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Emma is the second Jane Austen entry in scriptwriter Andrew Davies' impressive
catalogue of literary adaptations, following the more celebrated Pride and
Prejudice (BBC, 1994). Davies' famed ability to accentuate a novel's most
audience-friendly components is complemented by director Diarmuid Lawrence's
snappy pacing.
In many respects a coming-of-age novel like Austen's Northanger Abbey, Emma
shares a particular stylistic flourish with the earlier adaptation of Northanger
Abbey (BBC, 1987). Both feature 'dream sequences' in which the heroine imagines
either herself or another (in Emma's case, often Harriet) with a potential
suitor. These interludes serve to exteriorise the heroines' thoughts, while
revealing their romantically naive natures.
If Davies' Pride and Prejudice was sexed-up Austen, Emma is his political
Austen. Davies accentuates the intricate social hierarchy that permeates all of
Austen's novels, but particularly Emma. At the outset, Emma is a naïve but
romantic snob: she ignores new friend Harriet's illegitimate birth, believing
her to be a gentleman's daughter, but scorns Mr Martin (Harriet's suitor),
because he is a farmer. Much of Austen's novel traces how spoilt and
manipulative Emma Woodhouse learns the compassion and kindness her social
position should engender and becomes worthy of love.
In Davies' adaptation, Emma becomes not only a reformed person, but a
reformed snob. He appends a new ending, which shows Emma welcoming Mr Martin as
Harriet's fiancée and inviting the couple to visit her; this is in direct
contrast to the novel, where her friendship with Harriet fades. Like the
Pygmalion-esque Mr Knightley, Davies is trying to improve Emma by making her
more palatable to a less class-conscious society. Admittedly, the new ending
does successfully complete the journey of social consciousness that Emma has
undergone. However, for viewers familiar with both the novel and the culture of
that time, this updating may be jarring.
Emma is Davies at his playful best. Using one of the novel's core themes -
that appearances can be deceiving - as his inspiration, he repeatedly constructs
comic scenes based around this premise. Thus Harriet and Emma frequently talk at
cross-purposes resulting from having used the pronoun 'he' instead of a name;
Emma mistakenly believes that Mr Elton loves Harriet when he is in fact trying
to propose to her; and there is a scattering of ironic visual comments, such as
the exclaiming over the 'naturalness' of strawberry-picking, as servants place
cushions upon the ground for the ladies to kneel upon.
Louise Watson
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1. Mr Martin (4:40)
