Unschooling Jane Austen

Every time we walk past the cinema, on our way to our favourite cafe, we glance at the posters advertising the movies that are currently screening. And I always say, “We haven’t been to the cinema for a long time. The last movie I saw was Emma.”

Some time in February 2020, while big sisters Imogen, Charlotte and Sophie were at work, Gemma-Rose and I headed into town to see Emma. We sat side by side, munching popcorn, and delighting in the story. We laughed! We enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to see the movie again with the other girls, who are also huge Jane Austen fans. But before we could do that, the cinema closed. Covid had arrived.

The day after our Emma outing, I wrote the following story for our unschooling community.

Unschooling Jane Austen

The other day, while I was reading Jane Eyre out loud, my thoughts suddenly swerved from Mr Rochester to Mr Darcy, and somehow I started thinking about Emma. (It’s strange how so many thoughts can pass through our minds in a split second, isn’t it?) I looked up from the book and said to Gemma-Rose, “Shall we go to the cinema to see Emma?”

We googled cinema times and then made a plan to see the latest production of Jane Austen’s novel. And yesterday, full of anticipation, we headed into town to see the movie.

We arrived with time to spare, so we bought some lunch before going into the cinema. While we ate, we chatted about Jane Austen. How many versions of Emma have we seen? Which one do we like best? And why? We talked about movie and mini-series productions of other Austen novels, and how different producers put their own slant on these stories.

When we arrived at the cinema, I bought our tickets, and Gemma-Rose went in search of popcorn and choc-topped ice cream cones. Then we fought off the other seven Wednesday afternoon cinema-goers to get the best seats in the house. Nine people. Yes, there were loads of us wanting to see Emma.

The lights went down, and we settled back. The movie began, and we crunched and licked and watched. And then unexpectedly, Mr Knightly discarded all his clothes, and there was a collective oooh! from all the older people in the audience. (Everyone except us.) Gemma-Rose and I grinned at each other.

The movie was good. It met our expectations. It was beautifully filmed, and the music was delightfully different. The timing was spot on: Emma was very funny. Best of all, none of our favourite moments from the book was missing.

At 4:30 pm, we stumbled back into the light and reluctantly rejoined real life.

As we drove home, Gemma-Rose and I talked about the movie. “What did you think of Mr Knightly? … Mr Churchill wasn’t that good looking (in our opinion)… Perhaps his appearance reflects his character… Weren’t the costumes magnificent? … When Mr Knightley chastised Emma, did he use the exact words from the book?… I think they added that bit about Harriet’s father… Emma’s father was much more sprightly in this production compared to the others we’ve seen. The screens were very clever. They added to the humour… Did you notice that the titles were followed by full stops? Why was that? Someone’s idea of style?…”

Then Gemma-Rose asked, “What book would you like someone to make into a movie or mini-series?“ That was the start of a conversation that led us from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens to Shakespeare to the Brontes and back again to Jane Austen.

This morning, I’ve been thinking about when I was 16. What were my days like? What did I do? Unlike Gemma-Rose, I spent hours in school sitting behind a desk. Like Gemma-Rose, I read Jane Austen and other classics. Unlike my daughter, I didn’t enjoy them because I had to write essays answering questions such as:

How does the fact that Jane Austen stretches out her climaxes relate to her concentrating her interest on exploring the effects of emotion rather than on the critical high moments of emotion?

(Does that make any sense?) Somehow having to write essays spoilt all the fun. It killed my interest. Of course, it didn’t matter whether I was interested or not. I still had to read the books and discuss them and write essays and take tests. Somehow I managed to do that rather well. I got good grades in English.

So I’ve been wondering: who knows more about the classics: me or Gemma-Rose? I did lots of formal in-depth study of the novels and the plays that were on the required reading list. I pondered clever questions that needed complicated answers. All Gemma-Rose has done is read the books, watch the movies, and chat about them. Oh yes, sometimes she’ll also google the novels and plays. And she’s watched a few relevant YouTube videos as well. (We love watching behind-the-scenes videos and interviews.)

Without a doubt, Gemma-Rose has more knowledge than me. (Any knowledge I gained at school leaked away as soon as I’d been tested on the books.) But I’m catching up. I’ve discovered that the classics are interesting. I want to know more. Fortunately, school wasn’t my only chance to get an education.

So yesterday we went to the cinema. We licked ice creams. We crunched popcorn. We watched a movie. And then we talked and talked. I bet everyone who saw us thought we were just out having fun together. Well, we did have fun. (What could be better than spending time with a teenage daughter on a Wednesday afternoon?) But that’s not all we were doing. We were also pursuing our passions. We were following our interests. Isn’t that an enjoyable and effective way to learn?

Although we weren’t able to return to the cinema to see Emma, Imogen, Charlotte and Sophie have now seen the movie because we bought the DVD version as soon as it was released. Gemma-Rose and I enjoyed our second viewing just as much as our first!

Photos

I must have taken these photos of Sophie when Gemma-Rose and I were reading Jane Eyre together.

I wonder if you’ve seen this version of Emma too. If so, what did you think? And what was the last movie you and your kids saw at the cinema? Did you enjoy it? Did you talk about it? Did it lead you on any learning adventures?