Bout to be a what? Girl fight!

While reading this excerpt from the book Emma, I honestly did not have a strong emotion one way or the other. I did not find any humor in this chapter and caught myself wandering off in my thoughts and having to re-read a few paragraphs over again. At certain times in different situations, it can be a little more challenging to picture a scene the way a writer wants it to be perceived. It is a little more difficult to understand the exact tone or severity of a situation when it is written in text. Nothing beats actually experiencing a situation in person and having a firsthand view of what is happening. Viewing the video in class put the whole scene into perspective for me. I was able to feel more emotions and feel more sympathetic towards Miss Bates. I got more of a sense of what was really happening. Even though Hollywood does have a habit of sometimes distorting novels to make them more dramatic and appealing to an audience, it can put scenes back into perspective for a viewer. Immanuel Kant expressed “Laughter is the eruption of emotion that arises from a strained expectation suddenly reduced to nothing.” The reading brought about no “eruption of emotion” for me, but I did break out into laughter after watching the clip. The laughter that erupted was a type of sympathetic and “feel bad” laughter. No one really knows exactly what to do in awkward situations, therefore it’s common for people to let out a giggle or two as a way to express their emotions. The reader couldn’t really tell the extent of the remark and the exact damage it did to Miss Bates’ feelings. The video brought out the emotions and added a dramatic twist to the scene. The long and drawn out pause was a great way to add in more emotional appeals and a great example of how an “eruption of emotion” can arise.