Northern things
Hooray! My third season Northern Exposure DVDs came today! I've mentioned before how awesome Amazon is, right? 'Cause I ordered these on Wednesday night, and got the free 5 to 9-day shipping on them, and they're here TODAY. Since I ordered them after business hours, that's essentially two-day shipping for free. Not quite as spectacular as the next-day shipping I got once when I was in Gambier, but still nothing to sneeze at. (And the DVDs were almost thirty percent off the list price! Yay!)
I suppose the postal service probably has more to do with this than Amazon, come to think of it. Either way, yay for infrastructure getting my indulgences to me with excellent speed. :)
And yes, for the next few weeks, you will all have to put up with my natterings about the best season of one of the best TV shows ever. I'll try to keep my glee contained under lj-cuts. *g*
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I finished off the BBC miniseries North and South (based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gaskell) today. I love the music, and was so unhappy to learn that there isn't a soundtrack out, nor are there any plans to release it. Boo. (It reminded me somewhat of the soundtrack to The Village, with the haunting violins and cellos. For me, that's an interesting connection, because I first listened to that soundtrack while I was reading The Road to Wigan Pier for the Kenyon Seminar at Exeter, and the two will always be linked in my mind. It's coincidental to hear a similar soundtrack actually used for depictions of poverty in the industrial north of England.)
Also loved that they shot in Edinburgh, and I could totally recognize it. *g* They found a really pretty place to the south(?) of the city, way up high, to shoot at, and you could see the bridge over Waverly station, which is very distinctive, not to mention some of the buildings of the old town. I think the staircase that features prominently, where Margaret gets caught in the crush of mill workers on break in the first episode, might be part of "Granny's Green Steps" by the castle, but I'm not sure.
The story was quite good, actually, although very slow to get started. For those who've never heard of it, it's essentially Pride and Prejudice with a social conscience. I have to admit that I was more interested in the strike and even the bit with the mutineer brother than I was in the love story. I liked that Margaret's friendship with the mill workers, especially the Higginses, wasn't used to basically say, "Look how awesome and socially conscious and just plain nice she is! Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she innocent and untouched by the evils of the world? Don't you want the lead to fall in love with her? You do, don't you? Of course you do!" like SOME authors I could imagine. *coughAusteninPersuasioncough* I liked that the mill workers who had more than a few lines were given real personalities, with motives for striking (or not wanting to strike, as in the case of the red-haired guy whose name slips my mind at the moment), rather than just being there to move the plot along. And all the scenes filmed inside the mill, with the cotton flying everywhere, looked extremely cool. Of course, you knew it was terrible for everyone's lungs, sure, and you knew Bessie wasn't long for this world from her first cough, but it still looked cool.
Mrs. Thornton was a wonderful stern, upright matron. There were a couple scenes between her and her son in which she kind of crossed the line from "caring mother" to "creepy and controlling," but overall I thought she was great. And it was nice to see Lynda-with-a-y as Thornton's sister. Hee! The actress playing Margaret could've injected a bit more passion into her portrayal; she was so prim and straightlaced and emotionless ("My mother's dead. Oh. How terrible. My father's dead? Oh. How awful.") that she made me grit my teeth in sympathy.
I never really got the attraction between Thornton and Margaret, which is a shame, as it's the basis for the whole story, really. I just...what did they see in each other? All I can come up with was that both were strongly principled and protective of their families (in Thornton's case, this includes the mill workers), but they didn't really see that in each other until practically the end, and Thornton's proposal in episode two comes right out of the blue, IMO.
Then again, I never have been able to see the attraction to "brooding" men (Thornton, Mr. Rochester, Heathcliff, Mr. Darcy--yes, I know, just go ahead and revoke my status as a female--and to be honest I was at first a little scared off by the ninth Doctor, to name a few), so perhaps it's just me.[1] Personally, if I were around any of them and they were as mean to and dismissive of me as they are to their future loves, I would avoid them, not be weirdly drawn to them. I mean, I can sometimes see how, in the ones that are romances, these characters end up together. Lizzie and Mr. Darcy are obviously suited for each other by the end of the book. But how do they (or any couple like this) get there? There's a step in the process that is just foreign to me.
