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6 Excellent Period Dramas To Watch On Netflix

It's never easy deciding what to watch. With a plethora of films available on even a single streaming service and new movies being added every month, even the most dedicated cinephiles among us have difficulty making a choice, never mind making it a good one. To assist our readers with choosing an awesome film, each week I’ll bring you six high-class selections available on Netflix Watch Instant to indulge your insatiable need for streaming options. For this week, let's look at some romantic, comedic, and melodramatic period dramas to get you out of your post-Halloween, horror-induced malaise.

6) Mansfield Park

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Based on Jane Austen’s novel of the same name, Mansfield Park is unique in the world of Austen for its expansion of the novel’s themes.

Fanny Price (Frances O’Connor) is sent to live with her uncle and aunt at Mansfield Park; there, she develops a strong affection for her cousin Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller). Their world is sent into upheaval, however, by the appearance of Henry and Mary Crawford (Alessandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz). Romantic complications of the Austenian variety ensue, but one is assured that everything will turn out all right in the end. Somehow.

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Mansfield Park has been criticized by Austen fans as departing in several major ways from its source material (most clearly the criticism of slavery and plantation culture, from which the family makes their money). But I think that it takes Austen’s themes and expands upon them, allowing in criticism of Austen’s culture without entirely condemning the characters themselves.

In any case, it’s a far more serious story than Pride and Prejudice, and actually quite a bit better for its lack of total dedication to its source.