The Embellished Independent: Gender, Class, and Visual Excess in Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair (2004)
: The film attempts to reconcile Becky's manipulative traits with her circumstances as a poor orphan, making her more of a relatable "mountaineer" of social climbing than a villain. The Plot Pace vanity fair -2004 film-
The "steadfast and honorable" soldier who is hopelessly in love with Amelia. Church Times Thematic Elements Social Climbing: He was all velvet and danger, a nobleman
Becky’s first public triumph came at the theatre, where she met Lord Steyne. He was all velvet and danger, a nobleman whose interest could open any door. Lord Steyne listened to Becky with a conspirator’s delight. He rewarded cleverness with favors and indifference with coldness; he enjoyed watching her weave ambition into charm. With him, Becky learned the rules of aristocratic life—the jokes that land, the insults that cut too deep to reply to. For all his attentions, he remained a patron with an appetite for entertainment. With him, Becky learned the rules of aristocratic
While Thackeray’s original narrator was often wary of Becky, Nair’s film presents her as a "mountaineer" rather than just a social climber.
