Top Costume Drama Heroes: Part II

Right! Since writing this post ages ago (was it really only last year?), I have seen various new (for me) period films, and discovered many wonderful new heroes. Plus, there are several heroes who didn't make it into my original Top 10, but who deserve to be recognised!

So, without further ado. . . 

Top Costume Drama Heroes ~ Part the Second

(And I think there may even have to be a "Part the Third" sometime, too ;-)

The Scarlet Pimpernel aka Lord Percy (Anthony Andrews - The Scarlet Pimpernel 1982) is sitting pretty with Henry Tilney at the top of my list of all-time favourite heroes! Lord Percy is awesome beyond awesomeness; his awesomeness defies description. (Yes that sentence is cringeworthy - forgive me, I'm an SP fangirl.) The ultimate superhero - the original "superhero" in fact - and the ultimate romantic hero. And guys, I still haven't gotten round to reading the books or watching the 1999 series, but I'm convinced Anthony Andrews (of SP 1982) will forever be the Scarlet Pimpernel, as far as I'm concerned.

Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen - Little Dorrit 2008) is a different kind of Dickensian hero. Many of Dickens' best-known heroes (think David Copperfield, Pip) tend to be young, earnest, and idealistic. Arthur is considerably older - approaching 40 - and has experienced great sadness and rejection. He has had almost no joy or light in his life. But in spite of all this, he remains tenderhearted and compassionate, rather than growing embittered with life and with others. A gem of a hero. 

Westley aka The Man in Black aka The Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes - The Princess Bride). Westley rivals Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and Anthony Andrews' Lord Percy for pure swashbuckling awesomeness. Westley epitomises courage and heroism. 'Nuff said.

Eugene Wrayburn (Paul McGann - Our Mutual Friend 1998). Eugene, Eugene! Not really a hero - more of an anti-hero. A troubled soul who comes good in the end. For the first 20-odd years of his life, Eugene is aimless, lazy, purposeless - until love jolts him out of his apathy. I'd always had a great deal of sympathy for Eugene, but I had never thought of him as being a truly - well, deserving hero. *SPOILER WARNING* I mean, his intentions towards Lizzie were undecided and potentially less than honourable. If he hadn't been bashed almost to death by Headstone, his relationship with Lizzie would probably have ended in shame and heartbreak. Well, I put all this to my blogging friend Lizzy, and her response was an interesting one! (See the comments section in linked post.) In the end - Eugene didn't deserve Lizzie's love, and he did not deserve to live happily ever after with her - but he did. He was undeserving, but he was redeemed by unconditional, selfless love. Sound familiar? :-) 

John Harmon's (Stephen Mackintosh - Our Mutual Friend 1998) and Bella Wilfer's romance is perhaps a little more conventional and predictable than Eugene and Lizzie's, but it is none the less beautiful. John Harmon is a wonderful hero - strong, patient, good-hearted, yet also with a vulnerable side that endears him to the reader/viewer. Stephen Mackintosh gave an excellent perfomance as John in OMF 1998.

Faramir! (David Wenham - The Two Towers/The Return of the King) I disclosed in my earlier post that I've always had a soft spot for Boromir - essentially the "tragic hero" of The Lord of the Rings (the fact that he was played in the films by the amazing Sean Bean doesn't hurt, either ;-). But Faramir certainly doesn't suffer by comparison with Boromir - in fact,  Faramir is arguably the more truly heroic of the two characters. Boromir is a great warrior and leader - strong, courageous, charismatic. Faramir is at heart a man of peace, not of war - though he still has courage and valour in bucketloads! And ultimately, he showed more true strength of character than his brother. Faramir's and Eowyn's romance is possibly one of my favourite love stories in literature. 

Mr. Knightley (Mark Strong - Emma 1996). Mr. Knightley (it is impossible to call him anything else; "George" doesn't sound right, and one daren't call him "Knightley" for fear of being thought an upstart, vulgar being) has legions of female admirers - indeed, he is probably Fitzwilliam Darcy's closest rival in the Most Universally Adored Jane Austen Hero stakes, and deservedly so. He is the nicest, kindest, most honourable. . . in fact, he's almost Mary Poppins-ian - er, practically perfect in every way. (Actually, I'm curious - can anyone think of any fault in Mr. Knightley's character?! If you can, please leave a comment!) I loved both both Jeremy's Northam's and Mark Strong's Mr. Knightleys. Jonny Lee Miller. . . hmm. . . yeah. . . maybe he'll grow on me. I still haven't re-watched Emma '09, so we'll see.

