antiacquiescence:
I just started watching “Emma Approved” and I realized how much I legitimately adore her character both in the book and in the series.
I think there’s something to be said for a woman who is entirely aware of her good qualities, but who is naive about her negative qualities, because they haven’t really caused problems for her to this point. She legitimately thinks she’s an attractive, intelligent person who’s worth people adoring her, even at the beginning of the story when many young heroines in the Regency and in modern YA novels are insecure, self-loathing, and think they’re ugly and not worth loving (see Eyre, Jane or Swan, Bella), and that’s a great thing to see. She thought she was worth listening to and reading, simply because she was herself, and was skilled at what she did, and I think that’s actually a message that a lot of people should be hearing. I feel like her Twitter “about me” would be “I enjoy being interesting! And well-dressed.” Or maybe that’s just mine.
She learns throughout the course of the story that she should be more considerate and think of the consequences of her actions, which is also a very important lesson for people, but she’s never shamed for her naiveté, because (this is the important thing) she learns from her mistakes. She is held accountable for the consequences of her behavior, because she’s an adult woman, who doesn’t hide behind her informed “goodness” but she doesn’t change her core character in order to be made more likable. She cuts down on the matchmaking, learns to more actively respect those around her, and she becomes a better person without hating the person she used to be.
But here’s the thing: she was not malicious in anything that she did, she legitimately thought she was helping people when they couldn’t help themselves, and was horrified when she ended up hurting them instead. Emma is without artifice, and she isn’t ever false in anything she does, modesty included. She may be difficult to like early in the story, but she’s easy to love because she’s so earnest in what she does. It’s why Alex Knightley cares for her, despite her apparent ditziness, and can’t hate her too much for being overzealous.
And she still thinks she’s the bees knees at the beginning and at the end of the story, and for that I say “You go Emma Woodhouse.”