, we can see how dramatically all three differ. The opening two pages of the novel are all expository, regarding Emma’s disposition, her upbringing and her relationship with Miss Taylor. The marriage of Miss Taylor and her subsequent loss are greatly affecting Emma’s mood. In the Miramax film version of Emma, the first scene opens by showing a universe and a spinning planet whose trials of stars leads into a trail of the characters in the film like a cosmic genealogy. A voice over by Paltrow reminds us that the world we are about to enter was one which fit into the palm of one’s hand, and wherein an elegant dance drew more excitement than war. We open at the actual wedding of Miss Taylor, something that is only alluded to in the book. The wedding is also only alluded to in the BBC version. While the Paltrow version makes this change, it does add more excitement and visual richness to the opening in comparison to the other two.
From this point on the changes between the text and both films veer steadily out of control. In the novel we are introduced to Emma’s father “as a nervous man, easily depressed… hating change of ever kind” (Austen 4). However, in seems the austere patriarchy and oppression from males in Austen’s novel were not enough to please the filmmakers when it came to the characterization of Emma’s father. The costumes, setting, and characterization of the BBC version are stark, cold and uninviting—more than likely closer to actual Victorian society than Austen’s sentimental, romanticized portrayal. Likewise, the father in the BBC version waivers between a nasty old grump and at times a seeming patient of Alzheimer’s in its advanced stages. He is introduced as a crotchety old grump complaining about the draft from an open door (and remember in Victorian society was too much “life” for “polite” society) and his cold feet. In the novel it merely says he was gently selfish. In...