NftM #8: Emotion

Hi

I have a confession to make: I don’t like Jane Austen’s books.

If I haven’t lost you just now, let me tell you why.

First, I tried reading Pride and Prejudice in English many years ago, when I was a Communications student at university in El Salvador. Finishing the book was quite a struggle. Later, I had the same experience with Mansfield Park, which I finished only because paid $15 for the book and I’m not one to spend money on things I won't use.

For a long time, I could never pinpoint exactly why I never liked her books. Was it an issue of language and cultural differences? Was I not smart enough to get the wit, the sarcasm, the humour, the social commentary for which her books are famous?

But then, I watched Emma, the latest adaptation of Austen’s novel of the same name and the directorial debut of Autumn de Wilde. Because, while I dislike Austen’s books, I've enjoyed movies and TV shows based on her work.

And here, I believe, lies my issues with her books.

They lack emotion.

Unfortunately, underneath her marvellous observation skills, skilful prose, and detailed accounts of her characters’ social interactions, there’s little emotion at the core of her characters.

From where I see it, the characters she creates and the universe she builds for them, modelled after her own, are constrained by rules and duties which also regulate how love is expressed and performed. In turn, characters are reduced to witticisms, ridiculousness, or dullness.

The movies, on the other hand, paint a completely different picture.

They make the characters come alive, their voices stronger, their emotions more tangible through body language and tone of voice. Their world has colour and weight, and it’s closer to us than we can imagine from her descriptions.

All of this adds to the emotion we feel with the characters; it brings us closer to them.

After all, emotion is one of the common threads that unite us all in a shared human experience, connecting us with something larger than ourselves.

Art that awake emotions in us—a song that brings you fond memories of a road trip, a movie that makes you cry, a painting that makes you dream—is the art that stays with us, challenges us, transforms us.

Some interesting stuff I loved this week

1. Lockdown or not, this playlist is the perfect companion for a solitary afternoon 

2. ‘I believe the world is beautiful

that poetry, like bread, is for everyone’

 “Como tú” (‘Like You’), Roque Dalton 

1. Enchanting photos from a cabin in the woods

2. Let’s hear strangers talk about strangers.

3. What makes Arrival a successful adaptation, and what it has to say about our humanity.

Photo by Gauthier DELECROIX - 郭天

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Thanks.

Cecilia