As if you had never read it before

Sigh.

Wouldn't it be cool if you didn't already know all of Miss Austen's books by heart? You could read everything like it was the first time you ever read it. 
You wouldn't know that Darcy would come back to Pemberley a day early and by chance meet Elizabeth again. 

Just lovely

You wouldn't know that Mr. Knightley would issue one of the most garbled offers of marriage ever to his lovely friend. It was sweet, but not terribly articulate. But you know, we'll manage. He's just too lovely.

I can listen no longer in silence.

You wouldn't know that Wentworth was still violently in love with Anne after all those years or anything about the hastily penned letter. Is there anything more romantic that that letter? - I think not. 

Just so perfect

You wouldn't know the excitement of Elinor when she realizes that Edward is unmarried. It's so damn happy and heart breaking and wonderful at the same time. Jeez. Miss Austen loves to torture us, but in a romantic satisfyingly way. 

Sometimes it takes a while

You wouldn't know how resolute Fanny Price could be or what a correct judge of character she had. How she believed in her true love for Edmund. How his father came to realize what a wonderful thing he had done and what a exceptional "daughter" he had. What a true joy for them all  

What a hero!

You wouldn't know that Henry Tilney is uniformly charming either. He has to be one of the best of Miss Austen's characters. He's beyond charming and just adorable and, yes, I would love to have a brother like that, especially if I were picking fabric for new gowns. He may sound shallow, but he is not and he falls for the young girl that innocently falls for him first - how can he not. Simple story - love, at almost, first sight. He also has dogs - a good quality in any man. 


Wouldn't it just be something to read them again for the first time, without seeing certain  actors in your head and the parts they played. Or of hearing certain music associated with the films? You would have to create your own image of Mansfield Park or Longbourn or Pemberley as you read what little information you are given about them. 

Mrs. Allen

Jane Bennet - yes, an angel

You would have to decide how etheral was Jane Bennet or Emma Woodhouse or how dour was Lady Catherine and how silly was Mrs. Allen.
Wouldn't it be great? Indeed, it would.
I wish I could do it again. 

Emma - pretty, but ... 

Emma - Masterpiece Theatre conclusion

Emma concluded last night and what do we think? Well, I'll admit that in general it was enjoyable. I'm just such a sap that a happy ending makes me like something a little better no matter what. Everyone wonders how Marianne in Sense and Sensibility marries Colonel Brandon... is she really happy? I wonder the same about Emma - Knightley is handsome and charming and genuine to be sure, but he's a homebody. Doesn't Emma need to go and do ...  somthing? anything? Realizing the honeymoon by the sea is lovely, but Emma needs to go to Bath and London and experience life. Not stay in Highbury and be self important. Obviously, this has to do with the story in and of itself not this latest video edition of it, but still... What would happen if Emma went to London for a season?
Again, I think my feelings for the actors from the first session of Emma 2009 have remained the same. Johnny Lee Miller - superior, very well done - suprisingly so. Tamsin Greig was perfect as Miss Bates - truley a talented performance of a role that EASY to get wrong. Romola Garai - she got better over time, but not an easy role to play because the character is, herself, hard to like. Blake Ritson and Christina Cole - how hard is it to be so snooty and annoying... they did well. Although I like Ritson more when he's a nice guy. Louise Dylan as Harriet - the natural daughter of nobody know who...and a bit too much of a simpleton in this case. Too bad, because Harriet moves the story along, but when she's this inspid, who cares? Laura Pyper as Jane Fairfax - plain Jane in this case and why has no movie given more time to the attempts that Emma finally does make to be a friend to Jane - this version did more than most, but still not enough. Rupert Evans as Frank Churchill - blech - enough said. Jodhi May not my ideal Miss Taylor/Mrs. Weston, but she did well - on the whole. Unfortunately MIA Dan Fredenburgh - we need more of John Knightely -The Voice of Reason.


Well, next week it's Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park or something like that and we'll have to be satisifed with one and a half hours instead of four hours... sigh.

Emma - Masterpiece Theatre

Well part two and part three (inexplicably) were on last night. How great to get two episodes when you're only expecting one. Nifty. That said, since I'll have to watch episode three next week :), this will just be my thoughts about last night's episode. Frank is still only just tolerable -- just. And Mrs. Elton (Christina Cole) is just so smug .. ugh. But that's what she's supposed to be ... base, vulgar, common, nothing to recommend her excepting she as somewhere near ten thousand pounds. That said, the film seems to perfectly match Mr. Elton and his wife. They are a perfect combination of smugness, self satisfaction, and superiority where none exists as I have seen lately. The problem is she's a comic character and this just makes her look mean -- nuance is lost (boo). Mr Knightley's firm character reappears as he denounced the surprise gift to Jane Fairfax and in his calmly telling Mrs. Elton to bugger off (which is really what he should have said...). Still a fan of Tamsin Greig as Miss Bates. She annoying (and that's the point), but somehow is still a feeling creature - even more so than in the book. I wish there had been more of Mr. John Knightley (Dan Fredenburgh) - his character is worth the time -- one of the few people in the book that wasn't afraid by convention or otherwise to say what he thought about things. Laura Pyper is just not pretty enough to be Jane Fairfax -- if she's held up, as implied, as Emma's rival of accomplishment and beauty -- it's just not working for me. Emma 1996 (Paltrow/Northam) with Polly Walker as Jane Fairfax - that worked. This time ... not so much.


