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“Elizabeth I”: So far, so strange…
Very much looking forward to tonight’s part two of “Elizabeth I,” the two-hour miniseries on HBO about the great queen… Sat nite’s first part was interesting and very watchable; Helen Mirren does a fab job as the monarch, and Jeremy Irons was terrific as her pal and key adviser, the Earl of Leichester…
Still, I found myself as a history fan prickled by a few things with the show.
Firstly, I found myself liking Elizabeth a lot less from this presentation, and especially respecting her much much less. My sense of her has always been that she was a cool-headed, sage professional who went about the business of governing in a smart and businesslike way, which was why things went so well for her.
This show actually goes against that view. She is show as very emotional and ruling mostly from the hip and from her gut, largely based on whim and mood. If she’s angry or sad, the people around her suffer. She’s benign only in a relative way. She is mercurial and governs accordingly. Not at all what I had expected.
They also portray her as a virgin well into her 50s; I think like most modern folks, I figured her virginity was mostly a myth that she perpetuated to stay potentially marriable and thus in power, but the producers here suggest that she indeed was virginal late, late into life.
All in all, it’s an intriguing portrait but not what I had expected… Which really makes it better and more watchable, I suppose. And this portrayal may be the correct one; i need to get back to my reading, I guess.
Seeya later.
Comments
By susan
April 25, 2006 12:49 AM | Link to this
she was the decider of her era.