And it's weird, because I love other media couples who bicker and hate each other at first (Maggie and Joel in NX, Devon and Danziger from Earth 2, Trevor and Claire from Cupid, Kate and Doug from The Cutting Edge, whatever). I wonder if it has something to do with the POV or the time period. In the nineteenth century examples above--and even in the new Who, although it's the weakest example--it's all from the woman's POV. The man doesn't really get to explain himself or get shown in a good light until after we're firmly in the woman's court.[2] Consequently, the meanness/bad first impression seems more unjustified and less explainable in any terms other than "guy's an ass." Also, in the Victorian ones, you can't help but be aware of the severe power differential between the genders; this makes it less likely/expected for the female to fight back, and stacks the deck for the man. There isn't a give and take like in the modern ones I've listed, which, coupled with the limited POV, just makes it seem like the guy's an ass, and why the hell should I want the girl to end up with him?
Meanwhile, in NX, for example, you can see that Maggie and Joel both have faults and hard edges that come into conflict with each other, but you can also see both of them changing and sanding off the hard corners--on each other, of course, but that's what makes it fun to watch, right? Similar for the other couples I mentioned. And I think it's helped by equal attention being given to each away from the other, and because the interactions between the are presented objectively, not from one of their POVs.
Anyway, that's me just trying to figure out why I generally don't care for the broody menfolk of yore, and why the same kinds of relationships, when done in a different way, totally work for me. I don't know that I've totally explained it, or myself.
1 Although Richard Armitage in cravat and frock coat is certainly no hardship to look at, I will admit.
2 Again, New Who doesn't really fit here. The Doctor doesn't make a bad first impression on Rose; it's just that he's awfully brusque throughout the first episode, and that would've led me to say, "Hey, you don't want me here, that's fine. Off I go." And I'd, y'know, go off somewhere, not to be seen again. Basically, I'm just using him as an example of a broody male character, and not so much for the structure I'm trying to describe in this paragraph.
I suppose the postal service probably has more to do with this than Amazon, come to think of it. Either way, yay for infrastructure getting my indulgences to me with excellent speed. :)
And yes, for the next few weeks, you will all have to put up with my natterings about the best season of one of the best TV shows ever. I'll try to keep my glee contained under lj-cuts. *g*
*
I finished off the BBC miniseries North and South (based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gaskell) today. I love the music, and was so unhappy to learn that there isn't a soundtrack out, nor are there any plans to release it. Boo. (It reminded me somewhat of the soundtrack to The Village, with the haunting violins and cellos. For me, that's an interesting connection, because I first listened to that soundtrack while I was reading The Road to Wigan Pier for the Kenyon Seminar at Exeter, and the two will always be linked in my mind. It's coincidental to hear a similar soundtrack actually used for depictions of poverty in the industrial north of England.)
Also loved that they shot in Edinburgh, and I could totally recognize it. *g* They found a really pretty place to the south(?) of the city, way up high, to shoot at, and you could see the bridge over Waverly station, which is very distinctive, not to mention some of the buildings of the old town. I think the staircase that features prominently, where Margaret gets caught in the crush of mill workers on break in the first episode, might be part of "Granny's Green Steps" by the castle, but I'm not sure.
