Comments | idlerat: If I may make a recommendation...

idlerat

If I may make a recommendation...

Mar 13, 2011 20:40

So, on the one hand, we kind-of sort-of have spring(ish), with fairly warm weather in New York and blessed Daylight Savings Time. On the other, we have a weekend where - for me, anyway - it's been very hard to turn away from the horror, sorrow, astonishment, fear and uncertainty of the news from Japan ( Read more... )

Comments 9

Downton Abbey fleurdeleo March 14 2011, 03:26:16 UTC

Oh, why didn't you like Downton Abbey? I have seen the new JANE EYRE. Particularly good exchanges between Jane and Rochester in this version.

Re: Downton Abbey idlerat March 14 2011, 15:34:34 UTC

Oh no! You took down your comment before I got a chance to answer!

Oh well - I was going to say that I thought it really sentimentalized the extreme inequality and class relations, that I really couldn't care about preserving the estate, that I didn't sympathize with the heroine, that I hated how the two queer (either explicitly or coded) servants, who are also the two who challenge the assumptions of the servant-master relationship, are demonized, and that, in the context of my hostility to the "values" of the series, I had little tolerance for it's OTT and completely implausible plot. Also I didn't like the characters in general, and I didn't like the acting (really hated Elizabeth McGovern), except for the 2 older ladies (who are pretty awesome). But I had to admit, in the end, that the two leads were attractive and had chemistry.

Re: Downton Abbey idlerat March 14 2011, 15:36:32 UTC

*its.

Really ought to have checked before posting - I can't edit comments over here!

Re: Downton Abbey tekalynn March 14 2011, 21:58:33 UTC

I'm not sure we're "supposed" to sympathize with Mary. She's not demonized, but the show makes it pretty clear she's a spoiled brat. If anyone's a heroine in Downton Abbey, I'd say it's Anna.

I love the way all the other actors sort of clear out of the way and let Dame Maggie strut her stuff every time the Dowager Countess appears onscreen.

Thread 6

laurelwood March 14 2011, 12:53:19 UTC

I didn't even know the new Jane Eyre was out. You mean I saw that dreck, Red Riding Hood, when I could have been seeing something better?

Also, hurrah for a new issue of All Those Jane Eyres. My mom, a big fan, is actually in town today, so she can see the pie charts with her own eyes, rather than having me just explain the relative sizes of the pieces.

idlerat March 14 2011, 15:37:43 UTC

I love that your mom is enjoying those posts :)

I'm not sure if JE is out everywhere, but it's on in NYC.

The Downton Ladies, etc. fleurdeleo March 22 2011, 17:45:34 UTC

You make a lot of good points! It was a touch hard to care about the estate, but I did care (a lot!) that the estate got its infusion of new money from Elizabeth McGovern's character, yet her daughter couldn't inherit. The two leads do have good chemistry, for sure, and I did love her short-lived affair with the Turk. Elizabeth McGovern's acting seemed odd and stiff to me at first, but then, it grew on me. She seemed believable as an American who adapted to the (trying) aristocratic way of life. Also, she seemed kind of languid and frail as I imagine a lady back then would have been after bearing those children. Loved the scene where she helps with the "Turkish problem." Good point about the two queer characters (right, assuming the head servant woman was, too) as dastardly. I think the male character made sense from a plot perspective, vis a vis the Turk blackmail situation. Will you watch it when the next season comes around?