Posted by Sylvia on July 10, 1997 at 23:56:17:
In reply to Re: Discussing film adaptations posted by Julia on July 10, 1997 at 08:39:07
] I cringe anytime the lines from the book are changed or dropped. I would like to hear others' opinions on the subject.
] Well, I cringed all the way through Emma3, because the novel was distorted so ridiculously. My attitude toward Emma2 is that since it had to tell the story in the inadequate space of two hours, lines and events had to be omitted.
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I do enjoy good literature. And for me, a good book stands on its own. What you saw as "distortion," I saw as merely the filmakers' intrepretation. I enjoyed seeing how each of the filmakers' who have done Emma chose to visually present the plot, characters, scenes and dialogue. In some cases, I've felt that scenes were actually improved in the adaptation vs the presentation in the book. My favorite example is the proposal in Emma2. As you know, the setting in the book is the garden at Hartfield. But re-setting the scene in that beautiful field and using a stroll to create the tension in the dialogue was visually exciting to me.
I think that it's interesting how Shakespeare has been intrepreted in so many different ways by so many different playwrights and filmakers. It shows to me how wonderful the original material was to inspire so many. I think we can say the same about JA.