#Emma and mr. knightley

[lost-in-austen-books]

Today I found out that there’s going to be a new adaptation of Emma coming out next year! I consider the 2008 version with Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller superior to all the other adaptations of Emma, and for me it’s tied with the 1995 P&P adaptation as the best Jane Austen adaptation in general, so it’s going to be interesting whether this new one can hold a candle to the 2008 one.

They’ve cast Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma - I’ve seen her in The Minituarist (acting alongside Romola actually) and she was very good though, but the only other actors I recognised were Bill Nighy (Mr. Woodhouse) and Miranda Hart (Miss Bates) and Rupert Graves and Gemma Whelan who play Mr. and Mrs. Weston, but it’s going to be interesting to see how all the “young” actors and their characters are going to be like since I’ve only seen two of them in some minor roles. I’m just a little bit confused because on the IMDb page they’ve listed four people as “crocodile girls” and I don’t know what that means.. Based on this looks Johnny Flynn I would have considered him more of a mr. Martin than Mr. Knightley but maybe I’ll be proved wrong.

I’ll be interested to see this new adaptation of course but I’m approaching with caution because of my love for the 2009 one. Tbh I would love to see a new adaptation of Persuasion or Northanger Abbey!

[wintercat666]

Emma and Mr. Knightley

Emma (2020)

[twolightsabovethesea]

Emma and Mr. Knightley

(Emma)

[shipcestuous-two]

Idk if Jane Austen's Emma has come up before since it's only fauxcest, but I always liked Emma + George Knightley's dynamic, as he's the only one willing to criticize her and gives off huge Big Brother Vibes, and has always been in her life since she was little. Plus, since Emma's sister and Knightley's brother are married, it adds another layer of pseudo-relation.

I LOVE Emma and Knightley/Emma. This has been one of my favorite ships for the better part of my life. I can't even remember when I saw my first version of Emma but I couldn't have been older than 12, and that was a loooooong time ago. In fact, I think of it as almost a formative influence on my shipping and my writing because I love it so completely. (And Clueless too, which is a modernization of Emma and, in my opinion, the best execution of two characters who have known each other for a long time realizing they are in love.)

Normally fauxcest/pseudo-incest actually puts me off. Since I'm super into the real thing, the "light" or "pretend" version just feels like a waste of my time. But Emma/Knightly is different, it's like the perfect meeting between incest and a socially acceptable relationship.

For anyone not familiar, Emma is of course a Jane Austen novel, so we're talking 1800s England. Emma belongs to a wealthy landowning family and the Knightley family owns the estate/lands "next door". George Knightley, the eldest son, has inherited the property. His younger brother John is married to Emma's older sister Isabella. Mr. Knightley lives alone and Emma lives with her elderly father. The wealthy class of the village are all friends but Mr. Knightley is in particular friends with Emma and her father (in addition to the two families being in laws) and frequently spends time with them in their home.

You mentioned Big Brother Vibes, which I definitely think is accurate. He's significantly older but they do belong technically to the same generation, their siblings are married, they share a whole brood of nieces and nephews, etc. and It never seems to make any difference that he's older - but company was a lot more intergenerational back then, particularly in a small village like that - so Emma would be used to spending time mainly with people older than her and it wouldn't feel like a big deal. They definitely interact as equals - I think Jane Austen shows that very expertly and intentionally.

I like to think of Knightley also as an avuncular figure/uncle type. And I don't say that because of the age difference. I'm sure some of you prefer to think of him as a big brother figure, which like I said, I don't disagree with at all, it's very accurate, but for me what makes it feel incestuous rather than just two friends falling in love is that while they might be described as friends, it's not really the most precise description of their relationship - he's more like an uncle figure. He doesn't live with them, they have never lived together, like an uncle, but he's like close family, and interacts as much with Emma's father, Emma's sister, Emma's former governess/Mrs. Weston, as with her. Because it's common enough to say about a friend "he's like a brother to me", it's a common comparison, but when you think of him as being like an uncle to her you get that sense of his connection to the whole family.

I'm rambling. The important part is that he's definitely more than just a friend or neighbor. And he knows her so well, probably better than she would like, because he sees everything. He knows she's leading Harriet astray, and he knows she dislikes Jane Fairfax, and he's perfectly content to tell her that her painting and her singing and piano playing are only so-so. But you know that he loves her dearly, even before he's necessarily in love with her. Like family.

In the version with Mark Strong and Kate Beckinsale, Emma starts getting jealous when she thinks Mr. Knightly has feelings for Jane Fairfax and that he's considering a marriage of some kind. She had clearly been convinced that he would be a bachelor forever - hers forever, in a sense, like a member of the family. It's even mentioned that if he marries he can't be alone with her and Mrs. Weston anymore, he wouldn't be like family anymore if he married. And she's distraught at the idea that Mr. Knightley would have a son who would inherit his estate, rather than it going to the nephew they share. She has, or feels, a familial claim on his estate.

Good stuff. Thanks, Anon, for wanting to talk about these two.

[sprut6]

Monday was blah so let’s live in ship land longer...here’s part 2 to make me happy. :)

Fav ships...tagging anyone!

[pinklunchboxrevenge]

Day 14 -- Jane Austen Challenge

(So I skipped the days where you're supposed to pick a least favorite because I'm not really into doing those kinds of negative posts)

Anyway, I know this isn't exactly the proposal scene which is also amazing. But when I first thought about this one, it was between this quote and the Mr. Knightley's declaration in Emma about loving less and talking about it more. I put them both in a document and I looked at them and I thought about the way they make me feel as I'm reading them. The thing I love about both of these couples is perfectly on display in these quotes. Mr. Knightley is nothing but honest with Emma, except on this one point, his love for her, until he can bear it no longer and finally confesses it beautifully ... thereby letting her know that she can trust in what he is saying because he is always truthful with her, sometimes even painfully so. 

The thing I love about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is that it does sometimes feel like their love sneaks up on them. It wasn't love at first or second or even third sight, but it's intrigue and pushing and questioning and discovering and finally being in love with all the things they know about each other. It's one of the most beautiful ways to fall in love -- it's slow building and sneaky and I adore it. I read the books first so I didn't fall in love with Colin's Darcy or Matthew's. I fell in love with Austen's Darcy and Elizabeth. And this quote right here has always made me love them. It's similar to why most of my ships have a strong basis in friendship. I just like the idea of slowly getting to know someone, which these two exemplify. So if Austen and Darcy have ruined all men for me, it's because of this Darcy ... the one who doesn't quite know when he fell in love, but knows that he is in love and, most importantly, why he is.