PROGRAM SCHEDULE
July 13-14, 2024
A note on time: All listed times are in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Convert to your time zone here.
Links below will default to the direct video or the presenter’s channel, so you might have to scroll to their uploads at the time of programming.
#VIRTUALJANECON2024 YOUTUBE PLAYLIST HERE
Saturday, July 13, 2024 At-A-Glance
2:00 am UTC – Crime in Jane Austen’s England: facts and fictions – Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar (read more)
6:00 am UTC – The Jane Austen Playlist: Music in Jane Austen’s Life and Literature – Laura Klein (read more)
11:00 am UTC – Are you team Sotherton Court or Thornton Lacey Parsonage, and what it says about you – Linguipixie (read more)
12:00 pm UTC – Following In Jane Austen’s Creative Footsteps – Jessica Bull & Felicity George (read more)
1:00 pm UTC – Regency Fashion on a Budget for any skill level – Marisa Zimmerman (read more)
2:00 pm UTC – Why We Should Care about Hallmark’s Jane Austen “Loveuary” Movies – Misty Krueger (read more)
3:00 pm UTC – The Darcy Movie: Jane Austen Meets Barbie – Elizabeth Gilliland Rands (read more)
4:00 pm UTC – Why We Need to Stop Comparing the 1995 and 2005 Adaptations of Pride & Prejudice – Faith Smith (read more)
5:00 pm UTC – Talking Sense…and Sensibility: Putting Black Heroines in Austen with Vanessa Riley and Nikki Payne – Eden Appiah-Kubi, Nikki Payne, Vanessa Riley (read more)
6:00 pm UTC – Persuasion: The Making of a Musical Adaptation – Amanda Prahl & Anna Marcus-Hecht (read more)
7:00 pm UTC – All the Hallmarks of Romance: Exploring Paging Mr. Darcy on Hallmark Network – Kate Zarrella (read more)
8:00 pm UTC – In Defense of Netflix’s Persuasion – Melanie Hayden (read more)
10:00 pm UTC – Drizzling: The Oddball Regency Hobby of Seam Ripping for Fun and Profit – Lacy Phillips (read more)
11:00 pm UTC – Choose Your Own Jane Austen Adventure – Kim Kalish, Andrea Schwartz (read more)
Sunday, July 14, 2024 At-A-Glance
12:00 am UTC – Attachment Theory in Pride and Prejudice – Kate Emery and Theresa Emery (read more)
11:00 am UTC – Hola, Mademoiselle Austen – Claire Saim & Carmen Romero-Sanchez (read more)
12:00 pm UTC – Chronically Jane: Fairfax and Austen – Lucy Knight (read more)
2:00 pm UTC – Remaking Lydia Bennet’s Bonnet – Rachel E. Pollock (read more)
3:00 pm UTC – This One’s for Depression Barbie: Jane Austen and the 2023 Summer of Girlhood – Rhonda Watts (read more)
4:00 pm UTC – “It is a great while since we have had any star-gazing”: Jane Austen’s Astrological Personality in her Works – Michelle Sanchez (read more)
5:00 pm UTC – Six Inches DEEP: Recreating Costumes from Pride and Prejudice 2005 – Bianca Hernandez-Knight (read more)
6:00 pm UTC – Doctor Who & The Regency – Amanda-Rae Prescott (read more)
7:00 pm UTC – Actually, she invented those tropes – Rachel Amber Bloom (read more)
8:00 pm UTC – “Regency History is Black History”: Exploring the Historical Easter Eggs in the 2024 Adaptation of Sense and Sensibility – Tiffany Cruz (read more)
9:00 pm UTC – Echoes of Austen: The uses of quotations in JAFF – Najia Khaled (read more)
10:00 pm UTC – The Great Fitzwillam Darcy Off – Briana Michelle Meyer (read more)
Saturday July 13, 2024 Program Descriptions
2:00 am UTC – Crime in Jane Austen’s England: facts and fictions – Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar
We explore the realities of how crime was thought about and dealt with in England during the Regency period, and then delve into some Austen-adjacent crime novels. Brought to you by the authors of ‘Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Investigator’, a 2025 novel.
