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

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 140396

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
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.)


I agree.  I found the movie to be an excellent adaptation of the 
book, and as faithful and true to the text as any movie could 
realistically be, given the difference in the media and the fact that 
you are adapting an early nineteenth century story for a late 
twentieth century audience.



> 
> 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.
> 

Hmmm.  Emma and Dumbledore?  Certainly Dumbledore spends a LOT of 
time trying to arrange people's lives for them, and I'm not at all 
sure that disaster has been averted.  Like Emma, Dumbly is possessed 
of an unshakeable belief that he understands peoples motivations, 
thoughts, and emotions, as well as a breathtaking hubris with regard 
to his own right to interfere in other people's lives.  Whether 
ultimate disaster will be averted, we will have to see.


Lupinlore