Persuasão (1817) e a representação contemporânea de Anne Elliot no filme de Carrie Cracknell para o serviço de streaming

Abstract

This research analyzes the transformations of the character Anne Elliot in the contemporary film adaptation of Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) posthumous novel Persuasion (1817), directed by Carrie Cracknell and produced by Netflix in 2022. Considered one of Austen’s most mature characters, Anne Elliot develops within a conflict-driven plot, in which her personal growth reflects the work’s central message. Therefore, we start from the hypothesis that the audiovisual narrative significantly transforms the protagonist’s portrayal compared to Jane Austen’s portrayal of her in the novel. Thus, we begin by analyzing the character’s construction from the literary text through to the film adaptation, considering the adaptation process and the divergences between the literary and filmic texts. Consequently, the research investigates how such modifications engage with the culture of convergence and the narrative complexity of contemporary audiovisual media to demonstrate how cultural transformations influence the recreation of the British author’s literary universe. First, we examine Jane Austen’s literary writing during the English Regency period and the literary construction of Anne Elliot in the book, with an emphasis on the author’s ironic style and the character’s configuration according to the assumptions of literary criticism by Sandra Vasconcelos (2002), Virginia Woolf (2014), and Genilda Azerêdo (2003), among others. Next, we draw on contributions from adaptation theory, film studies, and cultural transformations, incorporating the insights of Linda Hutcheon (2013), Robert Stam (2003), Jason Mittell (2006), and Henry Jenkins (2006) to ground the cross-media shifts involved in the adaptive process. In the construction of the character, we draw on Antônio Candido et al. (1968), and for the audiovisual adaptations of Jane Austen’s works, we turn to Linda Troost (2010) to guide the cinematic analysis. Through a comparative analysis between the novel and the film, it is observed that the adaptation updates the construction of the protagonist, intensifying her emotional expression and reconfiguring her stance, especially toward the viewer. The research seeks to contribute to studies of film adaptation by highlighting how rewriting for streaming entails changes in narrative complexity and in the representation of fictional characters to also promote digital engagement.