6:00 am UTC – The Jane Austen Playlist: Music in Jane Austen’s Life and Literature – Laura Klein
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an accomplished woman in possession of a good musical skill must be in want of repertoire and an instrument on which to play. And this was no less true for Jane Austen than for the characters she created in her novels. We see this manifestation of accomplishment exemplified throughout her literary output and it is through personal experience and an intimate knowledge of the social and musical world in which Austen lived that gives her mastery of the subject. This lecture recital will examine music in Austen’s life, including works from her personal handwritten music manuscript and a recently discovered collection inscribed with her signature. Furthermore, it will uncover fascinating connections between her music and her best-loved novels. Presentation includes performances of the pieces included in the lecture.
11:00 am UTC – Are you team Sotherton Court or Thornton Lacey Parsonage, and what it says about you – Linguipixie
In last year’s video, I started to tackle the subject of the relationships between estate improvement (or remodelling) and moral characterization in Jane Austen’s work, and more precisely in “Pride and Prejudice”.
In this year’s video, I propose to continue down that road to “Mansfield Park” and take you for a walk in the park(s) with the Bertrams and their close friends to discuss how Jane Austen informs the reader of the characters’ morals through their views on estate remodelling… and vice-versa!
Although it is not necessary to have seen the previous video on the topic to understand this year’s video, don’t hesitate to check it out in advance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0h7eqhhkrc
12:00 pm UTC – Following In Jane Austen’s Creative Footsteps – Jessica Bull & Felicity George
Two authors and dedicated Janeites discuss the struggles Jane Austen overcame in order to write her novels. They share stories of her extraordinary resilience which will inspire you to live your own creative life – whether you’re a writer, historical costumer, Regency dancer, baker, gardener, social media influencer or simply a most ardent admirer of her work.
1:00 pm UTC – Regency Fashion on a Budget for any skill level – Marisa Zimmerman
My panel is for those of any skill level and budget. I will be showcasing some of my favorite, low-cost items to help build a regency ensemble. As well as showing from start to finish how to convert modern items into regency era wardrobe stables. Watch as I convert a women’s blazer from Goodwill into a Spencer Jacket, a regular shirt into a chemisette, a straw hat into a bonnet, and a simple reticule.
2:00 pm UTC – Why We Should Care about Hallmark’s Jane Austen “Loveuary” Movies – Misty Krueger
In this talk I examine Hallmark’s “Loveuary” movies and address why it’s important that we watch these films as testaments to Austen adaptations in current popular culture. This talk will address the four films but particularly the portrayal of Jane Austen in Love and Jane and the way An American in Austen revamps the Lost in Austen series for an American audience.
3:00 pm UTC – The Darcy Movie: Jane Austen Meets Barbie – Elizabeth Gilliland Rands
The popular blockbuster The Barbie Movie (2023) includes a brief reference to the 1995 Pride and Prejudice that can easily be dismissed as a funny, throwaway moment. However, a closer analysis reveals many crossover elements between the plots of The Barbie Movie and Pride and Prejudice, the reception to characters like Ken and Darcy, and the pop culture status of figures like Barbie and Jane Austen herself. This presentation will explore these surprising connections and invite the reader to ask the question – is it Kenough, or Austenough?
4:00 pm UTC – Why We Need to Stop Comparing the 1995 and 2005 Adaptations of Pride & Prejudice – Faith Smith
For almost twenty years, there has been a long-standing debate in the Austen fan community over which Pride and Prejudice adaptation is superior: the 1995 miniseries or the 2005 film. Fans of the miniseries praise its humor and historical accuracy, while lovers of the film admire the romantic atmosphere that underscores the main love story, all while pitting the two versions against each other. This presentation is not about dictating which version you should prefer, but highlighting how their differences give each an artistic merit of its own while bringing one of Jane Austen’s most beloved works to life.
