jedibuttercup

Ah, Emma. Austen herself said that she loved Emma very much, but feared others wouldn't, because of all of her flaws. But none of Austen's heroines are terribly perfect; even the sweet ones like Jane and the longsuffering ones like Eleanor and Anne Elliott and Fanny Price get themselves in plenty of avoidable trouble. It's the journey to get past those flaws as much as the obstruction of outside circumstances that makes the happy endings so sweet.

Emma starts out the book higher in the instep than just about any other of Austen's heroines, privileged and spoiled both. Most of Austen's other heroines are like Georgiana Darcy, merely privileged, or Lydia Bennett, merely spoiled, or somewhere in between, with some money and some freedom of spirit but nothing like what Emma is allowed. That could have made her as ugly as one of the foil characters like Caroline Bingley, but she's saved by two things: her own basic kindness, which makes her want to do better when she's caused others hurt, and the responsible personages of her governess and Mr. Knightley, who let her know when she's caused that hurt in the first place.

She ends the book wiser than she began it, and vastly in love with an excellent role model who is vastly in love with her; they may not be as passionate as, say, the Darcys, but you can tell they will be as sickeningly sweet as the Bingleys.

And finally... well, Cher from Clueless *is* an updated version of Emma, and I was very, very fond of that movie during my college years. =)