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*3.5
i think i'll probably never really *get* jane austen, or love her works like many people seem to. i can appreciate her carefully crafted plots and some of the characters, but at times i still just don't feel with or care for them at all or their decisions seem very unnatural.
i actually really liked emma, contrary to popular opinion, as i gather. especially towards the end, her arc was beautiful (and masterfully done i must say). but thr story was just very boring at times, pages and pages about pigs and the right way to cook them and drafts and picnics and 'attachments' and so on. i think i understood and appreciated the humour a little more this time, especially after watching the film midway through, that certainly helped. but when i think about how much i laughed while reading shakespeare or oscar wilde, it is just not the same.
also there were some things that bothered me (which is natural, seeing that this book was written two hundred years ago). in particular the thing with the sinti and romnja (of course an offensive term was used), as well as the blatant classism, especially when it came to harriet. i was shocked (probably naively so) that austen, who i always understood to be oh so progressive and feminist for her time, just accepted classism and the inferiority of lower classes and the impossibility of them mixing with gentility, especially the very end, when it becomes clear that harriet's father is 'only' a salesman and emma is ashamed that she thought her able to marry even mr elton. resulting from this as well as their shared interest in mr knightley, emma and harriet's friendahip falls apart, which i think is a shame, as i always love to see female friendships overcoming hardship and change. i actually really liked that the film changed that.
i also felt there were just too many characters that were just a little bit too ridiculous (mr woodhouse, miss bates, mr and mrs elton and so on). they seemed a little over the top.
i really liked knightley as a love interest, i loved that he was honest and open with emma and told her when she was mean. however, it is a really creepy thing to say that you fell for your lover when they were 13, especially considering he's like fifteen years older than she is...
overall, it just was too long and dull in places and not too much happened, but i liked emma's arch and it was interesting and funny at times.
i think i'll probably never really *get* jane austen, or love her works like many people seem to. i can appreciate her carefully crafted plots and some of the characters, but at times i still just don't feel with or care for them at all or their decisions seem very unnatural.
i actually really liked emma, contrary to popular opinion, as i gather. especially towards the end, her arc was beautiful (and masterfully done i must say). but thr story was just very boring at times, pages and pages about pigs and the right way to cook them and drafts and picnics and 'attachments' and so on. i think i understood and appreciated the humour a little more this time, especially after watching the film midway through, that certainly helped. but when i think about how much i laughed while reading shakespeare or oscar wilde, it is just not the same.
also there were some things that bothered me (which is natural, seeing that this book was written two hundred years ago). in particular the thing with the sinti and romnja (of course an offensive term was used), as well as the blatant classism, especially when it came to harriet. i was shocked (probably naively so) that austen, who i always understood to be oh so progressive and feminist for her time, just accepted classism and the inferiority of lower classes and the impossibility of them mixing with gentility, especially the very end, when it becomes clear that harriet's father is 'only' a salesman and emma is ashamed that she thought her able to marry even mr elton. resulting from this as well as their shared interest in mr knightley, emma and harriet's friendahip falls apart, which i think is a shame, as i always love to see female friendships overcoming hardship and change. i actually really liked that the film changed that.
i also felt there were just too many characters that were just a little bit too ridiculous (mr woodhouse, miss bates, mr and mrs elton and so on). they seemed a little over the top.
i really liked knightley as a love interest, i loved that he was honest and open with emma and told her when she was mean. however, it is a really creepy thing to say that you fell for your lover when they were 13, especially considering he's like fifteen years older than she is...
overall, it just was too long and dull in places and not too much happened, but i liked emma's arch and it was interesting and funny at times.