5:00 pm UTC – Talking Sense…and Sensibility: Putting Black Heroines in Austen with Vanessa Riley and Nikki Payne – Eden Appiah-Kubi, Nikki Payne, Vanessa Riley
What do you get when you combine three Black women authors and one of Austen’s most beloved novels? A great time! We’ve got the awesome Nikki Payne, author of Sex, Lies, and Sensibility, Pride and Protest; and the astounding Vanessa Riley, author Queen of Exiles and consultant on Hallmark Channel’s 2024 Sense and Sensibility movie.
Join as we chat love stories, our writing lives, and putting Black women at the center of Sense and Sensibility. This conversation will be moderated by fellow Austen-inspired author Eden Appiah-Kubi (Her Own Happiness, The Bennet Women).
6:00 pm UTC – Persuasion: The Making of a Musical Adaptation – Amanda Prahl & Anna Marcus-Hecht
At the very first VJC, playwright and lyricist Amanda Prahl presented an inside look at the early stages of developing a musical adaptation of “Persuasion.” This year, she’s back to share a first look at the musical itself! With composer Anna Marcus-Hecht, we’ll discuss the creative process, the ins and outs of adapting an iconic novel, and our collaboration. Most importantly, we’ll be sharing the world premiere of several songs from the show, along with insights as to how we developed these musical moments.
7:00 pm UTC – All the Hallmarks of Romance: Exploring Paging Mr. Darcy on Hallmark Network – Kate Zarrella
What happens when a greeting card company masquerading as a TV network decides to adapt Austen? Is it magic, mayhem, or a off brand version of Austenland? Come Along as we review Hallmark’s “Paging Mr. Darcy”.
8:00 pm UTC – In Defense of Netflix’s Persuasion – Melanie Hayden
In the summer of 2022, Netflix dropped into the Jane Austen universe with an original adaptation of Persuasion, directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Dakota Johnson. Austen fandom responded instantly – almost entirely negatively – to this new entry to the Austen canon. Too modern, too much of a rom-com, too silly said hundreds of social media commenters. Austen Facebook groups and discussion forums were brutal: “I wanted to gouge my eyes out,” said one viewer. Another advised that, while modern adaptations of Austen can be done well, this was not it. “Clueless is great, just do that! Not. . .whatever this is.”
Persuasion also uncovered the Austen traditionalist in critical reviewers as well. “Passive-aggressive,” said The New York Times. “Awkward,” said Variety, while Vox laid it all on the line in the title of their review: “The Netflix film is an absolute disaster.” Others objected to Dakota Johnson’s portrayal of Anne, saying that she was “woefully miscast” (The Guardian) and failed to display the “spark of true wit” (Rolling Stone).
Two years on from the melee, is it possible that Austen fandom missed something about Persuasion? This session will look at Persuasion’s place – if it has one – in the Austen canon.
10:00 pm UTC – Drizzling: The Oddball Regency Hobby of Seam Ripping for Fun and Profit – Lacy Phillips
For a brief time during the Regency era, a hobby gained popularity among the upper classes that involved removing the bullion metallic thread of embroidered embellishments from garments and textiles. In this presentation, Lacy will discuss first-hand written accounts of drizzling, show examples of extant historical drizzling kits, and attempt to assemble her own kit from modern materials in order to give a demonstration of drizzling. She’ll discuss the question of how we can derive enjoyment through an act of destruction instead of through an act of creation, and try to discover what, if anything, we can learn from the practice of drizzling and apply to modern-day efforts at creating sustainable practices in the textile industry.
11:00 pm UTC – Choose Your Own Jane Austen Adventure – Kim Kalish, Andrea Schwartz
Follow along as Andrea and Kim apply their screenwriting and improv experience to build a Regency story from scratch! They will create brand new characters, choose settings, and plot a full Jane Austen-style story beat-by-beat in one sitting. Use it as a jumping-off point for your own brainstorming, or just sit back and watch the chaos unfold.
Sunday July 14, 2024 Program Descriptions
12:00 am UTC – Attachment Theory in Pride and Prejudice – Kate Emery and Theresa Emery
Attachment theory provides a psychological explanation for how we form relationships with others through romantic, familial, and platonic bonds. Using attachment theory two mental health professionals will examine the different relationships of the characters in Pride and Prejudice.
