Emma: An Awesome Adaptation Featuring A Love Triangle

Awesome Adaptations is hosted by Picture Me Reading, and is a focus on book-to-movie adaptations that we think are awesome!

How appropriate that the same month that A Novel Idea is hosting their Love Triangles 101 event, that this topic would come up! Instead of focusing on a modern-day story, however, I thought I ought to pay homage to The Original Queen of Love Triangles (this is not official, but I thought it sounded good) Jane Austen, and of her most convoluted triangley stories, Emma.

bool-movie-emmaI have mentioned many times before how much I really love the 2009 BBC mini-series of Emma (it’s over three hours long and filled with so much goodness!). Though I have not read the book yet, every actor/actress in this adaptation just seem to hit their character so spot-on. They feel like real people and I really come to care for several of them (the ones you’re supposed to care for… Mr. Elton… not so much).

Just so you can see just how much love triangleness is going on Emma, I stole a chart from Diana Peterfreund’s website (apparently she thinks about Jane Austen’s stories even more than I do) and doctored it up with pictures:

emmadiagram-editI have to imagine if you have never seen the movie or read the book, this must be seriously hard to follow. But basically, everyone gets crushed on at some point and everyone crushes on someone at one point; sometimes it’s clear, sometimes it’s confusing, sometimes it’s a rumor, and sometimes they change their mind! It honestly feels like real life though (sometimes uncomfortably so), but it is so much more fun to watch it happen to these people in old timey England than it is for it to happen to you.

If you haven’t checked out this version of Emma and enjoyed Jane Austen’s stories, I would HIGHLY recommend it! The fact that it was able to push the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie from the top spot of my favorite Jane Austen movie adaptations is a seriously huge deal and just shows how awesome it is. (Side note: I loved the 2005 P&P so much I used one of the tracks from the movie as the song I walked down the aisle to in my wedding, so yeah, I seriously love it.)

What do you think is an awesome adaptation that features love triangles? (I’ll give you a hint, the answer isn’t Twilight.) 

18 Responses to Emma: An Awesome Adaptation Featuring A Love Triangle

  1. I loved this version! I think Emma is one of Austen’s better books, just because it’s so fresh and funny, and I wasn’t at all disappointed with the 2009 adaption. The actors were perfect in their roles. And it’s funny how yesterday’s TTT posts all had love triangles listed, and yet I’m totally okay with these triangles. Maybe because they’re classics and therefore can’t be blamed for copying other stories? Or maybe Austen just did it really well, something most authors nowadays can’t seem to master. Either way, I’m a lover of this post 🙂

    • I agree, there seems to be something different about Austen’s love triangles. I also appreciate how funny Emma is; I think that’s a large part of the reason why I enjoy it so much.

  2. Love Emma. This 2009 adaptation is possibly the best adaptation along with the retelling Clueless…just soo funny. And yeah, it’s filled with love triangles and love squares that just overlaps each other.

  3. Love the diagram! Definitely better with pictures. 😀 I haven’t seen Emma in awhile, so I didn’t remember how complex the love triangles are! After thinking about so much love triangles in YA for Love Triangle 101, it’s nice to have such an intriguing and different one to think about!

  4. I’m actually reading Emma right now. I am half way through and can’t wait to see how it ends. I haven’t scene this mini-series but i am happy to see characters come to life on tv/film.

  5. I loved that Emma adaptation but my favourite Austen flick will always be Sense and Sensibility! One of my fave love triangle adaptations is Rebecca (Hitchcock movie) because its just so atypical… and kind of creepy!

  6. I LOVE Emma. It my absolute favourite of Austen’s works. I find Emma such a different, but such a relevant character – every group of friends probably has one. I watched the adaption before reading the book and fell in love with Mr. Knightly and usually I’m pretty good at figuring out who is going to end up with whom but him (and the story in general) I had no idea.

    I might just go watch it again now, haha!

    • I know, thinking about Emma makes me want to watch it! This version is like 3 hours like though, and finding that kind of free time is rare! But I love Mr. Knightly as well; he’s such a gentleman!

  7. I absolutely loved Emma, the book and the series! It has one of the best and most complicated love triangles/squares/pentagons (I’m not sure what it is). Most authors nowadays can learn from Austen’s love triangles, she knows how to write one:)

    • I agree; they really should! I can’t say I’ve ever been disappointed with who ended up with who in an Austen story, unlike some modern-day stories with love triangles!

Leave a Reply to maryanaverenichCancel reply