John Ridd (Richard Coyle - Lorna Doone 2000). Gentle giant, and hero of R.D. Blackmore's epic Lorna Doone. Contrary to its title, Lorna Doone is really John Ridd's story - it's almost a coming-of-age tale, really. Richard Coyle's John differs considerably from the book's John - he is physically smaller (in the book he's a giant of a man, and a champion wrestler), and mentally quicker. However, he still captures the basic essence of John Ridd's character - a genuinely good, decent, big-hearted man.

Gabriel Oak (Nathaniel Parker - Far From the Madding Crowd 1998). Gabriel must surely win the prize for being the most patient, long-suffering hero in literature! He is infinitely kind and good; the only stupid thing he does in the entire story is fall in love with Bathsheba. Why, why, why?! Oh well. . . if Bathsheba Everdean is one of the silliest, most frustrating "heroines" in English literature, Gabriel has got to be one of the nicest, most amazing heroes. He also has the decided advantage of being in one of the very few Thomas Hardy novels that actually has a happy ending! So he gets the girl in the end - without either of them dying or committing murder or suicide or anything like that. I found Far From the Madding Crowd 1998 a frustrating story at times (if there's one famous 19th author I don't like, it's Thomas Hardy), but Gabriel makes it all worthwhile. And Nathaniel Parker. . . wow! :-D

James Percy (Thomas Gibson - The Inheritance) Once again, the film and the book incarnations of this character are somewhat different. Thomas Gibson's James Percy in the 1997 TV movie is a dashing, handsome, lively young (well, young-ish) man. James Percy in the book (actually, he's referred to as Lord Percy - Louisa May Alcott's book, written when she was seventeen, is set in England at some indefinite period in the 18th or early 19th century) is "old" (35 or so), quiet, and plain. If anything, I think I prefer the book's version - he's such a lovely, Colonel Brandon-ish sort of character.

~o0o~

Whew! And that rounds out the sequel to my Top 10 Heroes post! This has been a fun post to write. . . I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! 

Please share your thoughts on any or all of these characters in the comments section! Or tell me who some of your favourite costume drama heroes are, and why.

Giveaway: Winner!!!

I am very pleased to announce that the winner of my Emma DVD is. . . 

*drumroll*. . . 

In His Wings, a.k.a. Sarah!

Congratulations, Sarah! *hugs* Enjoy the DVD!! :-D 

Wow, that was fun! I think I'll have to have another giveaway sometime soon! A big thank you to everyone who entered. I wish I had 40 DVDs to give away so that you could each have one! :-)

Christmas Giveaway!!

Yay, my first giveaway! Here's what I'm giving away. . . 

A copy of my favourite Emma adaptation! ITV's 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, with Kate Beckinsale and Mark Strong. The DVD is used, but in great condition. This is actually my own personal copy, so it's been carefully looked after! :-)

If you're wondering why I'm giving away my copy - I was a little disappointed when, after buying this copy, I discovered it was in fullscreen, not widescreen format. I'd been thinking of buying myself a different copy (hopefully a widescreen version). But there's not much point in my having two copies of the same movie! :P Besides, I'd been wanting to have a giveaway anway.

So, if you're not bothered by the fullscreen format (especially as it is a giveaway and will cost you nothing!!). . .

LOL, you can see my hand reflected in the disc in this pic. . .

It is a Region 1 DVD, so it will play fine on pretty much any DVD player in North America. If you live elsewhere in the world, you will need a multi-region DVD player to play this DVD.

To enter, simply leave a comment! You don't even have to have your own blog - just make sure you leave your email address in your comment, so that I have some way of contacting you if you win!

To enter twice, publish a post on your blog about my giveaway.

Entries close on Wednesday 9th December - winner to be announced the following day!

Oh, and in case you were wondering - this giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world, not just Australian readers.

Just to clarify: I don't need your email address if you have a blog or website, because I can contact you via your blog/site. I only need your email address if you are blog-less! ;-)

Top 10 Austen adaptations: #4

~No. 4 - Emma 1996, starring Kate Beckinsale~

I still haven't seen Episode 4 of the BBC's Emma, but unless there is a miraculous turnaround in the series, I think ITV's 1996 TV movie is set to remain as my favourite Emma.

There are so many reasons to love this adapation. . . where to start? :-)

Kate Beckinsale as Emma. . . she doesn't look quite how I imagine Emma to look, but in terms of acting she was really very good here. I like her the best out of the Emmas I've seen - Kate, Gwyneth and Romola. Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley - brilliant! Jeremy Northam was too handsome and charming - if he'd been a few years younger, he would have been great as Frank Churchill. But Mark Strong is practically perfect as Mr. Knightley, in my humble opinion. I was recently reading an interview with Mark, where he is discussing playing Mr. Knightley, and it's clear just how well he understands this character. (As an aside, it's so refreshing to read an interview with an actor in an Austen movie who has a healthy level of respect for the novel they're working from, and who truly understands the character he/she is playing!!) 

