History Film / Emma

* [[MrImagination Miss Imagination]]: Emma is this version has a very vivid imagination and sees romance everywhere, complete with daydreams and matchmaking scenarios.

* AdaptationalJerkass: A minor case in one instance for Miss Bates. When Emma goes to visit her after the Box Hill picnic disaster, she arrives in time to witness Miss Bates scurrying from the room and asking her mother to say she is unwell. In the original novel and all the other screen adaptations, she does come out and speak to Emma.

* {{Diary}}: Several scenes with Emma's writing her diary were added for pragmatic reasons to communicate Emma's thoughts and feelings since the books is narrated from her point of view.

[[/folder]]

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* LostLoveMontage: When Emma [[spoiler:realizes she's been in love with Mr. Knightley for a long time, she experiences this]] during an [[EmpathicEnvironment appropriate rainstorm]].

%% ** Mrs. Elton has her moments.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the novel, Emma, in a rare physical description by Creator/JaneAusten, has "the true hazel eye." Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, has definitely blue eyes, which were highlighted in promotional materials (such as the CD score cover).

See ''Film/Emma2020''.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emma_1996_telefilm.jpg]]

* {{Bookends}}: Chicken thieves make a raid in the first and last scenes.

** Frank Churchill. Per the changes noted above, his character has some significant lines in this vein.

[[folder: 1972 miniseries]]

[[folder: 1996 film]]

* {{Pun}}:
-->'''Emma:''' Oh dear!
-->'''Mr. Knightley:''' What's that?
-->'''Emma:''' Oh, ah, something about the ah, deer... we need... for the venison stew.

[[folder: 1996 telefilm]]

* SmugSnake:

** Mrs. Elton has her moments as well.

Despite not having ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice''-level popularity, ''Literature/{{Emma}}'' has inspired not one or two, but [[AdaptationOverdosed four straight adaptations]] currently available, and quite a few slant ones. These adaptations tend to provoke rather violent flame wars, though it seems to have calmed down a bit since the 2009 miniseries was made.

Despite not having ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice''-level popularity, ''Literature/{{Emma}}'' has inspired not one or two, but [[AdaptationOverdosed four straight adaptations]] currently available, and quite a few slant ones. These adaptations tend to provoke rather violent flamewars, though it seems to have calmed down a bit since the 2009 miniseries was made.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the novel, Emma, in a rare physical description by Creator/JaneAusten, has "the true hazel eye". Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, has definitely blue eyes, which were highlighted in promotional materials (such as the CD score cover).

* AuthorAppeal: Screenwriter Creator/AndrewDavies tends to alter or adapt one older male character in his screeplays to a recognizable type of friendly, sociable, homebody fellow - in ''[=Emma=]'', it's Mr. Weston, who in the novel is something of a clueless social butterfly, but here pipes in with a few words on the joys of marriage and home life.

* EmpathicEnvironment: As in the novel, Emma's [[spoiler:LostLoveMontage]] occurs during a very appropriate rainstorm, which leads to a powerful scene of Emma looking out a window, the light falling through the windows showing how the rain paralells Emma's tears.

[[folder: 2009 miniseries]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emma_2009.jpg]]

