[HPforGrownups] Emma & the HBP (was Re: Harry Potter and Elizabeth Bennet

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 140344

> Potioncat:
> Have not seen the "Emma" movie, IIRC, the reviews said there was 
> little in common between the book and the movie.

I have to respond to this.  I've read the book "Emma" at least ten
times (knowing the ending does not spoil the re-read, IMO) and have
seen the movie almost as many times.  As movie adaptations go, it's
excellent and pre-stardom Gwyneth Paltrow (it was her star-making
role) is perfect.  (The only clunker is McEwan's hairpiece [he plays
Frank Churchill]; it looks like a small gopher has crawled under his
hat to die.)

And did you notice that in the big scene where Knightley tells off
Emma for her rudeness to Miss Bates - the dialogue is word for
freakin' word out of the book?  No additions; no substitutes.  And it
works perfectly!  It would be worth the price of a trip to England
just to lay flowers on Jane Austen's grave.

Seriously, if you've never read "Emma", "Pride and Prejudice" or
"Northanger Abbey" - do so.  You'll wonder at how you've survived
without them.

> Potioncat:
> The main comparison is that Emma believes she knows why certain
> other characters are behaving in a certain way. We see them through
> Emma's eyes. In the end, we discover many of them had very 
> different reasons 
> for their behavior than Emma and the reader thought. Sound
> familiar? 

Very true.  And I would add that Emma spends a lot of time
manipulating people based on her perceptions of their best interests
- and at the climax is painfully aware of how her mistakes might have
resulted in ruining people's lives.  Disaster is averted very close
to the last possible moment.

Magda


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