We'll see how it ends up (as if we don't already know).

Emma - Masterpiece Classic

I remembered last night that when I was a kid I hated the sound of Masterpiece Theatre coming on - isn't it funny now - it always meant something boring.

Emma (2009) started last night and I'll have to admit, while too much dialogue had been changed and all the actors were a little fast and loose with their formalities and body language - too modern for my taste - it was charming. Not subtle by any measure, which it really should have been, but not bad, all things considering.

I don't like the choice for Frank Churchill - not handsome enough by halfs and not that charming either - perhaps he will get better. I expected that I would not like Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley, but was surprised at how well he handled the role. I have to say, I've changed my mind about him as George Knightley. 

Pluses:

Hartfield  solidly played by Squerryes Court, Kent

Donwell Abbey equally well played by Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey (love love love it)

And the charmingly dirty village of Highbury  played by Chilham, Kent

Jonny Lee Miller - nicely surprising. He has my permission to continue in the role. 

And my most surprising plus ... Tamsin Greig as Miss Bates. Silly, lovely, and sad ... just played perfectly. I can't believe I like her, because I can barely tolerate her otherwise - even in the book.

Minuses:

Mr. Elton - Blake Ritson - he's too obvious. It's like he's making Emma for dummies. See, I have a crush on Emma. meh                       Mr. Woodhouse - Michael Gabmon - too winey. Somehow the combination of his age (not old looking enough) and the over exageration of the I mean really, again are we trying to dumb this down for someone? blech

Frank Churchill - Rupert Evans - no where near cute enough ... so. unfortunate.

Who was this dumbed down for? Certainly not for those of us who like Jane Austen. So much of her dialogue has been removed that it's more like the idea of Emma, but not Emma. This is not my favorite book by Miss Austen. It swaps place with Northanger Abbey and ocasionally even Mansfield Park for bottom of the list, often holding the position the most when I'm actually reading the book, but this is like a shade of Emma, and not the real thing - too bad. Sometimes too much tinkering can produce a weaker product.


Let us hope for better things....


Photos: Jane Austen's World

Emma (cont)

I'm still slogging through Emma. I have figured out another problem I have with her as a character. She's never been anywhere. It's implied that she's been to Bath - maybe implied is too strong, for Mr. Woodhouse went to Bath with receiving any real benefit. Imagine that - either the water does not help (astonish me) or Mr. Woodhouse would still be the needy whiney old guy that his is even if taking the waters did help. Either way, she's not see much of the world outside of Highbury and Hartsfield, so her whole life is based on the fact that there has never been anyone of more consequence than her. Miss Taylor has done nothing to curb this and that's explainable again with the fact that she's a paid governess until Mr. Weston marries her.

I'm just never really going to like her... the story is good, not one of Miss Austen's best, I'll grant you, but give me Anne Elliot any day - hell, even Catherine Morland.

Thank goodness for Georgette Heyer.

Emma

I'm rereading Emma for the millionth time and I still don't like her. I think it's the idea that so many people defer to her but there is no reason that should be excepting that she's rich - and maybe that's Miss Austen's point - money rules everything. It's so very apparent the importance of money in other books - first and foremost Sense and Sensibility sinking from grandeur to virtual poverty (although they could still keep a couple of servants) as the Dashwood sisters do. It's very apparent in Mansfield Park as illustrated by the squalor that Fanny Price comes from and temporarily returns to with the thought of teaching her a lesson. Northanger Abbey, while not strictly about money, is impacted greatly by a misunderstanding about the worth (interesting choice of word) of Catherine Morland. And you could go on...
But back to that deference to Emma - I find it annoying. That said, Emma does say things or at least think things that others of Austen's characters might not admit to - especially as it concernes Mrs. Elton. A more odious creature, I cannot imagine, but Emma and I think the same thing. When Emma thinks that the best that can be said of her is that she is "very pleasant and very elegantly dressed." I couldn't help but think of how that would come out where I live. "Why, she's so sweet" - the southern insult to end all insults.


By the end of the book I will like Emma - she will have learned that she doesn't know everything yet and will have come final to realize who she really is, but until then I'll continue to dislike her. Miss Austen is again correct, she created a character only she could like.