Part-way through the trailer for the forthcoming Emma adaptation the filmmakers proclaim:
BEHOLD
A NEW VISION
OF JANE AUSTEN’S GREAT COMEDY
This message is interspersed with clips of the all-star cast including Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy, Josh O’Connor, Johnny Flynn and Anna Taylor-Joy bringing to life famous moments from Jane Austen’s novel.
For the two centuries after Austen’s death, it seems that every author, scriptwriter, and filmmaker has had “a new vision” of one or another of her famous works. Television is beset with reams and reams of male actors masculine-ly galloping on horses and veritable empires of dancing empire-line dresses. The adaptations have ranged from the supposedly “period” dramas of Sense and Sensibility (1996), and Pride and Prejudice (1995) with smouldering Colin Firths and shy Hugh Grants, to the decidedly less Regency-inspired Clueless (1995).
