Happy Eostar
It seemed a fitting day to push thru the rest of The Jefferson Bible, even tho as the no woo-woo version there is no resurrection to this story. I've also heard that a copy of this book is given to Senators when they first take office, tho it hasn't seemed to do any good one way or the other.
I've started The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, feeling a need to have at least one non-fiction book going on, for balance if nothing else. I like the writing, Syrie James clearly knows her details, but some of the social parts of it are making me uncomfortable, esp. the feminism. Now, no question there was such forward thinking back then and earlier but it was the exception and not the rule. To have Charlotte acting as if "women belong in the kitchen" was a shockingly out of date attitude is startling enough, without having the elderly servant echoing it. Charlotte may have been an early feminist but she was certainly educated enough to know that as such she was a lone voice crying out in the wilderness.
Anachronisms really bother me, no matter how much I try to just swallow it down as each generation creating their own spin on legends, their own view of history or, really galling, it not mattering because nobody is familiar with the original legends/history anyway.
I tried out season one of BBC's Robin Hood this weekend, for which all those rationalizations were given. I will say that I did enjoy the writing and acting (as usual the villains, the Sheriff and Guy of Gisborne, were the most fun), the sets were beautiful and the fight scenes exciting. However, the costumes ranged from truly homespun looking to obviously machine-made and that just drove me nuts, and I'm not even getting into the outfits that wouldn't be in style for about 800 years, Maid Marian's smoky eye make-up or the crocheted shrug that looked like it could have been picked up at any Goodwill store.
I really wanted to like this series because I love the Robin Hood legend, but not even the promise of Sir Guy's bare chest (on view from season 2 on, no doubt due to the handsome Armitage's effect on viewers) can overcome those jarring anachronisms. Maybe part of it is also soreness over the awareness that I am no longer part of the core audience for these stories. I can be such a poor loser.
I've started The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, feeling a need to have at least one non-fiction book going on, for balance if nothing else. I like the writing, Syrie James clearly knows her details, but some of the social parts of it are making me uncomfortable, esp. the feminism. Now, no question there was such forward thinking back then and earlier but it was the exception and not the rule. To have Charlotte acting as if "women belong in the kitchen" was a shockingly out of date attitude is startling enough, without having the elderly servant echoing it. Charlotte may have been an early feminist but she was certainly educated enough to know that as such she was a lone voice crying out in the wilderness.
Anachronisms really bother me, no matter how much I try to just swallow it down as each generation creating their own spin on legends, their own view of history or, really galling, it not mattering because nobody is familiar with the original legends/history anyway.
I tried out season one of BBC's Robin Hood this weekend, for which all those rationalizations were given. I will say that I did enjoy the writing and acting (as usual the villains, the Sheriff and Guy of Gisborne, were the most fun), the sets were beautiful and the fight scenes exciting. However, the costumes ranged from truly homespun looking to obviously machine-made and that just drove me nuts, and I'm not even getting into the outfits that wouldn't be in style for about 800 years, Maid Marian's smoky eye make-up or the crocheted shrug that looked like it could have been picked up at any Goodwill store.
I really wanted to like this series because I love the Robin Hood legend, but not even the promise of Sir Guy's bare chest (on view from season 2 on, no doubt due to the handsome Armitage's effect on viewers) can overcome those jarring anachronisms. Maybe part of it is also soreness over the awareness that I am no longer part of the core audience for these stories. I can be such a poor loser.