Sanditon Creative

Hi there! I loved all of your insight on Sanditon! I watched S2 and I didn’t like it at all. I’ve noticed, on Twitter, a shift. Many of the people who fought for a second season now seem to hate SP and are all about Colbourne. It’s so puzzling to me. Do you have any insight how/why people would flip-flop so fast. I’m baffled. It’s one thing to just move on, but they hate the character…

Hi!

Thank you so much for the message. I’m so happy you like my Sanditon metas. I absolutely loved writing them and had a truly great time in the Sanditon fandom.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I can offer a great deal of insight into Sidney’s dwindling popularity as I haven’t actually watched S2, nor do I have any plans to. Having said that, I do think the fact that Sidney’s arc was never fully resolved and Charlotte and Sidney’s romance was cut short in such a devastating fashion, certainly has part to play.

It doesn’t help that on top of two unresolved storylines, Sanditon is also a Jane Austen adaption, which rightfully comes with certain audience expectations i.e. the heroine and hero meet, fall in love, face an obstacle to being together and then overcome the obstacle to live happily ever after. S1 of Sanditon left Charlotte and Sidney facing a huge obstacle on their road to happily ever after in the form of Tom’s constant ineptitude and continued recklessness (he really is just The Worst). We never get to see them overcome the forces keeping them apart - in short, we got all the build up of two people falling in love and then all the angst, but none of the emotional reward of watching Charlotte and Sidney find their way back to each other. The angst of S1 only works if the audience is rewarded with a happily ever after in S2. Imagine watching Pride and Prejudice and ending the love story between Elizabeth and Darcy at Darcy’s failed marriage proposal? Nobody would be rooting for the rich snob that prevented the marriage of the heroine’s kind hearted sister. It’s hard for an audience to stay invested in a relationship (and in this case, Sidney as well) when they are denied reward of watching the two main characters overcoming the forces keeping them apart.

As for why Charlotte’s new love interest is so popular, all I can say is everyone’s mileage varies. As for my mileage? #TeamSidney til the end.

Thanks for the question!