fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3212 ]

[ SECRET POST #3212 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3212 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 027 secrets from Secret Submission Post #459.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

08. http://i.imgur.com/Y8A7hRC.jpg

I love the Tudors (admittedly really just Elizabeth), although they were (all) deeply crazy. I have no love for the Plantagenets.

This show, which I have never seen, looks awful. Why does it have a Henry VIII without red hair???!!!

I KNOW. I'm not a big Jonathan Rhys Meyers fan in the first place, but he didn't acquit himself well in the role, IMO.

A short, dark-complected Henry at that. Henry was FAMOUSLY tall and red-haired. He's one of the few British kings we can recognize from pictures. Oy. I just canNOT with The Tudors.

That does sound really fun.

I went through a Tudor phase when I was in high school so I was kind of excited about that show when it came out. I probably would have kept watching longer if I had a friend I could do this with.

That is awesome.

The Tudors was soooo pretty to watch though! About as historically accurate as your average romance novel, though.

If you (or anyone else) want to read some GOOD, ACCURATE fiction or nonfiction about the Tudors (and the Plantagenets), check out the work of Alison Weir. The woman is a queen among history writers and has written biographies, non-biographical historical works, AND novels about a whole host of British royals. Her book on the Wars of the Roses is jaw-droppingly good.

I love her books.

I enjoy her non-fiction historical books (her Princes in the Tower was excellent) but her novels aren't quite as good, IMO. Philippa Gregory is a better story teller, but she's not very good at the historical bits.

I don't think Gregory is a good story teller at all. She picks a favorite character and then demonizes everyone around her to make her look better and doesn't write faults into her characters. Those are not, to me, signs of a good writer. I really, really hated The Other Boleyn girl (which, admittedly is part because I like Anne a lot and while she wasn't perfect Gregory makes her out to be practically evil).

That's interesting to me because one of the things I felt most strongly about when I read The Other Boleyn Girl was sympathy for Anne when she was driving herself to exhaustion playing her part.

Maybe? Honestly, she just upped the scheming to the point that Anne came across as awful and unlikeable to me. Yes, some of it was true, but not anywhere near to that extent (and given the lack of power for women at the time, a woman who uses what she has to get ahead and would rather be a wife than a mistress is hardly a horrible human being), and Mary wasn't anywhere near the saint Gregory painted her to be.

(no subject)

sarillia - 2015-10-21 00:29 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

philstar22 - 2015-10-21 00:35 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

sarillia - 2015-10-21 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

The Other Boleyn Girl is not one of her better books, I agree, and Gregory based her portrayal off the most ludicrous, bullshit biographies of Anne I've ever read. But some of her more recent work has been interesting. I don't necessarily agree with her portrayal of historical figures, but she has a way of making them very real (and very flawed) human beings. It's actually very impressive when you see how she's created a character who thinks they're doing the right thing and who tries to make the right choices... but they're not. You can understand why they did what they did, but if you know your history, you'll also know that they're screwing up big time. That's tough to pull off as a writer.

Oh, that actually sounds good. The Other Boleyn Girl turned me off her writing so much I haven't actually read her other stuff. Which ones are the best?

I love hate watching historically inaccurate things with people who feel the same. One of my favorite theater experiences was going to see Clash of the Titans in an empty theater with my college classics club.

Isn't this series something like a fanwork of Jonathan Rhys Meyers starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers plus more model-like actors matching Jonathan Rhys Meyers well?

Yes, but unfortunately for Jonathan Rhys Meyers, everyone else acts him off the screen. James Frain, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger, Maria Doyle Kennedy...even Henry Cavill did better.

Yeah, but as long as he lounges nonchalantly and bare chested somewhere in the picture we're inside the scope here. Other's great acting is just a bonus, for those few who notice.

Kind of. They do have good actors on there who do a far better job than JRM, though. JRM spends most of his time gnawing and slobbering on the scenery.

Related: OBJECTIFIED SCOTSMAN THURSDAY on WTFBadRomanceCovers
http://wtfbadromancecovers.tumblr.com/

Good for you, nonny. This sounds like so much fun!

Hello, fellow Plantagenet fan! Your viewing experience of the Tudors sounds much the same as mine, sans booze. I can stomach a few liberties taken with history for storytelling purposes, but that show takes LIBERTIES, and then some.

Henry's most important contribution to history was Elizabeth. He'd hate that, vain bastard that he was.

Was Henry really overrated? He's well-known for sure, but his reputation is kind of sinister even to the average Joe, all those wives and two of them beheaded. (As for historians, pretty sure it's even worse--I find Henry fascinating but ultimately horrific. Poor, poor Countess of Salisbury...)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only