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Monday recs
Jan. 27th, 2014 08:02 amFestivids went live, and there is much to watch. Now, I don't rate The Tudors much as a show, but it did have the occasional good performance, and of course it provides good visual. (Other than Jonathan Rhys Meyer as an ever thin Henry, which, well, enough said.) Vids, however, can do amazing things with flawed sources, and this year there are two good ones using The Tudors. One of them takes the wives and makes the point Abigail Nussbaum eloquently made in her review of Hilary Mantel's Cromwell novels:
One of the reasons that the story of Henry VIII is retold so often is how versatile it is. It encompasses family, politics and religion, and has so many interesting movers and shakers, that you could tell it from almost any perspective and in almost any way--tragedy, romance, soap opera, political intrigue, farce--and end up with a good story. But to me, the story is, at its heart, about women. It would be hard to come up with a better illustration of how patriarchy screws women over, of the zero-sum game they're made to play with other women, of the chutes and ladders a woman must traverse when she sets out to parlay her biology into power, of the inescapable trap that is the virgin-whore dichotomy, than the six wives of Henry VIII. You can play by Catherine's rules, tolerating disrespect and infidelity so long as you get to keep the titles of wife and queen, only to be told that you have to relinquish them, discovering that the protection you thought they offered you has disappeared. You can play by Anne's rules (or rather The Rules), playing the harlot but refusing to give up the goods except for a ring and a crown, but these won't make you any safer than your predecessor, and the power you amassed when your demands for respect were enticing and sexy will melt away as soon as these become grating. If you're unfaithful, you die; if you're faithful, you still die. If you can't bear a male heir, you die; if you do bear a male heir, you still die. And best of all, at no point during this decades-long process will anyone around you stop to consider that maybe the problem here isn't with the women, but with the man who, directly or indirectly, caused the deaths of four out of his six wives. (Actually, the real best part is the surprise twist ending, the fact that all that desperate, bloody scrambling after a male heir results only in the brief, inconsequential reign of Edward VI, while the seemingly unimportant daughter of the ignominiously dispatched Anne Boleyn becomes one of England's most famous monarchs, but most of the characters in Mantel's books will never have the historical perspective necessary to get that joke.)
This vid tells exactly this story
Call the Midwife has an ensemble of endearing characters; I was delighted to find this year's Festivids presents one of them, Shelagh/Sister Bernadette. This vid is a beautiful character portrait of her arc.
And lastly, a Doctor Who fanfic rec, with an awesome Jackie Tyler voice:
Demeter Walks (2395 words) by kaffyrutsky
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Jackie Tyler & Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler & the Doctor
Characters: Jackie Tyler
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Character Study, POV First Person
Summary:
One of the reasons that the story of Henry VIII is retold so often is how versatile it is. It encompasses family, politics and religion, and has so many interesting movers and shakers, that you could tell it from almost any perspective and in almost any way--tragedy, romance, soap opera, political intrigue, farce--and end up with a good story. But to me, the story is, at its heart, about women. It would be hard to come up with a better illustration of how patriarchy screws women over, of the zero-sum game they're made to play with other women, of the chutes and ladders a woman must traverse when she sets out to parlay her biology into power, of the inescapable trap that is the virgin-whore dichotomy, than the six wives of Henry VIII. You can play by Catherine's rules, tolerating disrespect and infidelity so long as you get to keep the titles of wife and queen, only to be told that you have to relinquish them, discovering that the protection you thought they offered you has disappeared. You can play by Anne's rules (or rather The Rules), playing the harlot but refusing to give up the goods except for a ring and a crown, but these won't make you any safer than your predecessor, and the power you amassed when your demands for respect were enticing and sexy will melt away as soon as these become grating. If you're unfaithful, you die; if you're faithful, you still die. If you can't bear a male heir, you die; if you do bear a male heir, you still die. And best of all, at no point during this decades-long process will anyone around you stop to consider that maybe the problem here isn't with the women, but with the man who, directly or indirectly, caused the deaths of four out of his six wives. (Actually, the real best part is the surprise twist ending, the fact that all that desperate, bloody scrambling after a male heir results only in the brief, inconsequential reign of Edward VI, while the seemingly unimportant daughter of the ignominiously dispatched Anne Boleyn becomes one of England's most famous monarchs, but most of the characters in Mantel's books will never have the historical perspective necessary to get that joke.)
This vid tells exactly this story
Call the Midwife has an ensemble of endearing characters; I was delighted to find this year's Festivids presents one of them, Shelagh/Sister Bernadette. This vid is a beautiful character portrait of her arc.
And lastly, a Doctor Who fanfic rec, with an awesome Jackie Tyler voice:
Demeter Walks (2395 words) by kaffyrutsky
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Jackie Tyler & Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler & the Doctor
Characters: Jackie Tyler
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Character Study, POV First Person
Summary:
I walk a lot these days. And I owe it to Rose and himself.
Jackie Tyler talks about love, loss and learning.
