Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Hey, Hey! I Finally Blogged About Emma!

What we did over the weekend:
*Went to see Isaac practice with the BYU football team.


*Had dinner at Outback Steak House (meh) and then attended the BYU Alumni Association Traditions Ball. It was so fun! Dancing, entertainment, food, black-tie dress...
*Enjoyed a visit from Kara --my old high school buddy.
*Mopped the floor. Trust me, this one was huge.

What we did over Spring Break:
*Played
*Went to Thanksgiving Point to use our new family pass! Anybody else have one? Let's meet there sometime!
*Lots of shopping for food storage.
*Cleaned the oven (again, this was another huge one)

Doing this week:
*Taxes
*Baking Bread
*Hoeing garden/soil prep.
*Cleaning laundry room (huge! Huge!)
*Visiting Teaching

What I want to do:
*Read the sequel to The Hunger Games
*Buy an estate not quite unlike the one portrayed as Hartfield in the PBS 2010 version of Emma.
*Blog about ten gazillion things

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Speaking of Emma, I was surprised with myself that A. I had not watched Emma on time and B. I have not blogged about it. If you remember last year (two years ago??), I did us all a great service and lent my Jane Austen snobbery to the critiquing of the PBS Jane Austen movies. I shall now do it again.

In short, this version of Emma rocked! I have seen it about 5 times now, and I have to say that it was very well done. My only frustrations:
1. Jane Fairfax came off as pretty whiny and impatient. She wasn't like that in the book --Jane was tired, yes, but in secret. She was reserved and dealt with her pain more privately. I didn't like this version of Jane. It was okay...but not my favorite. My favorite Jane portrayal was done by Olivia Williams in the Kate Beckinsale version. But then again --Olivia Williams is a genius!

I guess that was it. I thought there was another thing I didn't like, but I can't think of it! I loved the rest of it, but a few things jumped out at me:
1. Miss Bates was fantastic. Unlike other portrayals, you could actually see her fear as she tattled on. I think this is the biggest mistake in other movies --they show her as just a ridiculous talker. In reality, she feels the huge weight of responsibility not only for Jane, but for her mother as well. Her way to deal with this fear is through talking about nothing. This performance was brilliant.
2. Emma and Mr. Knightley's friendship.
3. Hartfield. I want to move there. Yesterday.
4. Harriett Smith's idiocy.
5. Mr. Woodhouse!
6. The kiss... sigh...

It was just great. If you haven't seen it, yet, please do! It's fantastic.
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Amazing Race:
I am so glad the Carol and Brandy (sp) are gone. At first, when the other teams were bad-mouthing them and chose to U-turn them I thought, "What is their problem? Are they just bigots?" and then after they were U-turned, and the girls started freaking out about it I was shocked. So shocked! The rude, awful things they said about Caite (sp) was awful! I couldn't believe it! So I was THRILLED that they came in last and were eliminated. Thrilled.

And go Cowboys!

6 comments:

Jocelyn said...

This portrayal of Miss Bates was Emmy-worthy. I really loved and felt for her character. Brilliant.

I really, truly fell in love with this version of Emma. Johnny Lee Miller may or may not have been a large reason why.

Anonymous said...

I like this Emma version, too. A lot. I think your observation about Miss Bates is right on.

Never A True Aggie said...

I loved that Emma too! I love that it was long and got to all the nooks and crannys of the book.

Stephanie said...

You all have convinced me to check it out. Really, I love Jane Austen and just needed to be reminded there are new movies to see. :)

Alison Wonderland said...

I haven't seen that Emma. I guess I'll need to do that.

FluffyChicky said...

Now I'm going to have to watch Emma. Again. My husband does not thank you. :)