ITV - Jane Austen Season
I was able to indulge myself with the ITV adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels. Being a fan, I was glad to have watched them. I enjoyed them very much and would encourage others to watch them as well. It quenched my thirst for Victorian-era movies and it’s something that isn’t Pride and Prejudice. 
I’m glad that they did films of her other novels, even to just remind everyone that Pride and Prejudice isn’t her only work, LOL.
Emma - physically, the characters were not as I originally imagined them to be, and there were times I thought that Mr. Knightly did not have the strength of character that I imagined he possessed. The Mr. Knightly in the 2007 adaptation was neither able to get my attention nor impressed me, as much as he did in the book itself. Emma did well as a spoiled daughter of a wealthy man, used to giving orders and having her ways (though more toned down than the image I created of her from reading the novel - with less qualities of a ‘man’) and Harriet Smith was not as stupid as I thought her to be - in the movie at least. In the book it seemed she had less sense. Meanwhile, Emma’s father was quite out-of-character. He wasn’t the old man resigned to being sick, stuck at home, and needy of her daughter. He was more…say, healthy? And outgoing.
Mansfield Park - it is my favorite among the Jane Austen novels but the movie was the least. In fact, it was a disappointment. Fanny Price looked different in my imaginations, but it was her altered personality that I disliked so much. The movie was not very faithful to the Fanny Price of the novel. She had too much strength of character, too much confidence, too much joy. No, Fanny Price is more resigned, less of a joyful character, quite physically weak, etc. They also left out scenes I would have liked to see, or scenes that I think was quite important (Edmund offering Fanny to help her send a letter to William, as a real beginning of their friendship, etc.) and major parts of the novel (Fanny going back to her family because that gave her an important realization - that Mansfield Park really was her home, not the one she had been used to as a child). It didn’t seem very faithful to the characters. For example, Mrs. Bertram was far more intelligent in the film than in the novel and Fanny was already a mentioned disappointment.
Northanger Abbey - though not my favorite novel, this was my favorite movie. =) Felicia Jones was a perfect Catherine and JJ Feild was very much a handsome, playful Mr. Tinley. (It wasn’t hard to imagine Catherine falling for him - since it wasn’t hard turning me into a fan either. LOL.) I’d say the cast was perfect. John looked like an elf though, for some reason. Not on the height but more on the looks. Anyway, I haven’t read the book recent enough for me to compare how faithful the film is, but I was very pleased with it. I guess the characters are closest to the book (not the events, but the cast played out their roles so well), and the actors/actresses were excellent that I really enjoyed this one very much. Isabella was just as I had imagined and being an important character, this was an asset to the film. The rooms in Bath gave me a clearer image of what I had read, and the abbey as scary as it could be.
Persuasion - hm. Well. One thing I’d have to say is that the flow of events in this movie was not as smooth as the others. I don’t know if it’s because of the length of time since I last reread the novel, but sometimes I really do not know some where’s and who’s. Some relationships were not very firmly established - some were very sudden. And while Sally Hawkins was a good actress, she wasn’t the best Anne Elliot. Sometimes I’d wonder why everyone would comment on her being skinny when Sally Hawkins was quite far from that. Heh. And when I don’t think she’s the strong, stubborn sort, she isn’t a very weak, stammering sort either. Rupert Penry-Jones was a very good Captain Wentworth though, in my opinion. Anne’s youngest sister was not how I imagined her to be. Yes, she was disagreeable, but her manner of speaking wasn’t how I thought it to be as it was in the movie. But I guess they’d know better, LOL. They’re British while I am not. Hm. I just thought rather differently, I guess. All in all it was good, better than Mansfield Park at least. I wasn’t really disappointed with the movie; I just hoped and expected too much, I guess, this novel being one of my favorites.
Tags: Jane Austen