The BBC returned to ''Emma'' after nearly four decades, scripted by Sandy Welch (though they had planned a follow-up to ''Pride And Prejudice'' in 1996, cancelled when the other two versions were announced - a project which was also supposed to be scripted by Sandy Welch). Starred Romola Garai as Emma, Creator/JonnyLeeMiller as Mr. Knightley, and Creator/MichaelGambon as Mr. Woodhouse.
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* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill appear in the prologue as children, emphasizing their importance in the story much earlier than most adaptations do. Perhaps justified since the material adapted does appear quite early in the novel, but Jane and Frank do not appear in person in the novel until the second volume, and both appear first as adults in the second episode of the miniseries.
* AdaptationExpansion: The series takes several elements from the novel which are mostly understated, such as Emma's teenage years, the connections between Emma, Frank, and Jane's childhoods, Emma's never having seen the sea, and Mr. Woodhouse's fears for his daughters, and expands them into subplots.
* AdultFear:
** Emma gets her first taste of this after her governess' wedding and realizes that she might one day end up like Miss Bates, tied to caring for her elderly parent and otherwise quite alone.
** Mr. Woodhouse is constantly afraid that something terrible will happen to his daughters and bluntly explains his unhappiness with Mrs. Weston's marriage with "mothers ''die'', Emma."
** The first ten minutes of the series is a host of adult fears, starting with widowhood, impoverishment, and being forced to give up your child for their own good.
* AuthorAppeal: Screenwriter Sandy Welch follows a similar pattern to her previous literary adaptations in many ways. She keeps the four-episode structure from ''Literature/OurMutualFriend'', ''Literature/NorthAndSouth'', and ''Film/JaneEyre''. Additionally, like ''Film/JaneEyre'', she approaches Emma's story through her childhood.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Played with between Frank and Emma. Both are lively, active, and witty, but they also bring out the worst in each other when their wit overrides kindness.
* BridalCarry:
** Mr Elton carries his new bride from their carriage through the threshold.
** When Frank Churchill rescues Harriet from the gypsies, she's too weak and he has to carry her in his arms. The novel text says she was leaning on him.
* ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject: When John Knightley starts losing his temper over Mr. Woodhouse's health advice, Emma shoots Mr. Knightley a look and he abruptly begins talking about the new roadway.
* DanceOfRomance: After Emma thanks Knightley for dancing with Harriet, she asks him to dance the third with her. (Or rather, she asks him to ask her.) This dance happens to be much slower tempoed and intimate than the first two songs.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first episode is packed with hints of what's to come. There's Miss Bates' fretting over Emma possibly running into gypsies while walking, Emma joking that Harriet might make a good match for Knightley, and Knightley saying that Emma will bitterly regret her meddling. All are paid off, though not always in the way you'd expect.
* ElectiveMute: Mrs. Bates hasn't spoken since she lost her home and had to give up her grandniece Jane to the care of Colonel Campbell. [[spoiler:She finally pipes up in the fourth episode.]]
* FeeFiFauxPas: Early on, Emma jokes about Frank Churchill never managing to reach Hartfield, which upsets Mrs. Weston and provokes Mr. Weston to complain that he wishes people would stop accusing his son of carelessness. Emma manages to quickly smooth it over by saying she's only joking because she's eager to meet Frank.
* GenkiGirl: Garai's Emma is prone to do ''everything'' '''very energetically'''.
* GilliganCut: Several. Most notably the following:
-->'''Emma:''' (discussing the Box Hill party) "It shall be an intimate gathering and we shall only invite people we like!"
-->''Cut to:''
-->'''[[{{Jerkass}} Mrs. Elton:]]''' "Box Hill! What marvelous idea!"
* HoldingHands: Quite a bit of this after the proposal in episode four. Emma [[spoiler:and Mr. Knightley]] hold hands while sitting on a bench discussing their paths to each other. Later, they share IntertwinedFingers behind Emma's back when breaking the news to her father.
* HeadbuttOfLove: Emma and Knightley, after all the mutual misunderstandings are cleared up and she accepts his proposal.
* ImagineSpot: Emma's rather overwrought picture of the scene when Miss Bates explains how Mr. Dixon saved Jane from falling off a cliff. She does the same thing later after Frank rescues Harriet.
* IndifferentBeauty: Emma is beautiful but doesn't preen about it. Knightley points this out as a virtue of hers to Mrs. Weston before going on to say that Emma is too vain over being clever.
* LapPillow: During the Boxhill picnic, Frank puts his head on Emma's lap. It's a great sign of intimacy (and actually very inaccurate to the period; people wouldn't have behaved like that, not even as a joke, especially lady and gentleman who are not engaged, nor married -- Frank wouldn't have done that and Emma certainly wouldn't have let him). Probably done to emphasise how embarrassing Emma and Frank were and how improper their flirting was.
* LensFlare: In the 2009 BBC series, after Emma insults Miss Bates, the camera tracks down her face after a sleepless night, and the rising sun flares. Also, in the third episode, as Mr. Knightley walks across the field.
* NotSoDifferent: The series draws a line between Miss Bates being her mother's caregiver to Emma and her father after they visit Hartfield--Emma is clearly a little disturbed at the parallel when she sees it.
* OverprotectiveDad: Michael Gambon plays an extremely gentle version of this character. While Mr. Woodhouse is something of this trope in the novel and all adaptations, Gambon's Mr. Woodhouse explicitly speaks of his special concern for his daughters as a result of losing his wife when they were very young.
* ParasolOfPrettiness: Quite a lot of ladies have their parasols while walking.
* PimpedOutDress: Mrs. Elton is always in brighter, more trimmed-out dresses than the ladies around her, and she's quite keen for everyone to see how expensive it is.
* SeriousBusiness: A snowshower starting while everyone is at Randalls is treated as a major crisis--at least by John Knightley, who is already pretty cranky, and Mr. Woodhouse, who is riddled with anxiety.
* ThemeTuneCameo: The theme from the opening titles is played as the song for the dance Emma and Knightley share in the third episode.
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: Mr Weston shares his umbrella with Miss Taylor (future Mrs Weston) when it starts raining after the Sunday service. In the novel, he met Emma and Miss Taylor when they were walking and he gallantly borrowed two umbrellas for them from Farmer Mitchell's because it was drizzling.
* WhatTheHellHero: Although Emma jokes about Knightley visiting Hartfield to deliver his "daily scolding of Emma," there are a couple of instances where he dresses her down with real anger: when she persuades Harriet to refuse Robert Martin, and when she insults Miss Bates.
* YoungerAndHipper: Partly due to Emma's being cast at a more mature age, but Jonny Lee Miller was 34 at the time he played Mr. Knightley, and is young-looking.
[[/folder]]

