This movie gave me a fleshed out version of what I knew, and it was interesting to watch. The big issues with Elizabeth's reign as detailed by the movie were her religion and who she'd marry. These topics were practically all that were discussed. Not even 40 minutes in, lines such as "Marriage is politics, no time for following one's heart," and "Her majesty's body and person are no longer her own property" can be heard. Lines such as these spoken to day would cause about 50 news articles, 30 YouTube videos, etc, just due to the sexist and degrading nature of them; it is shocking to us now to see that they were common and accepted at the time, which gives another look at why Elizabeth potentially chose not to marry in order to keep power.
From the very beginning, the word "tonypandy" came to mind. It's a concept which we have discussed in great depth, both in class and previous blog posts. When Queen Mary asks Elizabeth to uphold the Catholic religion, Elizabeth seems to weasel her way around it and give a really half-assed answer. She says to Mary, "I promise to follow my heart" which is neither here nor there. I sort of understand why Mary was so reluctant to choose a successor when Elizabeth was being so shady! Elizabeth is, for the most part, portrayed as the queen of queens, dedicated to religion and England for her entire life. In the movie, we see a different side of her, and in class we discussed an even different side yet. The glorification of her reign is tonypandy that works to Elizabeth's advantage.
What I really enjoyed about this movie was the transformation from cheeky, red-blooded and young Elizabeth, to the end where she is the Queen of England and it shows in her expression. Cate Blanchett did a really nice job portraying the transformation that was probably difficult to execute, and as a realistic fiction I think this movie did an excellent job of showing what might have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment