David Monaghan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s article \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Emma and the art of Adaptation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d examines the three most recent films based on Jane Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma<\/I>; the ITV\/A&E version directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and written by Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Clueless, and the Miramax version directed by Douglas McGrath. Monaghan has singled out these film versions as the three post-1990 films that, unlike the pre-1990 BBC versions aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unwilling to rethink Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s novels in visual terms,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but are works of art in their own right (197). <\/p>\n
Monaghan first examines the ITV\/A&E mini-series, released in 1996. Monaghan, while criticizing the BBC mini-series for its failure to render Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideas in a cleaver, unique visual manner, praises Lawrence and Davies for their ability to create visual images that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153render the kind of philosophical abstraction \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in this case a Burkeian view of the social contract\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (200). While the mini-series stays true to many of Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot lines and period authenticity was a series concern for the filmmakers, Davies and Lawrence pin-point and highlight what they see as the Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s major themes. By portraying the connection between courtship and dancing in a visual way, Monaghan believes Davies and Lawrence are able to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153persuade the viewer that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6[Emma] has the intelligence and moral capacity to overcome her debilitating \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcblindness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and achieve the kind of maturity that is claimed for her at the end of the film\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (202). Even though they show \u00e2\u20ac\u0153work-worn and discontented villagers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Monaghan stipulates Lawrence and Davies still understand and aim to portray the way Austen was aligned with 19th century England\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gentry. Monaghan then moves into a discussion of the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opening four scenes, focusing on the opening chicken raid scene which features \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a rapidly edited montage of shots taken from a range of distances and angles\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and ends with a close up a sleepy and bemused looking Emma peering out of her bedroom window\u00e2\u20ac\u009d(205). This emphasizes the Woodhouses lack of motion, and helps develop the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visual style communicates what Lawrence and Davies wish to point out as a major theme \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the moribund character of the gentry\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (206). Monaghan points out the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of color to set the mood in its mise-en-scene, coordinating the colors of the character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clothes with the seasons. Monaghan briefly touches on the scene at Box Hill where the characters sit under a tree, seemingly under its shaded and protective branches. However, the characters are separated into two groups by the tree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trunk; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the Eltons stand to the far left of the frame while Emma, Frank, Jane and Harriet are grouped together to the right\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6in what is actually a rather modest metaphor for the multiple conflicts that plague the visit to Box Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (210). <\/p>\n
Monaghan then discusses Clueless, written and directed by Amy Heckerling. He first examines why Auten\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma<\/I> ought to be considered as the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s primary frame work, citing the character overlaps and many similar, yet updated, plot points. Monaghan says of the film, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not is Heckerling correct to label her film a comedy of manners but she shares Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awareness of the possibilities inherent within the genre for a subtle but unobtrusive exploration of important social\/cultural issues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (215). However, Monaghan also names the MTV music video and the high school movie as other genres Heckerling is particularly indebted to. While Monaghan praises Heckerling for the creative way she works with Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma<\/I>, he criticizes her for flaunting the polite codes portrayed in Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s novels. For example, performance, rather than being negative as it is in Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma<\/I>, is a part of daily life in Clueless. For Monaghan, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self-aggrandizing cliques\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6are the only type of collectivity possible in a society dominated by considerations of personal style,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is in direct opposition to the idea of nuances of class in Austen (217). However, in both cases, the reason for class distinction is economic. Monaghan simply does believe in Cher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capability to change by the end of the film, chalking up the idea that she inherited a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good soul\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from her mother to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pure Hollywood fantasy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (219). And yet, with the inclusion of Cher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intervention by the end of the film, it is clear to the view that this is merely a stage in her life, not its conclusion. <\/p>\n
Next, Monaghan looks at Miramax\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma<\/I>, which is praises for its visual style, but claims that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fidelity to even the surface of Emma is by no means always a priority with [director] McGrath\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (220). In contrast to the carefully planned and scene changing of seasons in Emma and the ITV\/A&E versions, seasons are almost entirely missing from this version. Monaghan criticizes McGrath, not for staying from Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s text, but for failing to actively engage with it as well as its insistence to remove Emma from the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153claustrophobic enclosure that helps so much in Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s novel\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6to explain her irresponsible behavior\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (222). Monaghan also criticizes McGrath for the inconsistency of his tone, often turning broadly comic, and for permeating the film with the feeling that what the view is watching is a fairy tale, not an example of reality. Monagahn posits that Clueless was, in addition to Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s novel, used heavily as a source text for the film. <\/p>\n
Monaghan concludes his article by stating that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 no single approach to the problem of adapting a written text for the visual medium of film\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (225). He summarizes by saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if the ITV\/A&E Emma<\/I> is the kind of film Austen might have made during her actual lifetime, Clueless<\/I> is, perhaps, the film she would have made has she been alive today\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (225). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Monaghan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s article \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Emma and the art of Adaptation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d examines the three most recent films based on Jane Austen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emma; the ITV\/A&E version directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and written by Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Clueless, and the Miramax version directed by Douglas McGrath. Monaghan has singled out these film versions as the three post-1990 films […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}