Bridgerton; history
Dec. 27th, 2020 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauradi7dwNetflix is streaming an eight-episode series that is sort of Regency romance/mystery, set in 1813 London called Bridgerton, based on the writing of Julia Quinn, but Shondaland-ized. Many Black romance readers were distressed by Rhimes's choice of Quinn as a foundation, and a lot of people feel that the AU version of England required for the filmed version (in which more than one of the main characters are rich, titled Black people, at a time that slavery was still legal in Great Britain) was not a great choice. There were definitely free Black people around at the time, but I don't think being a Duke would have been an option, and neither would having gone to Oxford - the first known Black student didn't matriculate until 1873.
But it was pretty to look at, I could play the "have we seen that film site" game (only three), and the music was nice, if cheeky. There were endless balls, so lots of dancing, but not much in the way of Playford, for sure, and while some of the music was period, some was a goof. I looked up in confusion once, at what Twitter informs me was an Ariana Grande song played by a string quartet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDs7_UNCZ8U
Also, there was a big lead-up to a waltz, and then the musicians started a polka, and so did the dancers. What?
However good the modiste, I don't think one day is enough lead time for three new gowns, unless there was a whole sweatshop behind the front of the store that we never saw (possible, I suppose). And if every dress was custom made, why didn't the character Penelope's clothes fit right? Was it supposed to be a statement about a somewhat fat woman surrounded by stick-thin girls?
Would one be able to ride horseback astride in a straight Regency gown, even in an emergency?
Nice to see a show in which menstrual blood made an appearance. There are definitely uterine fluids in Call the Midwife, set 150 years later (ish), but I don't remember seeing any in any other Regency show. Can we see the toilet facilities next? It was decades before John Snow's cholera map, but I'd like to know where the water came from and where the waste went.
There's sex. As usual, I fast-forwarded a bit, but the graphic nature of a couple of the scenes was necessary to the plot.
It's always possible to quibble, from small details to big ones. Why on earth would the servants light the candles while it was still quite light outside? They'd only have to change them that much sooner.
Updated to add this from Linda Holmes at NPR, pointing out that it was written for Netflix by people who write for TV.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/949236178/bridgerton-is-a-delicious-raunchy-tale-of-1-very-hot-family
The UK National Trust has been involved in tracking down, curating, and presenting the slavery-related past of many of its properties. There is the Colonial Countryside project,
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/colonial-countryside-project
and some of the historians consulted have been working on other slavery and colonialist links, with resulting fury from Tories https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/20/ive-been-unfairly-targeted-says-academic-at-heart-of-national-trust-woke-row
When I visited Ham House (by the Thames path, outside of London), several years ago, I asked about the enslaved people in the house, and was told that there weren't any. I pointed to a portrait with a Black page boy in it, and was told that he was a prop, added in by the portrait painter, because it was fashionable to have enslaved people. Um? I wonder what the docents would say now, or if that really was (rather unbelievably) the case.
But it was pretty to look at, I could play the "have we seen that film site" game (only three), and the music was nice, if cheeky. There were endless balls, so lots of dancing, but not much in the way of Playford, for sure, and while some of the music was period, some was a goof. I looked up in confusion once, at what Twitter informs me was an Ariana Grande song played by a string quartet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDs7_UNCZ8U
Also, there was a big lead-up to a waltz, and then the musicians started a polka, and so did the dancers. What?
However good the modiste, I don't think one day is enough lead time for three new gowns, unless there was a whole sweatshop behind the front of the store that we never saw (possible, I suppose). And if every dress was custom made, why didn't the character Penelope's clothes fit right? Was it supposed to be a statement about a somewhat fat woman surrounded by stick-thin girls?
Would one be able to ride horseback astride in a straight Regency gown, even in an emergency?
Nice to see a show in which menstrual blood made an appearance. There are definitely uterine fluids in Call the Midwife, set 150 years later (ish), but I don't remember seeing any in any other Regency show. Can we see the toilet facilities next? It was decades before John Snow's cholera map, but I'd like to know where the water came from and where the waste went.
There's sex. As usual, I fast-forwarded a bit, but the graphic nature of a couple of the scenes was necessary to the plot.
It's always possible to quibble, from small details to big ones. Why on earth would the servants light the candles while it was still quite light outside? They'd only have to change them that much sooner.
Updated to add this from Linda Holmes at NPR, pointing out that it was written for Netflix by people who write for TV.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/949236178/bridgerton-is-a-delicious-raunchy-tale-of-1-very-hot-family
The UK National Trust has been involved in tracking down, curating, and presenting the slavery-related past of many of its properties. There is the Colonial Countryside project,
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/colonial-countryside-project
and some of the historians consulted have been working on other slavery and colonialist links, with resulting fury from Tories https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/20/ive-been-unfairly-targeted-says-academic-at-heart-of-national-trust-woke-row
When I visited Ham House (by the Thames path, outside of London), several years ago, I asked about the enslaved people in the house, and was told that there weren't any. I pointed to a portrait with a Black page boy in it, and was told that he was a prop, added in by the portrait painter, because it was fashionable to have enslaved people. Um? I wonder what the docents would say now, or if that really was (rather unbelievably) the case.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 07:38 pm (UTC)http://www.davidwalkermemorial.org/black-boston
no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 08:53 pm (UTC)