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.
Ok technically inspired by Austen – Jane gets the Fanny Price type character allocated to her and she’s not having it, so she takes charge of her own narrative.
Austenland is an adapted screenplay (no controversary unlike Barbie) from the book of the same name by Shannon Hale. Where the movie mocks Austenites, in the novel Jane isn’t even one of their number; her Aunt sends her on holiday. The book is infinitely better (and there’s a sequel) though the movie does have some redeeming features – just look at that cast!
In the book Jane is pushed into her adventure my her Aunt, in the movie she sends herself, but her decision to take control is due to the way she is treated as the “poor” character. So it’s the other characters that make her do it.
If you’d like to discuss Austen with me you can book a “Read With Me” session
..yours is the character of decision and firmness… It is the worst evil of too yielding and indecisive a character, that no influence over it can be depended on… Let those who would be happy be firm… My first wish for all whom I am interested in, is that they should be firm. If Louisa Musgrove would be beautiful and happy in her November of life, she will cherish all her present powers of mind.”
Jane Austen, Persuasion C10
Captain Wentworth is still angry with Anne, so much so that he teaches Louisa to be “obstinate,” with disastrous results. He thinks Anne was too persuadable in ending their engagement but when he describes his ideal woman (“a strong mind, with sweetness of manner”) she is “not out of his thoughts” yet he is unaware that he is describing her.
The reader can trace a direct line from the conversation between Captain Wentworth and Louise in the Hedgerow, his jumping her down stiles to his jumping her down the stairs at Lyme. The visit itself comes about because Louisa “armed with the idea of merit in maintaining her own way” wears down her parents. She’s a young woman, excited at the dashing Captain’s attention, his unthinking words and actions encouraged her to her accident.
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Of course I was going to pick up this book, it’s a phrase very close to my heart. (Have I mentioned my whole “Jane Austen as Life Coach” thing?) Despite the few things I point out that could have been better it was an excellent read and hard to stop thinking about till I finished it. A charming Austen / cosy /chick lit read.
Maddy has the coolest job ever, but like most in Romancelandia not necessarily one you could actually make a living from, she’s an agony aunt in the persona of Jane Austen. After a firing she never investigates (hello employment laws?) she takes an unexpected opportunity to move to the country when she inherits her long-lost-black-sheep-second-cousin’s house. As all small places in books have, quirky characters abound. There’s a Mr Darcy author character, he and his dog end up “lodging” with Maddy.
There’s a romance but all sex is off page, there’s a Wickham character but he doesn’t pack much punch, there’s a mystery but it doesn’t get fully resolved. Why her cousin was ostracised is never explained and his redemption wasn’t much of one either. This could have been explored further. It would have been lovely for her to work out why her cousin chose her to inherit, why he chose never to contact the family (which could have been explained if his reasons for leaving had). Honestly, I assumed he was gay and either he excommunicated himself knowing his parents would disapprove, or they kicked him out.
It’s unfortunate that the cover and even the blurb don’t entirely match the inside of the book, though not an unheard of occurrence in publishing, still disappointing. Equally disappointing is the main character apparently being a journalist but not understanding basic journalistic principles.
Also there were bodies found during a building project? Who cares if they’re ancient! Tell us everything!!
There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person pre-determined to dislike, acknowledge one’s superiority.”
Jane Austen, Lady Susan
Lady Susan is a character we love to hate but you can’t fault her logic. There is pleasure in making those who dislike us admire, respect or at least acknowledge you’re better than them at something. True, not many of us do it quite so intentionally or maliciously as she does.
I have seen this dangerous creature… She is really excessively pretty… I have seldom seen so lovely a woman as Lady Susan. She is delicately fair, with fine grey eyes and dark eyelashes; and from her appearance one would not suppose her more than five and twenty, though she must in fact be ten years older. I was certainly not disposed to admire her, though always hearing she was beautiful; but I cannot help feeling that she possesses an uncommon union of symmetry, brilliancy, and grace. Her address to me was so gentle, frank, and even affectionate, that, if I had not known how much she has always disliked me… and that we had never met before, I should have imagined her an attached friend.
Jane Austen, Lady Susan, Letter 6
Lady Susan runs on the philosophy of keep your friends close and your enemies closer, so long as they’re of use to you. The Vernon’s can currently give her a home so they make that list.
Pippa pointed out that it sounds like Mrs Vernon is discovering her same sex attraction. It’s surprising Amme didn’t also mention it when we discussed Letter 6 especially as she pointed out Catherine’s attraction to Isabella. (Extended versions of Pippa and Amme’s Lady Susan episodes are available on Ko-Fi.) It’s a good point, Mrs Vernon gives a lengthy and detailed description – I even cut a few bits.
Underneath her beauty and charm (daydream) is a callous, manipulative, revengeful centre (nightmare). She’s probably studied her Shakespeare (actually she would make a great Lady Macbeth).
Look Like Th’ Innocent Flower, But Be The Serpent Under ‘T”
Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5
Blank Space is a tongue in cheek response to the media’s portrayal of Taylor Swift as an unstable man eater. Many of the lyrics could be about Lady Susan; she views love as a game, everyone’s heard rumours about her, she’s excellent at appearing to be someone’s ideal and is well aware she’ll leave the men behind her scarred.
If you’d like to discuss Austen with me you can book a Read With Me session
And then there’s Miss Crawford….
Note how often Miss Crawford appears in shades of red in this adaptation. I think it’s only when she turns up thinking Tom is dying that she’s wearing a different colour – black, appropriately.
