Mr Bingley has real Labrador energy which comes through so clearly in this adaptation. His watching Jane like an infatuated school boy is somehow adorable rather than creepy. He is very clearly Enchanted to meet her.
Jane is modest and doesn’t realise she’s “about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room” as Lizzy puts it. She’s flattered and didn’t expect Mr Bingley to ask her to dance a second time (only two dances were allowed), but Lizzy did. Lizzy has also overheard Bingley praising Jane as “the most beautiful creature”. Even Darcy can’t deny it and calls her, in his cynical way “the only handsome girl in the room.”
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Catherine had never before considered that in losing something you can gain, this is despite all that’s gone on with Isabella. In the General’s absence, they feel freedom, lack of oppression. With Isabella out of the picture Catherine can focus on true friendships, people that care about her rather than using her to assuage their boredom or get access to her brother.
A death can bring people closer, make you appreciate your own life. Loss of a job may mean time to work on other projects, focus on what’s really important or finally get some rest. Perhaps the cliché is true; there’s a silver lining in every cloud if you look for it.
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Catherine is briefly worried Mr Tilney loves someone else (only in the adaptation, not in the book)
In the novel when Catherine sees Miss Tilney with Mr Tilney she “immediately guessed (her) to be his sister” thereby (as Austen disappointedly points out) not having a dramatic moment of “turning a deathlike paleness and falling in a fit on Mrs Allen’s bosom.” Considering what other ideas Catherine has during the course of the novel, it’s a big deal to show so much maturity and sensibleness.
.. it had never entered her head that Mr. Tilney could be married; he had not behaved, he had not talked, like the married men to whom she had been used; he had never mentioned a wife, and he had acknowledged a sister.”
-Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey C8
The lyrics fit so well here, she’s devastated thinking Mr Tilney is in love with someone, then the moment she realises the lady is his sister the night is sparkling again. (I should probably use this song for her meeting Mr Tilney at some point)
Willoughby could not hear of her marriage without a pang… he long thought of Colonel Brandon with envy, and of Marianne with regret…he always retained that decided regard …and made her his secret standard of perfection in woman; and many a rising beauty would be slighted by him in after-days as bearing no comparison with Mrs. Brandon.”
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, C50
Many of us want our exes to still think of us, to regret their behaviour and/or the break up. Marianne has the ultimate revenge; not only is she whole heartedly devoted to her husband (success is the best revenge after all) but Willoughby can’t forget her.
It’s debatable whether it was hard for Willoughby to leave Marianne. Though “he strongly partook of the emotion which over-powered Marianne” in their last individual meeting, it was his choice to leave and not propose as he has intended. He may have been fooling himself thinking that he would propose, he certainly had no issues abandoning Eliza Williams – perhaps his involvement with her, a much younger woman, puts him in the category of groomer with Wickham.
It should be noted that Austen does have a thing about men with the initial “W.” As discussed in a podcast episode she sends two Williams to sea, she doesn’t like either Sir Walter or William Walter Elliot in Persuasion (though Wentworth skirts this trend). Amme asks, quite reasonably, what William hurt her? Someone with the initial W did at some point.
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And then there’s Isabella Thorpe…
She thinks she’s captured Captain Tilney when she dismisses her current fiancé, James Morland. In the 2007 adaptation they show her faith in Tilney was due to them having a physical relationship, a faith which she quickly looses as soon as the deed is done. I like to think the last frame of this video is her thinking of James in regret.
Isabella asks Catherine, her friend and James’ sister, to intervene on her behalf, completely unaware that Catherine already knows she’s jilted James.
I am quite uneasy about your dear brother, not having heard from him since he went to Oxford; and am fearful of some misunderstanding. Your kind offices will set all right: he is the only man I ever did or could love, and I trust you will convince him of it.”
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, C27
It’s likely that Isabella, whether she slept with the Captain or not, will long think about James Morland and what she lost.
In the tradition of Clueless this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma is set in a rich kids high school. In fact Emmet would slide right into Bronson Alcott High; he’s also very like Cher – aware of his privilege, trying to do good, but pretty clueless. The Mr Elton character even responds to Emmet’s attempting to match him with “Harriet” with “as if.”
Earlier in the year I attended a script reading of Em by Sam Brooks, also a queer take on Emma with a main character named Emmet. (Someone please stage this play and invite me, I beg you.) So the name and concept is having it’s time.
I adore (most) Austen adaptations and have a soft spot for those that include diversity, which this has in spades. It’s an upbeat book but doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of sexuality, family, loss and the façade of social media. Once you get past figuring out who each character represents (took me till mid way to recognise Miss Bates) the sense of anticipation is electric; you know what’s coming, but they don’t. Oh, and the delight when you predicted correctly!
Reading about teens having sex is uncomfortable (reading about anyone having sex is uncomfortable for me) but it’s never literally shown and messages of physical and emotional safety are central. The difference in how Gen Z conduct relationships than previous generations is summed up pretty well. “I didn’t profess my undying love for you… I offered you some sex. It’s not a big deal.”
Emmet is a wonderful modernisation of Emma; they share a philosophy of ‘the ends justify the means.’ He congratulates himself on a job well done when he only made one over-worked person pass out.
This is one of the most supremely uncomfortable scenes in any Austen novel (for me, at least). Emma allows her flirting and bad mood to get out of hand to the extent that she insults Miss Bates who, though ridiculous, she should respect.
When I last watched the 2020 adaptation I so clearly heard the lines from Betty, that longing to be forgiven, that hopefulness mixed with despair that you may never be able to make things right.
