(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Enjoying the Tudors even if it is historically inaccurate in places, grossly so in some, not so much in others. Also, Gabriel Anwar of Burn Notice is portraying the combined roles of Henry's sisters Mary and Margaret Tudor. Mary was married to the King of France, who was 30 years her senior, and died of natural causes after one year - when she married Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon in secret. While Margaret was married to the Portugese King. In this series, Margaret marries the King of Portugal who is 30 years her senior and she suffocates, then marries Charles Brandon in secret.

Also Henry the VIII weighed over 400 pounds when he died. They had to move him about by mechanical means. I've been told they won't do that in the series, since Rhys Meyers is a sex symbol.

Ah, well, most historicals take liberaties with the time period for dramatic effect. I rarely read them for historical accuracy. Actually, history is not always accurate since the interpreters often take their own liberaties in their interpretations. Good historians question their interpretations.

Comments

[ann1962]

I just started watching this too. Prompted by, I think, a PBS-ish special about Henry. They comment that when he was young, he was quite attractive, and very athletic, playing tennis indoors and such, and it was only after a fall during jousting that he gained weight because he couldn't move well and was in constant pain. I wondered if and how they would attempt this with the series.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

From what I've read...they sort of pick a middle road - do padding and emphasize the effects of the leg injury.

The story is veering quite dramatically from historical record, so you can't figure out what happens next by checking history. I discovered that today.
I'm 6 episodes in, in S1.

It's well written and fun, just not accurate.

ETA: It was rec'd to me by a friend who loved the series to pieces. It's sort of like Game of Thrones, except more sex and political maneuvering, and less violence.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Margaret married the King of Scotland.
It's how the crown ended up with the Stuarts after Elizabeth died.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks, I was trying to figure out what Margaret's real story was. Apparently the writers wanted a younger and handsomer King of France.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Her marital history was almost as tumultous as her brother. She ended up married three times and was the ancestor of both of James I & IV parents, Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Wonder why the writers didn't choose to follow either of the sisters, and combined them? Maybe it was a length issue?

Because Margaret and Mary sound as interesting as Henry and far more interesting than his wives.

[spikewriter]

Some of the stuff in The Tudors is just "Why did they feel the need to change that?" such as having Margaret married to the King of Portugal when Mary (who she's obviously supposed to be) married the aged King of France. (Margaret married the King of Scotland and then had not one, but two disastrous marriages after his death and was a soap opera unto herself.)

But Hirst is bad about doing that. In Elizabeth, he shows Bishop Gardiner standing firmly against Elizabeth after her ascension to the throne, when the man died three years before she came to the throne. He also shows the Earl of Sussex as one of the conspirators in the Duke of Norfolk's plot against her; Sussex was actually Elizabeth's chief general against against the rebels. There's historical liberties and then there's just making stuff up.

I know some folks enjoy the show, but there's just too much about the writer's choices that annoy me.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think this is one of those cases where it works better if you don't know the history that well.

I checked on Wiki and discovered various weird changes regarding the Duke of Suffolk and Woosley. Historically Woosely reconciled Suffolk and Henry, while in this version...Suffolk has been convinced by Boylen and Norfolk to conspire against Woosley to regain the King's favor.

So, I've decided I'm not going to know what happens next by checking the history books - because the series already veers so completely from it.
William Compton in the series is portrayed as gay, while there was no evidence that he was historically.

It's obvious a series that is rather loosely based on history, like historical romance novels. ;-)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

No, he doesn't grow obese. The Tudors Henry just becomes 'distinguishedly gray' and a tad jowly.

There's this scene with Anne of Cleves where real Henry was absolutely obese by that point, but in The Tudors... he was still ripped. LOL!

That said, I actually enjoyed the series, ridiculous though it often is. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think I might enjoy it more for not being accurate. Although the Anne of Cleves bit would have most likely made more sense if he was grotesquely obese. Not that far yet.

Can't say I want to watch the actual history...