Emma (1996 theatrical film) Jane Austen's most endearing character, the disastrously self-assured matchmaker Emma Woodhouse. A fine cast, speedy pacing and playful direction make this a solid contender for the Austen sweepstakes." Emma (1996 theatrical film) Emma is a 1996 period film based on the 1815 novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Written and directed by Douglas McGrath, the film stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Alan Cumming, Toni Collette, Ewan McGregor, and Jeremy Northam. The film describes a year in the life of Emma Woodhouse, a congenial but naïve young woman who thinks of herself as a romantic matchmaker in her small community in
Reception history of Jane Austen discourse allowed the reader to understand Emma mind without becoming limited by it. Another major theme of Austen scholarship has concerned the question of the "Bildungsroman" (novel of education). D.D Devlin in "Jane Austen and Education" (1975) argued that Austen's novels were all in varying ways "Bildungsroman", where Austen put into practice Enlightenment theories about how the character of young people can develop and change. The Italian literary critic Franco Moretti in his 1987 book "The Way of the World" called "Pride and Prejudice" a "classic" "Bildungsroman", where Elizabeth Bennet's "prejudice" against Mr. Darcy is really "distrust" and that "she