I’m standing on your doorstep and it’s finally sinking in”
-Taylor Swift, Betty
It is probably the worst thing Emma does in the course of the novel, as Mr Knightley says;
You, …whom she had seen grow up from a period when her notice was an honour, to have you now, in thoughtless spirits, and the pride of the moment, laugh at her, humble her – and before her niece, too – and before others, many of whom (certainly some,) would be entirely guided by your treatment of her.”
-Jane Austen, Emma C43
(You could argue her convincing Harriet to not marry Mr Martin was worse, but Harriet can make her own decisions and here Emma is not only influencing a large group but directly insulting someone.)
It is a painful but necessary scene. Emma begins to consider her behaviour to others, their feelings, and grows because of it. Had this not happened she wouldn’t mature to be an appropriate partner for Mr Knightley.
Technically this isn’t Jane Austen but Bridget Jones is inspired by Pride and Prejudice. Bridget gets drunk to deal with her boyfriend/boss getting engaged to someone else (he’s the Wickham character) and flashes back through their relationship. It’s quite fitting that after this scene she does go on to “try” to get over him and get her life together.
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When we’re fifteen we’re more trusting, we believe in romance.
Miss Darcy was only fifteen when Mr Wickham seduced (groomed) her and persuaded her to elope. Marriages did happen that young but they not frequently. Miss Darcy “retained a strong impression of (Wickham’s) kindness to her as a child,” he was someone she thought she knew. We also need to bear in mind that she’d lost her father 4-5 years earlier, we don’t know how young she was when her mother died. Wickham’s pursuit of Lydia later, singles him out as the kind of man who manipulates young women who don’t know he isn’t to be trusted.
I know I used to be wild That’s ’cause I used to be young”
Miley Cyrus, Used To Be Young
We are wild when we’re young, but we grow. Lydia, often referred to as wild, may be “saved” by Darcy but doesn’t appear to learn from her experience. She is only sixteen at the time of her elopement and in the last chapter of Pride and Prejudice Austen indicates she never grows up.
Lydia was only fifteen (2 months into 16) when Mr Wickham seduced (groomed) her and persuaded her to elope. Lizzy, if not Austen herself, puts the blame at Lydia’s door.
…their elopement had been brought on by the strength of her love rather than by his… his flight was rendered necessary by distress of circumstances… he was not the young man to resist an opportunity of having a companion.”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, C51
These thoughts are Lizzy’s, we are never told the actual circumstances of their elopement. It’s possible Wickham could be revenging himself on Lizzy and/or Darcy by his actions.
I think it’s significant that in the 1995 adaptation Lizzy specifically points out to Wickham that Lydia is only 15, the same age that Miss Darcy was when she suffered a similar fate. She remains that age in the 2005 version, Mrs Bennet says she’s 15, rather than 16 as in the novel.
Today marks 10 years since the first meeting of what would later become the Jane Austen Society of Aotearoa New Zealand. We met at The Wellesley, a historic hotel in Wellington, for high tea to discuss Sense and Sensibility. My mother was there and one of my sisters, someone I knew from high school, an academic who still attends today and two local members of the Australian Society (plus many more). I was the youngest person in the room and continued to be for some time.
In my piece “Austen Nerds Unite” in Cocktails with Miss Austen I discuss the impact Austen has had on my life and how my divorce (11 years ago now) lead to me starting the Society.
Originally we were under the umbrella of the Australia Society, supported by their president, the lovely Susannah Fullerton, I attended their conference in Sydney. The following year we emerged as our own Society.
We had our own personality, distinct from other Societies across the globe. For me, it was important to build a community and make Austen accessible rather than academic or elitist. In 2018 I presented a talk in London about the Society and Austen’s connections to New Zealand. I recall standing in front of a room full of people in a gorgeous old church wondering what a girl from New Zealand with green hair thought she was doing talking to these people alongside academics. In 2019 I gave a similar talk in Hawai’i which started a continuing partnership with their Society. My goal was to speak about Austen each year in a different country and meet other Austenites, but Covid happened (New Zealand went into lockdown on the day I was meant to fly to Melbourne to speak) and I haven’t yet ventured back out.
Covid has changed and expanded the landscape. Branches of JASNA, libraries, universities and other institutions started holding virtual talks and meetings. I could finally connect with people from the comfort of my own home (which as an introvert is very appealing). I still attend meetings with JASNA Hawai’i and Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho, people I’ve never met in person know me!
In 2019 I launched The Amateur Austenite podcast, just like the Society, I had no idea what I was doing and adjusted as I learnt. My voice no longer makes me cringe when I’m editing and I plan whole seasons ahead of time. I started a Ko-Fi to raise funds to produce the podcast and support the Society, as everything has come from my pocket.
Something hadn’t felt quite right for a while so in 2022 we rebranded as The Jane Austen Society of Aotearoa New Zealand, to include our countries te reo name. I found an artist to create a logo of Jane Austen with the head of a Huia, an extinct, easily recognisable, native bird. The female has a long distinctive beak you can see in the logo. This year marks 100 years since the last potential sighting of a Huia. The birds were known for their highly valued black tail feathers with white ends.
I wanted us to have more of an identity and found a perfect quote from Austen for our motto: “The pleasures of friendship, of unreserved conversation, of similarity of taste and opinions.” This is from a letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra on 20 June 1808 (the quote finishes “will make good amends for orange wine”).
I don’t know what the Society will look like in the future. The friends I mentioned in my piece for Cocktails are now gone, new friends replaced them and have since moved on too. But the great thing is there are always more passionate Austenites out there. I’m no longer the youngest person in the room and have (mostly) got over my imposter syndrome that I’m not an academic or in any official way qualified to be running this thing.
In another ten years the world will be a different place, I’ll be 52 and different too. But Austen will always be there, she’s outlived her works and I’ve made plans so this Society can outlive me too.
