Parade's End and Defiance
Jul. 3rd, 2013 03:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I'm thisclose to giving up on Parade's End - it's duller than toast. Although that may be the point? Beautifully filmed though. The production and cinematography is quite lovely...but the characters and dialogue are sleep inducing. Reminds me a little of Howard's End, Brideshead Revisited and other Victorian era British Costume Dramas...where everything is restrained, and realism is sort of romanticized in soft tones.
These dramas seem to comment on the repression or restraint. Sylvia, Christopher's flighty and sardonic wife, appears to be screaming at it. He's restrained, barely showing a glimmer of emotion, while Sylvia in stark contrast is emotional. It seems to be an underlying theme.
The suffragette's are fighting against the binding of corsets, and oppression. While, their male counterparts appear to be walking in a fog of routine, bored, and ambivalent.
At one point in the drama, Sylvia tells her mother-in-law, that she's no longer certain what it will take to get a rise out of her husband. And informs her lover that she's only with him to see if her husband will react with just a flutter of emotion.
For his part, Benedict Cumberbatch does manage to emote and not look as constipated and repressed as one might think. You see the pain in his eyes, as he realizes that his wife and he are so poorly matched. But he must continue with the pretense...or the parade, as he calls it, for this is what is expected and they are Catholic...and divorce is out of the question.
From an intellectual perspective, it is quite good. But from an entertainment or emotional perspective? Dull. My attention keeps wandering. I'm guessing this is one of those dramas that requires a bit more focus than I can currently provide it?
2. Defiance in stark contrast is rather fun. Reminds me a great deal of Westerns, except without the PC issues. Science Fiction handles PC (political correctness) better than Westerns do, which may be why Westerns have more or less gone the way of the dodo? There are a few hanging around still - Justified is a modern day Western and Hell on Wheels, but not many.
Defiance like the vast majority of science fiction that I've watched is concerned with racism, immigration vs. imperialism power plays, sexism, and war vs. peace. There's various races in Defiance. What fascinates me is that the Native Americans are the miners and in a very strong, complex role. They have power. Depicted as a ranch family, with traditional views, but also flexibility. Grahaem Green is quite good here. Think G-Car from Bab 5. With the Irathsiq (sp?) - Nolan's daughter's race, depicted in the traditional Native American role. On the opposite side, is the thuggish/power hungry Tarrs...who resemble white Europeans. They have immigrated to Earth with imperialistic views - ie. instead of appreciating the natives, they sneer down at them. They dress a bit like decadent 16th Century Europeans and have perfect white skin.
The series also has five strong and central female characters of various races: Mayor Rosewood (played by Julie Benz), her sister and the local Madame, Kenya (played by Mira Kirshner), Tarr's scheming and clever wife, the lawmaker/Nolan's adopted Irathski daughter, who is a bit wild and has visions (she reminds me of River in Firefly but with more attitude and not as pretty), and the Doctor ( a Butan who had been involved in weird and tortuous experiments during the war and is trying to turn over a new leaf).
It's not often you find this many female characters in a science fiction television series, particularly one's whose main goal in life isn't to be male eye candy. None are. While there is nudity...it tends to be for a purpose and the woman are tough as nails.
The music is great in this series...and eccentric. We have lots of little known 80s and 90s pop and alternative works. One of the characters is obsessed with his record collection and plays the DJ at the top of the St Louis arc, the only thing remaining of the old St. Louis, 30 years later.
These dramas seem to comment on the repression or restraint. Sylvia, Christopher's flighty and sardonic wife, appears to be screaming at it. He's restrained, barely showing a glimmer of emotion, while Sylvia in stark contrast is emotional. It seems to be an underlying theme.
The suffragette's are fighting against the binding of corsets, and oppression. While, their male counterparts appear to be walking in a fog of routine, bored, and ambivalent.
At one point in the drama, Sylvia tells her mother-in-law, that she's no longer certain what it will take to get a rise out of her husband. And informs her lover that she's only with him to see if her husband will react with just a flutter of emotion.
For his part, Benedict Cumberbatch does manage to emote and not look as constipated and repressed as one might think. You see the pain in his eyes, as he realizes that his wife and he are so poorly matched. But he must continue with the pretense...or the parade, as he calls it, for this is what is expected and they are Catholic...and divorce is out of the question.
From an intellectual perspective, it is quite good. But from an entertainment or emotional perspective? Dull. My attention keeps wandering. I'm guessing this is one of those dramas that requires a bit more focus than I can currently provide it?
2. Defiance in stark contrast is rather fun. Reminds me a great deal of Westerns, except without the PC issues. Science Fiction handles PC (political correctness) better than Westerns do, which may be why Westerns have more or less gone the way of the dodo? There are a few hanging around still - Justified is a modern day Western and Hell on Wheels, but not many.
Defiance like the vast majority of science fiction that I've watched is concerned with racism, immigration vs. imperialism power plays, sexism, and war vs. peace. There's various races in Defiance. What fascinates me is that the Native Americans are the miners and in a very strong, complex role. They have power. Depicted as a ranch family, with traditional views, but also flexibility. Grahaem Green is quite good here. Think G-Car from Bab 5. With the Irathsiq (sp?) - Nolan's daughter's race, depicted in the traditional Native American role. On the opposite side, is the thuggish/power hungry Tarrs...who resemble white Europeans. They have immigrated to Earth with imperialistic views - ie. instead of appreciating the natives, they sneer down at them. They dress a bit like decadent 16th Century Europeans and have perfect white skin.
The series also has five strong and central female characters of various races: Mayor Rosewood (played by Julie Benz), her sister and the local Madame, Kenya (played by Mira Kirshner), Tarr's scheming and clever wife, the lawmaker/Nolan's adopted Irathski daughter, who is a bit wild and has visions (she reminds me of River in Firefly but with more attitude and not as pretty), and the Doctor ( a Butan who had been involved in weird and tortuous experiments during the war and is trying to turn over a new leaf).
It's not often you find this many female characters in a science fiction television series, particularly one's whose main goal in life isn't to be male eye candy. None are. While there is nudity...it tends to be for a purpose and the woman are tough as nails.
The music is great in this series...and eccentric. We have lots of little known 80s and 90s pop and alternative works. One of the characters is obsessed with his record collection and plays the DJ at the top of the St Louis arc, the only thing remaining of the old St. Louis, 30 years later.
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no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 09:41 pm (UTC)I did get the book and may read that first--by then maybe at least the DVDs will be available on Netflix. Or maybe I'll break down and pay for it.
It is slow, but love the characters. Even the ones I hate. Cumberbatch amazes me like Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep used to--how he can be so completely different in different roles.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 10:54 pm (UTC)Where? Oh I DVR'd it on HBO when it first aired, and decided to save it to watch later, when I was in the mood. I was warned by someone on my flist not to delete it - because it's impossible to find, since it's only out on Region 1 or 2 DVD - which is UK only and not available on US DVD or on netflix. So, I'm not sure how you can get it? I'd send it to you but no way of doing it, I'm afraid. Saved on DVR - and I'm not tech savvy about these things.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 01:23 pm (UTC)They told me not to do it - unless I was certain because it's ridiculously difficult to find.
I don't know why. It was on HBO. It should be available on HBOGO or On-Demand or on DVD at the very least by now. You might want to try again, this was back in March.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 03:21 pm (UTC)