wickham thing??And I just didn’t buy the Amanda/Darcy romance….And I think it would take more for Bingley to become emo….idk. I’m a sucker for JA adaptations, but I kept on cringing/laughing the whole time.

  15. I didn’t like it, mostly because I thought Amanda’s character was simply unbearable. It smacks of the writers trying very hard to craft a “relatable” modern girl who can be a stand-in for the viewer but I don’t find her relatable at all. She’s unusually crass and ignorant, and seems like someone who didn’t actually understand Jane Austen’s work beyond liking the romance and Colin Firth’s wet shirt. It’s very hard to feel any sympathy for her or to get into the spirit of the story when all I can think about is how embarrassing and awful she is (her singing “Downtown” was really face-clawingly dreadful, I was dying of second-hand embarrassment and insulted by the fact that the screenwriters thought we were supposed to find it funny or endearing. It would work if it were intended as cringe comedy á la The Office but none of the other characters reacted to it that way.) The actors were good of course and a lot of the ideas were interesting and inventive, but due to the main character, I feel like this is to P&P what “My Immortal” is to Harry Potter.

    1. I feel much the same way! Really wanted to like it, but I simply found the main character too off-putting.

  16. I love Lost in Austen. Love all the crazy changes. Wickham a good guy was a surprise but nice considering how gorgeous he was. Amanda kissing Bingley? What the hell was she thinking? But her explanation that she likes other girls had me laughing. So many twists and turns just made it a delicious thing to behold.

  17. I find myself wondering, if I were suddenly inserted into P&P would I want Darcy? And the answer is no I would not. He may be perfect for Elizabeth but I’m no Lizzie. Frankly the man I’d most like to spend time with would be Mr. Bennett!

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