I watched the newest BBC miniseries Emma just a month and a half ago at college, but my high school friends wanted to see it too so we watched it again last night. (With the accompaniment of tea and scones. You know what's delicious? Adding a little almond extract to chocolate cranberry scones.)
We decided Mr. Elton must be a vampire. He's so pale, but his lips are exceptionally red, and he has this weirdly breathy voice that suggests air whistling past his fangs. There's clearly no other explanation.
Normally I don't rewatch movies at all, let alone so close together, but Emma quite rewards the effort. Mr. Knightly and Emma are delightful, both separately and together. One of the problems of filming Emma is making the age gap between Emma and Mr. Knightly acceptable to modern viewers. This version accomplishes the task by emphasizing Mr. Knightly's puckish side, which lessens the impression that he's a father figure; an older brother, perhaps, but a father figure wouldn't tease her so.
Also, he's so handsome. I think it must be the Regency clothes, though, because he's much less so in photos.
But it's Emma who steals the show. The character could be exasperating - so clever, yet so stupid about people - and at the same time so vain of her understanding of them! - yet she's sympathetic and lovable: her excesses are driven by her exuberance, by a lack of judgment where her affections are engaged
When she does think of others' feelings, she manages them with true grace: see the way she manages her her father, or soothes Mr. Weston's feelings about Frank Churchill's continual failure to come to Highbury. It's just that she's sometimes thoughtless, although slowly growing more thoughtful - learning to sympathize with Miss Bates, for instance.
The scene on Box Hill, where Mr. Knightly takes Emma to task for her unkindness to Miss Bates, is one of my favorites in both book and movie. It shows his high regard for Emma - he clearly thinks that she's above that sort of thing, which is why it makes him mad - and Emma's sensitivity to the reproof shows that, thoughtless though she can be, she deserves that regard.
And it shows that Miss Bates, though she may be the most annoying person in the world, still deserves kindness and respect - because being irritating is not a moral failing, just a social one, and largely beyond her control.
(This is quite tangential, but the most exasperating modern self-help advice I've seen is "Stay away from negative people, because they're vectors of negativity who will infect your life." Because we all deserve to have absolutely frictionless social lives, and the time we spend with other people should be relentlessly upbeat and soul-nourishing, and we, after all, are never going to lose our jobs or fail college or get cancer or fall prey to depression or, or, or; - and need other people to be there for us despite our negativity germs. Needing people is a sign of social failure. What a horrid, selfish, brutal philosophy.)
Anyway! The miniseries is wonderful. I would recommend it to Jane Austen fans especially, but I think people who aren't would also enjoy it very much.
We decided Mr. Elton must be a vampire. He's so pale, but his lips are exceptionally red, and he has this weirdly breathy voice that suggests air whistling past his fangs. There's clearly no other explanation.
Normally I don't rewatch movies at all, let alone so close together, but Emma quite rewards the effort. Mr. Knightly and Emma are delightful, both separately and together. One of the problems of filming Emma is making the age gap between Emma and Mr. Knightly acceptable to modern viewers. This version accomplishes the task by emphasizing Mr. Knightly's puckish side, which lessens the impression that he's a father figure; an older brother, perhaps, but a father figure wouldn't tease her so.
Also, he's so handsome. I think it must be the Regency clothes, though, because he's much less so in photos.
But it's Emma who steals the show. The character could be exasperating - so clever, yet so stupid about people - and at the same time so vain of her understanding of them! - yet she's sympathetic and lovable: her excesses are driven by her exuberance, by a lack of judgment where her affections are engaged
When she does think of others' feelings, she manages them with true grace: see the way she manages her her father, or soothes Mr. Weston's feelings about Frank Churchill's continual failure to come to Highbury. It's just that she's sometimes thoughtless, although slowly growing more thoughtful - learning to sympathize with Miss Bates, for instance.
The scene on Box Hill, where Mr. Knightly takes Emma to task for her unkindness to Miss Bates, is one of my favorites in both book and movie. It shows his high regard for Emma - he clearly thinks that she's above that sort of thing, which is why it makes him mad - and Emma's sensitivity to the reproof shows that, thoughtless though she can be, she deserves that regard.
And it shows that Miss Bates, though she may be the most annoying person in the world, still deserves kindness and respect - because being irritating is not a moral failing, just a social one, and largely beyond her control.
(This is quite tangential, but the most exasperating modern self-help advice I've seen is "Stay away from negative people, because they're vectors of negativity who will infect your life." Because we all deserve to have absolutely frictionless social lives, and the time we spend with other people should be relentlessly upbeat and soul-nourishing, and we, after all, are never going to lose our jobs or fail college or get cancer or fall prey to depression or, or, or; - and need other people to be there for us despite our negativity germs. Needing people is a sign of social failure. What a horrid, selfish, brutal philosophy.)
Anyway! The miniseries is wonderful. I would recommend it to Jane Austen fans especially, but I think people who aren't would also enjoy it very much.