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meganbmooreMore by accident than design (Do fictional preferences you aren’t even paying attention to guiding your choices count as “design”?) most of the historical movies (and a couple miniseries) that I’ve watched recently have been based on books/books about historical women, and have either focused on positive portrayals of female character types that are looked down on in fiction, or presented a deconstruction of typical female archetypes. I also have the books for most of them.
Here are some:
I Capture the Castle: This is one of those things that I’d probably find terribly boring if it was set today? Daughters of washed up writer try to inspire dad and get married to a rich guy to help the family escape poverty. But set in the 30s, I kind of adored it, if in a light, uninvolved way that frequently had me going “Riley Finn, what are you doing?“ Romola Garai and Rose Byrne didn’t hurt things.
Daniel Deronda: In which George Eliot says “Yes, my contemporaries and Writers Of The Future, you can so address sexism and racism at the same time and I shall prove it. There were also elements of deconstructing the Hero Complex, but it wasn’t really explored. Downside: This one, I do not have the book for. I should fix that. Also, it was very strange to watch the first episode of Downton Abbey right after finishing this miniseries. Because Hugh Bonneville is rather darling than, and utterly awful and hateful here.
Impromptu: Not based on a book, but based on George Sand’s life, and her relationship with Chopin. The movie was pretty fun, and made me curious about Sands work. Though I have no idea where to start.
Queen Margot: I was expecting the tons of sex, but not the incest! Not that I’m judging. There were some bits with this that I was iffy on, but it was interesting, and I enjoyed that it viewed and treated such an openly promiscuous as a traditional Heroine. Though, Vincent Perez’s agent must really think he does brilliant death scenes, based on my experience with his movies.
Dangerous Beauty: I think this glamorized the life of Venetian courtesans (I wasn‘t surprised when I looked up Veronica Franco after watching the movie and learned she didn‘t have the happy and shiny life the ending implied was ahead of her), but it was also pretty fascinating, despite my, uhm, completely not being sold on the love story. I have the biography written by Margaret Rosenthal that the movie used, but want to read some of Franco’s writings before I read that.
Lady Audley’s Secret: My absolute favorite of the ones here. I am, in fact, currently concocting a plan that will allow me to conquer time, space, the barriers between fiction and reality and my own sexual orientation so that I can have a mad love affair with Lady Audley. I doubt this will work, but it’s worth a try. Lady Audley is very much the kind of Heroine that eventually evolved into the Femme Fatale. Her actions and even motivations are those that would typically be villainous, but the narrative perspective is that she’s trapped by society’s ideas of class and gender, and that she’s rebelling against that, even if the POV character (not Lady Audley) is a walking Patriarchal Enforcer. I’m very worried, though, that the narratives POV of Lady Audley as a Heroine and sympathizing with her is more the being created by people who would side with her POV, to some degree, and not part of the original text.
I would say “I will read all the ones that I have by the end of the year!” but that never works out well for me. Also, I can barely stop reading Christopher Pike’s 90s books and Eva Ibbotson’s MG fantasy books long enough to read some new releases, much less books where I technically know what happens. (I don’t hold with the “I’ve seen one version, why do I need the original/adaptation” as all versions are different, but, you know…)
Here are some:
I Capture the Castle: This is one of those things that I’d probably find terribly boring if it was set today? Daughters of washed up writer try to inspire dad and get married to a rich guy to help the family escape poverty. But set in the 30s, I kind of adored it, if in a light, uninvolved way that frequently had me going “Riley Finn, what are you doing?“ Romola Garai and Rose Byrne didn’t hurt things.
Daniel Deronda: In which George Eliot says “Yes, my contemporaries and Writers Of The Future, you can so address sexism and racism at the same time and I shall prove it. There were also elements of deconstructing the Hero Complex, but it wasn’t really explored. Downside: This one, I do not have the book for. I should fix that. Also, it was very strange to watch the first episode of Downton Abbey right after finishing this miniseries. Because Hugh Bonneville is rather darling than, and utterly awful and hateful here.
Impromptu: Not based on a book, but based on George Sand’s life, and her relationship with Chopin. The movie was pretty fun, and made me curious about Sands work. Though I have no idea where to start.
Queen Margot: I was expecting the tons of sex, but not the incest! Not that I’m judging. There were some bits with this that I was iffy on, but it was interesting, and I enjoyed that it viewed and treated such an openly promiscuous as a traditional Heroine. Though, Vincent Perez’s agent must really think he does brilliant death scenes, based on my experience with his movies.
Dangerous Beauty: I think this glamorized the life of Venetian courtesans (I wasn‘t surprised when I looked up Veronica Franco after watching the movie and learned she didn‘t have the happy and shiny life the ending implied was ahead of her), but it was also pretty fascinating, despite my, uhm, completely not being sold on the love story. I have the biography written by Margaret Rosenthal that the movie used, but want to read some of Franco’s writings before I read that.
Lady Audley’s Secret: My absolute favorite of the ones here. I am, in fact, currently concocting a plan that will allow me to conquer time, space, the barriers between fiction and reality and my own sexual orientation so that I can have a mad love affair with Lady Audley. I doubt this will work, but it’s worth a try. Lady Audley is very much the kind of Heroine that eventually evolved into the Femme Fatale. Her actions and even motivations are those that would typically be villainous, but the narrative perspective is that she’s trapped by society’s ideas of class and gender, and that she’s rebelling against that, even if the POV character (not Lady Audley) is a walking Patriarchal Enforcer. I’m very worried, though, that the narratives POV of Lady Audley as a Heroine and sympathizing with her is more the being created by people who would side with her POV, to some degree, and not part of the original text.
I would say “I will read all the ones that I have by the end of the year!” but that never works out well for me. Also, I can barely stop reading Christopher Pike’s 90s books and Eva Ibbotson’s MG fantasy books long enough to read some new releases, much less books where I technically know what happens. (I don’t hold with the “I’ve seen one version, why do I need the original/adaptation” as all versions are different, but, you know…)
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Date: 2010-12-18 03:07 am (UTC)