Austen’s Emma on screen

articulating adaptation, irony and social criticism

Abstract

This discussion aims at analyzing two audiovisual adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma, considering the theoretical and critical articulation between the process of adaptation and irony. The initial hypothesis was that much of the irony in Austen’s novel tended to get lost in the process of adaptation. The results of the investigation, however, demonstrate that in this specific case, the adapters were successful in the recreation of irony, a discursive strategy that is characteristic of Jane Austen’s literary style, and responsible for materializing the multiplicity of voices and critical positions in the novel. As a consequence, both adaptations constitute creative dialogues with the social and historical criticism inherent in the novel Emma.