Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Emmasaurus

Saw “Emma” on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. It started slow but finished strong. While watching I was thinking of something I’d coincidentally just read in the John Henry Newman bio – how Newman had read some of Jane Austin and said that he found her lacking and that her characters were mostly unlikable, though he liked Emma if not Jane Fairfax. Watching the movie, not having read the book, I concur; Emma is often nails on chalkboard but she actually wants to improve and that makes all the difference. No wonder Knightly, a man as noble-seeming as Newman, was smitten. I suspect PBS well-cast it: their Emma (who reminded my wife and I of Little House on the Prairie's Melissa Gilbert) was plainer than Jane but ultimately grew on you to a far greater extent.