* RomanticRain: A downpour accompanies the news of Mrs. Churchill's passing, and Frank [[spoiler:rushes into the street to tell his fiancee Jane Fairfax that they can get married now]].

* DanceOfRomance: After Emma thanks Knightley for dancing with Harriet, she him to dance the third with her. (Or rather, she asks him to ask her.) This dance happens to be much slower tempoed and intimate than the first two songs.

* LapPillow: During the Boxhill picnic, Frank puts his head on Emma's head. It's a great sign of intimacy (and actually very inaccurate to the period; people wouldn't have behaved like that, not even as a joke, especially lady and gentleman who are not engaged, nor married -- Frank wouldn't have done that and Emma certainly wouldn't have let him). Probably done to emphasise how embarrassing Emma and Frank were and how improper their flirting was.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the novel, Emma, in a rare physical description by Creator/JaneAusten, has "the true hazel eye." Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, has definitely blue eyes, which were highlighted in promotional materials (such as the CD score cover).

* EarlyBirdCameo: Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill appear in the prologue as children, emphasizing their importance in the story much earlier than most adaptations do. Perhaps justified since the material adapted does appear quite early in the novel, but Jane and Frank do not appear in person in the novel until the second volume, and both appear first as adults in the second episode of the miniseries.

* CarelessBeauty: Emma is beautiful but doesn't preen about it. Knightley points this out as a virtue of hers to Mrs. Weston before going on to say that Emma is too vain over being clever.

* Foreshadowing: The first episode is packed with hints of what's to come. There's Miss Bates' fretting over Emma possibly running into gypsies while walking, Emma joking that Harriet might make a good match for Knightley, and Knightley saying that Emma will bitterly regret her meddling. All are paid off, though not always in the way you'd expect.

->"''One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.''"

Despite not having ''Literature/{{Pride and Prejudice}}'' level popularity, ''Literature/{{Emma}}'' has inspired not one or two, but [[AdaptationOverdosed four straight adaptations]] currently available, and quite a few slant ones. These adaptations tend to provoke rather violent flamewars, though it seems to have calmed down a bit since the 2009 miniseries was made.

!!The various versions of ''[=Emma=]'' are:

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Emma_1972_1092.jpg]]

The BBC adapted ''[=Emma=]'' as part of their general habit of doing Creator/JaneAusten novels every ten to twenty years. Starred Doran Godwin as Emma and John Carson as Mr. Knightley.

!'''These tropes find their match in this film:'''

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Emma_1996_1185.jpg]]

Written and directed by Douglas [=McGrath=] for Miramax films, the film starred Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley.

!'''These tropes find their match in this film:'''

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Emma_1997_3063.jpg]]

ITV's telefilm starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma, MarkStrong as Mr. Knightley, and Olivia Williams as Jane Fairfax. The brainchild of the landmark 1995 BBC ''Pride and Prejudice'' team of writer Creator/AndrewDavies and producer Sue Birtwistle.

!'''These tropes find their match in this film:'''

* BookEnds: Chicken thieves make a raid in the first and last scenes.

* DuelingMovies: Was being filmed at the same time that the [=McGrath=]/Paltrow/Northam film was in theaters. Came out in the same year in the UK. Also something of a meta-situation, since six Jane Austen films came out from 1995-1996.

* SmugSnake: Frank Churchill. Per the changes noted above, his character has some significant lines in this vein.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Emma_2009_8059.jpg]]

!'''These tropes find their match in this film:'''

* ForeheadTouching: Emma and Knightly, after all the mutual misunderstandings are cleared up and she accepts his proposal.

* GenkiGirl: Though not as pronounced as Romola Garai's 2009 Emma, Kate Beckinsale's Emma is described in the screenplay as possessing bouncing arrogance and energy. Additionally, when she thinks her scheme between Harriet and Mr. Elton is succeeding, she gives a very cheerful bounce as she walks towards her house.4