We will discuss how different characters show up in their relationships and how attachment theory can be used to explain these bonds. Why are Darcy and Bingley such good friends? Are Collins and Charlotte a good match? Why did Lydia run off with Wickham? How is Darcy similar (and different) when compared to his aunt? These are all questions that can be answered through the lens of attachment theory.
Ultimately, attachment theory explains a lot about why romance novels work – especially Pride and Prejudice. Because it is the growth from insecure attachment to a secure attachment that is at the heart of the love story. Looking at the love story between Elizabeth and Darcy, we will explain the journey to secure attachment and love.
11:00 am UTC – Hola, Mademoiselle Austen – Claire Saim & Carmen Romero-Sanchez
In this video, we will make an exchange between a French Janeite and a Spanish one, Claire and Carmen, talking about the reception of Jane Austen in both languages, as well as the influence of the writer and her works in other cultures that are not English speaking. It will be done from Paris with love.
12:00 pm UTC – Chronically Jane: Fairfax and Austen – Lucy Knight
Jane Fairfax of Austen’s Emma is a somewhat enigmatic figure, who is embroiled in her own need to marry due to being an orphan. At her meeting point in the novel, she is surrounded by Miss and Mrs. Bates- women who rely on caretaking of each other to survive. This presentation serves as a deep dive into the class difficulties of Jane’s background as an orphan, as well as how this serves her social perceptions and female relationships, in particular (including perceptions of health and the reliance of marriage or family for those who are women, lower class, and/or ill). In tandem, Jane Austen’s own experiences of chronic illness will be referenced- as well as how she relied on her sisters and family for support.
Lastly will be a question of discussion: how different are these experiences (caretaking, reliance, illness) in the landscape of today’s society?- with a focus within American concepts of health and economy.
2:00 pm UTC – Remaking Lydia Bennet’s Bonnet – Rachel E. Pollock
I first made a buckram-frame bonnet for the character of Lydia Bennet in a stage adaptation of Pride & Prejudice in 2009. In this video, I remake the bonnet style using a new millinery foundation material, Phifertex. I discuss how the original bonnet was made according to the needs of the stage production and how the remake compares structurally, functionally, and aesthetically.
3:00 pm UTC – This One’s for Depression Barbie: Jane Austen and the 2023 Summer of Girlhood – Rhonda Watts
Last summer was all about the girls. Among the social media discussions around “girl math,” “girl dinner,” and the Renaissance and Eras Tours, there were also several films released that centered the experiences of women and girls, several with a kernel of Austenian influence. This talk will look at three 2023 films–Barbie, The Little Mermaid, and Polite Society–and examine how each of them approaches girlhood and the feminine experience, as well as how their protagonists’ journeys mirror Jane Austen’s explorations of women’s interiority and agency.
4:00 pm UTC – “It is a great while since we have had any star-gazing”: Jane Austen’s Astrological Personality in her Works – Michelle Sanchez
We often wonder whether our personalities are shaped by nature or nurture, but what if, as some people believe, they are shaped by the stars? Join this fun and entertaining exploration of Jane Austen’s birth chart and how her planetary placements may have shone through in her characters throughout her six main novels.
5:00 pm UTC – Six Inches DEEP: Recreating Costumes from Pride and Prejudice 2005 – Bianca Hernandez-Knight
Pride and Prejudice 2005 bewitched Bianca body and soul. So it’s no shock that as we inch closer to the 20th anniversary (time flies) of the gorgeous, dreamy adaptation, it’s biggest fan* takes on recreating some of the iconic looks from the film. What’s the process like for recreating the costumes? How can other find resources to do the same? Why is she so obsessed with this? This program seeks to highlight the research that goes into recreating Regency looks and explain why crying over “historical inaccuracies” is a waste of time.
