The Young Victoria: "remarkable lack of anti-British prejudice"

[AmeliaCason]

"The Patriot" was a truly asinine film and it would be a mistake to hold it as an example of Hollywood's anti-British sentiments. If anything, it reflects Mel Gibson's perverse desire to hack Englishmen to death. I personally found the film anti-American. From watching it, you'd think we fought the American Revolution over petty personal grievances as there was no mention of the Enlightenment era idealism that did actually characterize the debate.



But obviously, Hollywood has always been the wrong place to go for a history lesson. Hollywood likes big, dumb moneymakers. Like general audiences, it frowns on nuance and accuracy. It also seeks out good exciting stories wherever they are, never confining itself solely to the realm of American history. This is not because America is “profoundly envious of past societies…who have contributed an artistic, political and cultural excellence which has entirely eluded themselves,” but because Hollywood is a global industry whose profits depend on world-wide markets. And even without the international audience, Americans have always looked on foreign stories as their own. Except for Native Americans, most Americans arrived here fairly recently. 50% of Americans have at least one ancestor who fled the Irish potato famine.



Hollywood can also be profoundly critical of American life. Every year, we get dozens of movies that remind us of what a terrible, racist, self-satisfied country we live in. Films in this category are “Crash”, “American Beauty”, “Gran Torino”, “Borat”, and “Revolutionary Road”. Many more films exist in this category than in the “picking on the English” one.



In terms of painting England in a positive light, there is a whole sub-genre of Anglo-American romantic comedies, “Wimbledon” and “Notting Hill” being two of my favorites. And Woody Allen, whose films have epitomized the New York experience for 30 years, seems to have re-engerized his fimmaking by fleeing across the pond.



So whatever you think about Hollywood, just remember, it definitely isn't personal!

[Mark O]

Went to see the Film yesterday, there's nothing anti-British in it, it's a good well-acted drama, but I think it would only really appeal to History enthusiasts and fans of Costume drama (must have cost a fortune making the endless gowns and uniforms!)



Paul Bettany's part as Lord Melbourne was a much larger role than I expected, not a very nice character in real life judging by the Film, referring to ordinary people as 'The Rabble', but he was devoted to Victoria, the soundtrack would appeal to Classical music fans with 'Zadok the Priest' in slower form concurrent through the film, Miranda Richardson was excellent as usual as Victoria's overbearing Mother, as was Jim Broadbent as King William, I wasn't really familiar with Emily Blunt before but she played her part effortlessly.......a full 10 out of 10!



Harriet Walter as Queen Adelade and Miranda Richardson as Duchess of Kent.......

[CaptainWaggett]

I thought it was pretty dull and I wonder whether it was cut in a hurry (though heaven knows, it was long enough) since there was a mention of Lady Flora Hastings though they didn't actually use her story. Which is far more scandalous than the business with Victoria refusing to sack her ladies-in-waiting but puts her in a far worse light. Was it perhaps a mini-series that was then cut for cinema release - although the frocks were posh, the crowd scenes were quite sparsely populated and the Coronation Ball seemed to only have about 12 guests! Otherwise there seemed to be an awful lot of chess and couple walking in the garden but I waited in vain for something to actually happen. And I'm not convinced that Victoria was quite the Liberal she was painted - in later life she was a staunch supporter of the Tories. Some excellent acting though I thought Paul Bettany did seem rather young to be PM.

[Mark O]

name='CaptainWaggett'] although the frocks were posh, the crowd scenes were quite sparsely populated and the Coronation Ball seemed to only have about 12 guests!

One thing I noticed (as I daresay have many who have seen this Film) was at the Coronation in Westminster Abbey it was an obvious painted backdrop where there is a large group of guests on a balcony in the distance

[thatllbetheday]

name='GRAEME']



What I find odd is that even when the baddie is a German (Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons in Die Hard 1 & 2) or even a Yank (Brian Cox and Tony Hopkins as Hannibal Lec(k)tor) - quite often they will be played by Brits anyway!

I think that British actors are begging to play bad parts - you often hear actors say that the "baddies" are more interesting. The American stars are probably green with envy, having the movie stolen from them by Brian and Tony. They're not daft, you know.

[Rob Compton]

name='Mark O']One thing I noticed (as I daresay have many who have seen this Film) was at the Coronation in Westminster Abbey it was an obvious painted backdrop where there is a large group of guests on a balcony in the distance

I haven't seen the film yet but I do know that a number of scenes were filmed at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. If anyone's interested they currently have an exhibition about the making of the film there.



rgds

Rob

[faginsgirl]

I have just come back fom seeing this and thought it was really well done



Miranda Richardson was fabulous in it!



I`m not sure how I thought it would end, but the only citicism I have is that it ended abuptly and it seemed a bit of a cop out to just fill the end with historical facts. Obviously it wasn`t going to go through all of her life but I`m sure they could have found a more creative way of doing it.



Anyway, I would still recommend it for fans of period drama



xx

[Steve Crook]

name='faginsgirl']Miranda Richardson was fabulous in it!

Is there anything she's ever done where she wasn't fabulous in it?

With her and Jim Broadbent in it, it's hard to see how they could go wrong



Steve

[TimR]

name='Bleach2']I've just bought Andrew Roberts' book about Waterloo, subtitled "Napoleon's Last Gamble", although I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I must admit that after my experience with Zulu Dawn, I remain deeply suspicious of American attempts to re-write British history in order to make it accord with their own retrospectively applied prejudices. It is, after all, not their history. I actually find offensive their "parachuting" in of so-called "Hollywood stars" into stories and settings where they have no place (Zulu Dawn is a good example of this), as is the sniping envy (for that is what it is) of the Empire which these "characters" then begin to articulate. Hollywood's seemingly obsessive need to traduce and degrade British history and British historical figures is rooted, I believe, in a sense of cultural inferiority to what they are traducing. I have come to think that American culture has an innate tendancy to debase and to degrade (the standard of culture as a whole), and that the Americans remain profoundly envious of those past societies (most notably the British) who have managed to attain and contribute to the world an artistic, political and cultural excellence which has almost entirely eluded themselves.



However, it does show how deeply entrenched in what passes for "culture" in America is the idea of cinema as an overwhelmingly effective propaganda tool through which the sensibilities of the masses (most of whom - the cynic probably calculates - do not read properly researched history) can be manipulated - or even re-modelled.



The one person whom you can be certain would have admired the methods of Hollywood is Doctor Goebbels.



So much for the anti-Nazi stance of Valkyrie...^^

The mind boggles