Jane Austen Meets Lil Mama
The Hollywood mini-studio Screen Gems is planning a hip-hop musical reimagining of Jane Austen‘s classic novel “Emma” for the bigscreen. According to Variety, the “contemporary-set tale, which takes place at an inner-city high school, revolves around a stepbrother and stepsister. Film will include at least 15 song and dance numbers.” In theory, this isn’t necessarily a bad idea: Austen’s novel inspired the amusing 1995 flick “Clueless,” set in a Southern California high school presided over by Alicia Silverstone. But, while dotted with posh-girl argot, that film preserved most of the ironies of Austen’s plot. Call me a skeptic, but I doubt that any film inspired by the music video “Lipgloss” by Lil Mama (Screen Gems topper Clint Culpepper says that this video gave him the notion) is going to get anywhere near the concept of irony. I live to be proven wrong.
