Vanity Fair

[JaneJeffer]

I'm finding Rebecca annoying. I haven't read the book so have no idea if she's meant to be.

Dobbin with his leg upon the prow of the boat . We were all guffawing away at this terribly romantic moment.

Quite liked poor of Rawdon sweating away in his sad face tropical bed.

I'm a bit sad it’s finished as dd1 and I enjoyed watching it together but dear oh dear it was such a pale reflection of the source material. Still can’t believe they didn’t do the charades scene last week. Such a great opportunity for amazing costumes completely wasted.

Off to see where I can get my hands on the BBC version now.

Well that was a total waste of time.

At several points in last night's episode I wasn't entirely sure what I was watching, such was the deviation from the book. However that said, I was impressed that they did feature Amelia's awareness that Dobbin has more love for their daughter than for her. Sadly the failed to underscore this by the fact Dobbin realises she never really was the person he perceived her to be.

I agree with the observation that they seems to have taken the dreadful Reese Witherspoon adaption as inspiration. The mise en scene and cinematography was all to rose-tinted and glossy and not raw enough. To me Thackeray's Vanity Fair is grubby and slovenly with a good layer of ground in dirt.
This version was all just a bit fur coat and no knickers. Massive parts of the plot were omitted and ITV's adaption just had too many holes in it. It was very poorly realised. I'm guessing all those who enjoyed it have never seen the BBC adaption or read the book.

Started off liking it, but got more and more disappointed, especially with the last episode when they had to do some awkward cobbling to deal with tying up ends that were out of synch with the changes they'd made!
I'll give them credit for two things though-one I think was missed by Stella above who complained that Dobbin didn''t realise Amelia's shortcomings - he did and told her in no uncertain terms! not exactly true to the text but a dramatic representation of his feelings in the book; the other is the ending where "Thackeray " is astounded that his puppets take over - this nicely channels the references throughout the book that the characters are like toys or puppets from a box - and without going further into the future we get a glimpse of Becky's life insurance plan/scam

Agree Alma, thought that covered it. I liked its artificial quality reminscent of a Pollock's theatre.

Alma, thanks, now you've mentioned it, Dobbin did tell Amelia various things. However, it wasn't at the point of the story I was expecting. Also, Thackeray implies that Dobbin eventually leaves Amelia

I did zone out of what was happening quite a bit as ITV's timeline and plot was different in places to Thackeray's.

I don't think Dobbin would ever have left Amelia, and I don't remember Thackeray implying that? To abandon your wife would have been seen as a very shocking thing to do at the time, and Dobbin was a very upright and moral man.

I think he just comes to realise that Amelia was not quite what he thought, and most of his love is diverted to their little daughter, which is made clear in the adaptation. I think Thackeray states near the end of the book that she's like ivy clinging round an oak (Dobbin) - ie a bit of a parasite. But Dobbin wouldn't have left.

Am I alone in being quite fucked off with Dobbin in his rant. I'm beyond over men being angry with women who just feel friendship for them. Dobbin can love Amelia for years and year and years all he wants. She has fuck all obligation to ever, ever reciprocate that. If he spent years pining after her, that's all on him. He's the fool who wasted his life fantasising about a woman who never so much as hinted that she felt anything more than an affection for him as the friend of her husband. And he's the meddler who did his best to insist George marry her when he very clearly didn't love her, ruining all their lives. He's the meddler who brought Mr Osbourne back into her life to remove her son. Amelia was content enough to live in reduced circumstance raising her son and maybe if he hadn't been supporting her financially, she would have, out of necessity, moved on emotionally at a much earlier stage. He kept her in fucking amber and then lambasted her for staying in the state he had put her in. When she did attempt to move on and remarry he was on the first ship to stop her. He's a hypocritical ass.

I love your rant @trancepants 😂

Ultimately I think she married Dobbin for comfort not love yet was annoyed that he saw through her in the end and no longer loved her as much