There is nothing but a good costume movie. It seems almost every time to be true. To be swept away by long past times where the worries are so abstract from the fears and worries we have today and where the clothes and the language are showing an impressing height of sophistication. The cosy little world to dive into was so clear, everyone knew his or her place and about their challenges. The romantic depiction of love suits in so perfectly that the fact that real and true love was almost not achievable due to arranged marriages and financial force is completely forgotten by the first appearance of a handsome face, beautiful word or perfect (anti)hero.
The most absolute example has - of course been given- by the BBC and its production of Pride & Prejudice with starring Colin Firth. He turned the search for Mr Right into a modern fairy tale and made Mr Darcy be the embodiment of the utmost perfect match for a woman in the 21st century. Darcy will probably stay this "ideal" until we all forgot the password of our facebook and other social network sites and get a real life again where "real" rendezvous are back in fashion and we stop denying somebody because we might meet someone better / richer / more handsome in the place we will fly in tomorrow, as business travel brings us there...Until then we continue watching all adaptions of Jane Austen's movies, and try to believe that courtship is going to re-appear.
Also those with caped heroes are capturing my attention. if it comes to costume movies and a touch of romanticism: D'Artagnon & and the Musketeers, Robin Hood and Zorro are falling into this category- where the crown, a love or a country needs to be protected from the immanent evil. Highly enjoyable as this leads men to figure out similarities of the hero's character with themselves and women to kind of passively experience "real" protection which in today's emancipation almost never exists anymore. Win-win situation, and both-men and women can enjoy the movie.
Another utterly delightful TV entertainment is the series "Downton Abbey". The setting is an old venerable almost-castle inherited from generation to generation by the male heirs of the Grantham dynasty. With it comes the rest of the aristocratic family and the house servants who more or less stick to loyalty towards their Lordships. Aristocratic arrogance as well as true generosity towards their personnel can be seen, orchestrated by some more or less interesting scandals and love stories, surrounded by the beauty of clothing and all items in and around the almost-castle bring a complete joy to one's evening in the sense of television entertainment (given, you have all episodes of the season to watch in a row ;-))
Next to the actual plot there are other things which are triggering my attention: I am always surprised about the importance of "real" letters in former times, as they were almost the only means of communication over distance. They would have been impressed about the speed, quality and quantity gossip has reached today: While being able to keep up the speed, quality and quantity of gossip in their village they would perhaps not been much behind, as spending their major amount of time a day with it (next to being occupied with accomplishments like drawing, playing the piano forte or studying French or German) was a woman's daily routine. But how fast we are informed now about someone getting married or being in some place (thanks to Facebook status notifications) would truly surprise them. And we would be - I dare to say- be surprised by a handwritten letter. To look at a fine handwriting is expressing so much thought - let alone the time which it must have consumed as it needs to be brought to the post office is quite touching and cannot be compared with 3 and a half lines in an email which has been written in 1 and a half minutes...
Another thing which amazes me is that everyone is always wearing a hat. I find that the hat has deserved a revival. It embodies true elegance with both, men and women and is a
ctually an accessory which I find really underrated. I do not know at this moment if the purpose of a hat was to a) complete an outfit, b)had the task to cover up one's untidy hair c)is there to protect the hair from untidiness through the weather or d) is to be there to protect against colder temperatures. But I assume it would at least serve one of those points very well today as well. I t would be such a pity if the profession of a hat-maker would further disappear and only serve the ladies at the races or the theaters.
With writing and of course receiving "real" letters and wearing hats from time to time we can maybe bring back a little of the romantic touch from older times. People will possibly inquire about those hats and start to spend "real" time which each other. One can even think of the return of "real" courtship and "real" rendezvous....
The most absolute example has - of course been given- by the BBC and its production of Pride & Prejudice with starring Colin Firth. He turned the search for Mr Right into a modern fairy tale and made Mr Darcy be the embodiment of the utmost perfect match for a woman in the 21st century. Darcy will probably stay this "ideal" until we all forgot the password of our facebook and other social network sites and get a real life again where "real" rendezvous are back in fashion and we stop denying somebody because we might meet someone better / richer / more handsome in the place we will fly in tomorrow, as business travel brings us there...Until then we continue watching all adaptions of Jane Austen's movies, and try to believe that courtship is going to re-appear.
Also those with caped heroes are capturing my attention. if it comes to costume movies and a touch of romanticism: D'Artagnon & and the Musketeers, Robin Hood and Zorro are falling into this category- where the crown, a love or a country needs to be protected from the immanent evil. Highly enjoyable as this leads men to figure out similarities of the hero's character with themselves and women to kind of passively experience "real" protection which in today's emancipation almost never exists anymore. Win-win situation, and both-men and women can enjoy the movie.
Another utterly delightful TV entertainment is the series "Downton Abbey". The setting is an old venerable almost-castle inherited from generation to generation by the male heirs of the Grantham dynasty. With it comes the rest of the aristocratic family and the house servants who more or less stick to loyalty towards their Lordships. Aristocratic arrogance as well as true generosity towards their personnel can be seen, orchestrated by some more or less interesting scandals and love stories, surrounded by the beauty of clothing and all items in and around the almost-castle bring a complete joy to one's evening in the sense of television entertainment (given, you have all episodes of the season to watch in a row ;-))
Next to the actual plot there are other things which are triggering my attention: I am always surprised about the importance of "real" letters in former times, as they were almost the only means of communication over distance. They would have been impressed about the speed, quality and quantity gossip has reached today: While being able to keep up the speed, quality and quantity of gossip in their village they would perhaps not been much behind, as spending their major amount of time a day with it (next to being occupied with accomplishments like drawing, playing the piano forte or studying French or German) was a woman's daily routine. But how fast we are informed now about someone getting married or being in some place (thanks to Facebook status notifications) would truly surprise them. And we would be - I dare to say- be surprised by a handwritten letter. To look at a fine handwriting is expressing so much thought - let alone the time which it must have consumed as it needs to be brought to the post office is quite touching and cannot be compared with 3 and a half lines in an email which has been written in 1 and a half minutes...
Another thing which amazes me is that everyone is always wearing a hat. I find that the hat has deserved a revival. It embodies true elegance with both, men and women and is a
ctually an accessory which I find really underrated. I do not know at this moment if the purpose of a hat was to a) complete an outfit, b)had the task to cover up one's untidy hair c)is there to protect the hair from untidiness through the weather or d) is to be there to protect against colder temperatures. But I assume it would at least serve one of those points very well today as well. I t would be such a pity if the profession of a hat-maker would further disappear and only serve the ladies at the races or the theaters.With writing and of course receiving "real" letters and wearing hats from time to time we can maybe bring back a little of the romantic touch from older times. People will possibly inquire about those hats and start to spend "real" time which each other. One can even think of the return of "real" courtship and "real" rendezvous....
No comments:
Post a Comment