The story was quite good, actually, although very slow to get started. For those who've never heard of it, it's essentially Pride and Prejudice with a social conscience. I have to admit that I was more interested in the strike and even the bit with the mutineer brother than I was in the love story. I liked that Margaret's friendship with the mill workers, especially the Higginses, wasn't used to basically say, "Look how awesome and socially conscious and just plain nice she is! Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she innocent and untouched by the evils of the world? Don't you want the lead to fall in love with her? You do, don't you? Of course you do!" like SOME authors I could imagine. *coughAusteninPersuasioncough* I liked that the mill workers who had more than a few lines were given real personalities, with motives for striking (or not wanting to strike, as in the case of the red-haired guy whose name slips my mind at the moment), rather than just being there to move the plot along. And all the scenes filmed inside the mill, with the cotton flying everywhere, looked extremely cool. Of course, you knew it was terrible for everyone's lungs, sure, and you knew Bessie wasn't long for this world from her first cough, but it still looked cool.
Mrs. Thornton was a wonderful stern, upright matron. There were a couple scenes between her and her son in which she kind of crossed the line from "caring mother" to "creepy and controlling," but overall I thought she was great. And it was nice to see Lynda-with-a-y as Thornton's sister. Hee! The actress playing Margaret could've injected a bit more passion into her portrayal; she was so prim and straightlaced and emotionless ("My mother's dead. Oh. How terrible. My father's dead? Oh. How awful.") that she made me grit my teeth in sympathy.
I never really got the attraction between Thornton and Margaret, which is a shame, as it's the basis for the whole story, really. I just...what did they see in each other? All I can come up with was that both were strongly principled and protective of their families (in Thornton's case, this includes the mill workers), but they didn't really see that in each other until practically the end, and Thornton's proposal in episode two comes right out of the blue, IMO.
Then again, I never have been able to see the attraction to "brooding" men (Thornton, Mr. Rochester, Heathcliff, Mr. Darcy--yes, I know, just go ahead and revoke my status as a female--and to be honest I was at first a little scared off by the ninth Doctor, to name a few), so perhaps it's just me.[1] Personally, if I were around any of them and they were as mean to and dismissive of me as they are to their future loves, I would avoid them, not be weirdly drawn to them. I mean, I can sometimes see how, in the ones that are romances, these characters end up together. Lizzie and Mr. Darcy are obviously suited for each other by the end of the book. But how do they (or any couple like this) get there? There's a step in the process that is just foreign to me.
And it's weird, because I love other media couples who bicker and hate each other at first (Maggie and Joel in NX, Devon and Danziger from Earth 2, Trevor and Claire from Cupid, Kate and Doug from The Cutting Edge, whatever). I wonder if it has something to do with the POV or the time period. In the nineteenth century examples above--and even in the new Who, although it's the weakest example--it's all from the woman's POV. The man doesn't really get to explain himself or get shown in a good light until after we're firmly in the woman's court.[2] Consequently, the meanness/bad first impression seems more unjustified and less explainable in any terms other than "guy's an ass." Also, in the Victorian ones, you can't help but be aware of the severe power differential between the genders; this makes it less likely/expected for the female to fight back, and stacks the deck for the man. There isn't a give and take like in the modern ones I've listed, which, coupled with the limited POV, just makes it seem like the guy's an ass, and why the hell should I want the girl to end up with him?
Meanwhile, in NX, for example, you can see that Maggie and Joel both have faults and hard edges that come into conflict with each other, but you can also see both of them changing and sanding off the hard corners--on each other, of course, but that's what makes it fun to watch, right? Similar for the other couples I mentioned. And I think it's helped by equal attention being given to each away from the other, and because the interactions between the are presented objectively, not from one of their POVs.
Anyway, that's me just trying to figure out why I generally don't care for the broody menfolk of yore, and why the same kinds of relationships, when done in a different way, totally work for me. I don't know that I've totally explained it, or myself.
1 Although Richard Armitage in cravat and frock coat is certainly no hardship to look at, I will admit.
2 Again, New Who doesn't really fit here. The Doctor doesn't make a bad first impression on Rose; it's just that he's awfully brusque throughout the first episode, and that would've led me to say, "Hey, you don't want me here, that's fine. Off I go." And I'd, y'know, go off somewhere, not to be seen again. Basically, I'm just using him as an example of a broody male character, and not so much for the structure I'm trying to describe in this paragraph.