Kate Beckinsale as Emma Woodhouse with Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley

Some viewers have remarked that Mark Strong plays an overly angry, severe Mr. Knightley. I don't think this is Strong's fault. In my opinion, the limited runtime of the movie (107 minutes) is at least partly to blame. Most of Mr. Knightley's/Mark Strong's scenes are intense discussions and quarrels between himself and Emma - there isn't much time to show the more relaxed side of his nature. 

Jane Fairfax (Olivia Williams) and Frank Churchill (Raymond Coulthard)

One of this adaptation's stongest points is the excellent portrayal of many of the secondary characters - particularly Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill. Even though the movie is less than 2 hours in length, they've done a fantastic job of fleshing out Jane and Frank's characters and their love story (whereas this subplot is practically ignored in the Miramax version). Can I just briefly mention how much I love Olivia Williams as Jane? Simply wonderful. She will always be Jane Fairfax to me. And Frank Churchill is actually cute and charismatic in this version. . . for once, you can understand why Emma would fall partly in love with him (or at least imagine herself to be in love).

Harriet Smith (Samantha Morton)

Other minor characters such as the Eltons, Miss Bates, Mrs Bates, Robert Martin, and Mr. Woodhouse are brilliantly done here - even though their time on-screen may be brief, you can still get a feel for who each character is, and what they are like. Also, this seems to be the only adaptation that gets Harriet Smith's character right! 

Mr. Knightley (Mark Strong) and Mrs. Elton (Lucy Robinson)

So, whereas the Gwyneth Paltrow version emphasises Emma's and Mr. Knightley's relationship as much as possible, this adaptation is closer to the novel in that it gives a fascinating picture of a living, breathing community of people in 1810s rural England - not just a sweet love story. Hm, I phrased that wrongly - to call any one of Austen's romances "just a sweet love story" would be to do it a great injustice. . . but I'm sure you understand what I mean. The Paltrow version is about Emma + Mr. Knightley; the Beckinsale version is about Emma + Mr. Knightley and the community of Highbury.

Mrs Elton, Miss Bates (Prunella Scales), Harriet, Emma, Jane, and Mrs. Weston (Samantha Bond)

Which leads to another thing that I love about this adaptation. Emma was made on a much more limited budget than, say, Sense and Sensibility or the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma. But in this case, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The movie has a gritty, down-to-earth feel that is lacking from most other Austen adaptations - and period dramas in general, for that matter. This is arguably a much more realistic portrayal of Regency life than that shown in the two other major Emmas. Kate Beckinsale's costumes may not be as gorgeous as Gwyneth's, but they look like comfortable clothes that I wouldn't mind wearing in real life. Scenes of farm life and village life in Highbury add to the realism. 

I guess it's just a matter of personal taste - I'm not too keen on the too-pretty, overly-sanitized view of 19th century life presented in many Austen movies; but on the other hand, it could be argued that the "gritty realism" is taken a step too far in movies like Mansfield Park 1999 or Pride and Prejudice 2005. Emma sits somewhere in the middle of the scale. 

Samantha Bond as Mrs. Weston

This post is getting long, but there's just one more issue that I'll bring up: the realism thing isn't just about aesthetics, or the "look" of the film. It's also something that is important on a deeper level as well. I'll try to explain. . .  

Jane Austen's novel Emma is very funny, but it also has darker undertones at times. Frank Churchill is cruel and manipulative; all the loneliness and misery of Jane Fairfax's potential life as a governess is driven home (much has been written about the plight of 19th century governesses - do some research into the Brontes and their novels for more info); the desperate poverty of many of the village people and the "gipsies"; and the comparative poverty of the Bateses. Jane Austen doesn't choose to make these issues the focus of her novel, but they are present nonetheless. None of these topics are touched on in the Miramax version of the novel, but they are present in ITV's adaptation, just as they are in Austen's book.

Another shot of Oliva Williams as Jane Fairfax. . . 

Okay, I'd better stop now. Hopefully I haven't put you all to sleep by now. :P I hope you're enjoying this series of posts, because I know I am. . . 

One more thing: if you're a fan of this adaptation, as I am, I highly recommend this book: The Making of Jane Austen's Emma. It features heaps of photos and info about the costumes, wigs, food, locations etc. used in this film, fascinating interviews with the cast and crew (including the Mark Strong one ;-) ), and the complete screenplay by Andrew Davies. It is no longer in print, but you can buy it second-hand on eBay or Amazon.