*citation needed
6:00 pm UTC – Doctor Who & The Regency – Amanda-Rae Prescott
The Doctor and their companions have traveled to the Regency Era on television three different times in Modern Who. The Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts crashed the Frost Fair of 1814 in Thin Ice in Series 10. The Thirteenth Doctor and her Fam Yaz, Ryan and Graham met Lord Byron and a young Mary Shelley in The Haunting of Villa Diodati in Series 12. Most recently the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday travel to the Regency in Rogue. This presentation will touch on how has Doctor Who portrayed the Regency and how that has evolved across each episode and how the series has pushed the needle forward on portraying the experiences of BIPOC and/or queer people experiences in the Regency Era both before and after Bridgerton.
7:00 pm UTC – Actually, she invented those tropes – Rachel Amber Bloom
So many times when I am talking to people about my love of Jane Austen, I hear similar things: Oh, I could see exactly where the story was going because you could tell who was going to end up together. Every time I have to inform these people, Jane Austen often did it first. She invited many of the tropes we know and love in romance today, and I want to explore how her work still affects modern romance.
I will look at modern romantic movies, shows, and books and see how the tropes from all the Jane Austen books have carried on to today. I will look at the rivals/enemies to lovers storyline from Pride and Prejudice, which has carried on to books and movies such as The Hating Game. Or the friends to lovers storyline from Emma has carried on to movies such as When Harry Met Sally and more.
I want to argue that these foundations of tropes that Austen created are important parts of modern media, even if some people I meet do not relize it.
8:00 pm UTC – “Regency History is Black History”: Exploring the Historical Easter Eggs in the 2024 Adaptation of Sense and Sensibility – Tiffany Cruz
Annually a plethora of Jane Austen adaptations premiere from books, to television shows and films, each bringing the celebrated author’s work to life. Some decide to try to recreate the original source material to a tee, while others modernize, tweak or update Austen’s texts and approach—or they decide to create an amalgamation of the two maintaining the original storyline but adding something to differentiate it as a modern adaptation. Writers may choose to set the Regency story in a modern time period, or to use race conscious casting. or use another setting. This paper focuses on a successful and important example of this “third way,” the 2024 Sense & Sensibility released by Hallmark’s Mahogany, a branch of the movie channel aimed at creating storytelling about Black people and their culture while also using Black screenwriters, actors, directors, etc. The film features a predominantly Black cast and tells the story of the novel while also leaving easter eggs throughout that reference different historical moments, paintings, and Black history during the 18th and 19th century in England. In my presentation I will go through these different easter eggs sprinkled throughout the film, detail their historical significance, and discuss how they showcase an overlooked history of England that centers Black narratives. Additionally, I will discuss the significance of bringing this history to life. While also looking at how these adaptations provide a space for BIPOC Austenites and how the film received immense scrutiny online from Austen purists who continue to erase Black history from Regency history by questioning and diminishing the historical significance of individuals with African ancestry.
9:00 pm UTC – Echoes of Austen: The uses of quotations in JAFF – Najia Khaled
Jane Austen fanfiction (JAFF) writers often assimilate and rearrange Austen’s “original” text in their fanfics. These uses may pull out alternate meanings, tones, and connotations of the text, or represent substantial changes to the original work. In this culture, Austen’s language is viewed as always applicable and “correct” (as the target at which pastiche is aiming), and yet always rearrangeable, at any time, by any one. This talk will examine the stakes and rules of, and reader responses to, this textual game played with fic readers—as well as how it coincides and clashes with the Georgian culture of textual excerption and recombination that Austen was herself responding to.
10:00 pm UTC – The Great Fitzwillam Darcy Off – Briana Michelle Meyer
Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire has long been considered the Standard of all literary men. Pride and Prejudice is one of Jane Austen’s most adapted works, and rightfully so. Yet, fans are divided between which Darcy is the Best Darcy. Is it Firth or Macfayden? This year, we’re fixing that.
Ranking all easily accessible adaptions—film, TV, and web series—on a scale of truly Darcy proportions, The Darcy Off will officially give us all a clear ranking of which Darcy is the superior Mr. Darcy. Will it be Wishbone? Will it be Firth? Or will it be someone unexpected? It’s 2024. It’s time to settle this once and for all.
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