[Raves] The White Queen @ BBC1
Hello my lovelies,
Lately I have not been watching as much tele as I used to do
back when I was in undergraduate and high school, firstly because I am living
most of the year in Japan right now (Japanese series is a little too cheesy and
many of them are not to my taste) and secondly is because of the time
constraint that I have; to both divide my time to do research and have the time
of my life as this is the first time I am living apart from my family and in
the heart of Japan nonetheless.
The White Queen working poster (Pic Credit: jeremyirons.net)
For some reason, I was browsing through some new series and
came across The White Queen. I have got to admit, it was quite addicting to see
the slutty Max Irons as King Edward. His appearance might not be as appealing
as Henry Cavill and his aura is not as strong as Jonathan Rhys Meyers but he is
definitely a character to watch.
Like the Tudors, The White Queen might not be the most
historically correct series out there, hell it might not be correct at all. It
is fictionalized history. Although, unlike The Tudors, the era of Battle of the
Roses is not as famous or is not as known to many people outside the Great
Britain (assuming they learn it in school) and historians.
I have yet to read the books written by Phillipa Gregory,
which is the basis of the series, but I know enough to know that King Edward IV
might not be a very straight person and was very very attracted to then
Elizabeth Woodville but he would not be a slut and try to rape the girl. I mean
he WAS the king, and he literally could get ANY girl he wanted (or at least he
could at least buy them). Although Max Irons boyish charm is amazingly
appealing.
Irons may not be the best actor although he is the main
character (the older depiction of King Edward had done better than Irons) in
the series, but he surely has the charisma to be a good actor. He is still a
kid and he is still very fresh in the industry. He might be a graduate of
school of music and drama, but acting is more of an experience thing rather
than a skill you can just learn in school. Also for different people, this
experience comes in different ways.
The White Queen (Elizabeth Woodville) herself is played by Rebecca
Ferguson is very beautiful. Again, she is not the best portrayal of Elizabeth,
but she is good. In fact, I think she is more aware of her character and have
better possession of them than King Edward himself. Personally I favor Rebecca
more as Elizabeth than Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn.
Like The Tudors, I do think many of the older supporting
casts are better than the main casts themselves. Again this could be because
they are just that good or it comes with the years they have been in front of
the camera and in most cases it shows. To the date I am writing this, I have
only watched three (3) episodes of this series.
I have read a couple of reviews about the series as well and
one particular thing made me laugh. Okay, the setting was in 15th
century England. Of course at that time toothbrush was yet to be invented. I am
no historian but if I recall correctly even in the earlier times there were
teeth cleaners that are used such as the chewing sticks or miswak. Maybe not every one could afford it, hence many
dramatizations of 15th centuries drama or serials showed that actors
(are made-up to be) has decaying or decayed teeth. Also usually these are just
commoners or peasants where they have no proper shelter and beg for food for a
living. While in The White Queen, these are aristocrats and kings. Even there
were no modern day toothbrushes I am sure they have ways to clean themselves.
Some other part that makes this show a little appalling to
me was the costumes and other part of the sets. Maybe filming in England itself
would cost a fortune to make the series work, but railings? Seriously? If it
cannot be moved, at least try to hide it from the shot or even better Photoshop
it out. Then there are the dresses. If I remember correctly, back then in the
15th century, the dresses were laced up, and does not use zipper.
That actually make me paused and check the Internet for which era was War of
the Roses were in. Other than that there are few other discrepancies but for me
it’s forgivable. It is hard if not impossible to get an exact replica of a 15th
century furniture and feel of the grass in the 21st century. No
matter how hard the set productions tries, haters are still going to hate. Also
about the hairstyles, beside Max Irons overly waxed hair, I have no problem, as
I am not too sure about the hair fashion from back then.
I am comparing this series a lot to The Tudors as I think it
is the nearest comparison I can make. Like the Tudors, the bare bums and rated
scenes are available in abundance in this series. Watching these kind of series
makes me think, don’t the Kings and Queens, Lords and Ladies at these times
have other things to do like over looking an army, or planning for the country
or making peace treaty or something other than spelunking every chance they
get.
As for the disappointment in the characters, I do not blame it
a 100% on the actors themselves, because a big part of acting is reading the
lines given by the writers and taking the direction by the director. And the
dialogue of the two man character seemed a little too light for someone so
important.
With help of a little ‘magic’ here and there just make this
series a more interesting series to watch. I do hope that this series does not
drag too long like The Tudors did, most shows loses it’s initial charm after a
few seasons and I do hope this series would last for about 2 or 3 seasons max.
Since this is just a rave, I do not have a starred review
for it. Also because this series is still on going, which means I do not want
to make a decision based only from the first three episode since there might be
more interesting things in store for the viewers in the future.
I would recommend this series to anyone who likes the nice
and not very heavy English accent. To those who likes historical FICTIONS. To
those who likes The Tudors and Downton Abbey. To those Max Irons fans and to
those housewives who has nothing better to do on a Sunday.
Love and Kisses,
GWRL
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