I've waited in anticipation of the 2023 Great Expectations (Remake), but halfway thru the 3rd episode, I couldn't take it anymore and pray to God to give these few hours back to me before I die.
Episode 1 was intriguing, esp Olivia Coleman's portrayal of Miss Haversham, but well into it, I got the uncomfortable feeling that I was being sucked into the latest attempt of adding "wokeness" into a classic story by one of the Greatest Writers of all time. What's next, Cinderella as a pygmy from New Guinea who meets a "gay" Frederick the Great?
We all know the story. Young Pip is raised by his domineering and hateful sister and Joe her husband. One day, as he returns from his parent's marsh grave he runs into an escaped convict, Megwig, whom he befriends, then he's introduced to Miss Haversham and her adopted daughter, Estella, and he's off to the races to become a gentleman.
I'm ok with Estella as a black girl, in fact, I thought that it made sense as she's adopted from the seamy side of life, but she's not appealing in the least bit, and trying get us to believe that young Pip is in love with her is a stretch.
Then having Jaggers as an aggressive black kick-ass attorney in brutally racist London at the height of the British Empire, slave trade and all, is laughable. His character would last five minutes before he'd been tarred, feathered, lynched and his carcass fed to dogs.
F-bombs, (yeah, from young Pip's mouth even), flow like water, alone making it inappropriate for family viewing, but to make it doubly sure no one is going watch much of this garbage they throw in sadomasochism, sodomy and toe-cringing violence for good measure.
The only saving grace about this PODS. (D=Dog), is to remind us that "wokeness" ruins everything.
Charlie Dickens must be rolling in this grave.
I’ve seen countless times every single Dickens movie and was excited to see this one. Well, I couldn’t finish even the first episode. I don’t know why I was expecting anything different.
Thank you. Nandini Balial and you have saved me from maybe destroying my TV and my sanity.
The 2023 Great Expectations sounds exactly as I figured it would. Modern & revisionist. 2023 ‘sensibilities’ into 1860 London. Girlie men, manly women and many POC, into a time and a place where there were few.
p
“Matt Berry, given too little screen time as a local fixer...”
I’ll watch Matt Berry chew the scenery in anything. He’s a pretty good musician too.
Thanks for the heads up. I was on the fence about investing time in this, but hearing about race swapping Estella tells me enough.
The old black-and-white version was quite good and followed the novel pretty closely.