Transformings

 

     A reoccurring theme in this movie was surprisingly love. Yes, surprising because this is a movie about a ruler, and these ruler types seem to only be concerned with power. When it comes to marriage, the tendency seems to be to completely bypass love, and marry whoever will be of their benefit when it comes to gaining more power. Elizabeth is in love with Lord Robert from the very beginning of this film. She is twirling and dancing with the same actor who's in "Shakespeare in Love". Go figure. The first dance scene is bright and pure. Their affection for each other is seeping through every seem, and her hair is flowing and twirling along everywhere.

     They dance in other scenes throughout the movie. However, by the end of the movie, Elizabeth is stone cold and literally white. Her lover is looking up to her in wondrous awe as the transformed Elizabeth stoically walks down from her thrown and past him sitting in the entranced crowd.
     Elizabeth was offered a hand in marriage from those of high ranks in Spain and France throughout the film. However, she has no interest in getting married, and even mocks the notion during her speech to the bishops. At this point, it is unclear whether she is denying these suitors because she is in love or she is occupied with the idea of being a powerful woman who is independent of a man. by the end of the film, however, it seems that the later is her only focus. She is literally trying to portray the imagine of a stone sculpture of the Virgin Mary by means of her make-up, and she even says to the crowd that she is married to England.

 

     Is Elizabeth's transformation due to her finally realizing that there is an inability to marry to love? Does she take-up this inhuman, virgin image because she became sucked up into the power game and knew a marriage to a man of power would take some of the power away from her? Is it a little of both? When did Elizabeth stop concerning herself with love and start concerning only about working on an image that would finally help her to gain the power over England she deserved being in her position? In the movie when Lord Robert is somewhat seriously bantering around with Elizabeth on the boat and ends up proposing to Elizabeth, Elizabeth says, "Does not a queen sit under the same stars as any other woman?'". When a normal person is put into an inhuman position, it is always interesting to see how much of there own self they give up and for what reasons.

queen elizabeth

The queens transformation is undoubtedly apparent. she transforms from a young intelligent and literate girl to a ruler. Her final form tho is a statue??? I get the idea behind why she would want to be viewed as such but is that really worth throwing your life away... Like you could have still danced and enjoyed the things you did behind closed doors. Hell she could have danced all night and caked on all that make up and drew some eyeballs on her face and slept on the throne for the rest of the day. Like really....

I just think life is to precious to throw away like that just to become an icon. You could have been one for eternity anyways and not go down for a dirt nap that early... But I digress. I feel like she lived life backwards kind of like Benjamin Button did. She grew up and was wise and intelligent and through out her midlife had to kind of just figure it out just to grow old and make unwise/crazy choices. Like straight Queen of hearts.... except pretty... dress and all.

Clearly she was playing the game of thrones, and clearly she won because she still is an eternity later... ( #GOT hype) All in all, I think her "sacrifice" could have been noble... I just cant wrap my head around how she came across the logic that she had no other choice than to be a divine statue... Like soldiers aren't soldiers and cops aren't cops all the time. You have to be able to be "human" also. which is why I think her final development was what drove her to be as mad as the mad king Aerys Targaryen.

K I am done.

Elizabeth

At the beginning of the movie Elizabeth, I felt like I knew very little about Elizabeth. Traditionally, my interests follow King Henry VIII and his legacy, having watched The Tudors and reading up about them. So, I knew about the basics.

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. 

Elizabeth the Young to Elizabeth the Queen

First, I'd like to say that after watching Elizabeth, I have a much greater appreciation for any person who assumes a position of power. I could never imagine having to make the daily decisions that a leader of a country has to make on a daily basis and that is the aspect that makes this movie so fantastic.

Over the course of the film, we see a young, carefree and romantic Elizabeth transform into the the more fierce, cold but ultimately powerful Queen Elizabeth. In the beginning of the film, she is not necessarily concerned with what is happening around the world even though she knows she is a princess. The first time Elizabeth is shown to the audience, she is frolicking in a meadow along with the other members of the cult who follows her. Okay... They are not actually a cult but I swear they followed her like one in every scene. They even watched her have sex. Kinda awkward.

Then Elizabeth becomes queen and, as the film progresses, the audience sees Elizabeth make multiple choices that do not necessarily go the way she'd prefer. She makes a decision to have an affair with none other than the dude from Shakespeare in Love. She ignores the advice of her council from occasion to occasion and her following and support begin to decline as the threats against her become stronger and stronger.

This all takes a drastic toll on her as a person and slowly she transforms into the Elizabeth they teach us about in school: The Queen Elizabeth who was responsible for England's Golden Age. She paints her face white and says she will never marry because she is "Married to England" and sits on the throne as the film ends, effectively giving me goosebumps.

Personally, I loved seeing her transform from a frolicking girl to a ruthless queen who asserts her power. The film made her seem like such an underdog in the beginning that it was so rewarding to see her not take any shit by the end of it. Too often, history classes and textbooks focus on only the events that the public would considered to be "memorable" but never really explain how the leaders got to that point in their lives.

In history classes, we learn about the terrible things that Hitler did but never really discuss how he became the dictator he was. Is it not ironic how history often grazes over the true history behind a story?

Speaking about the film as a whole though, the outfits and make up were spot on in this film and I kept thinking back to all the portraits we looked at together as a class. They put a substantial amount of detail into the costume design and the result was fantastic.

Finally, I loved Cate Blanchett's performance as Elizabeth in the film. The one scene that stood out to me was how she was rehearsing her speech before she spoke before those in the church in an effort to unite the church system. Her acting was simply phenomenal. It was only her in that scene and she was able to make herself weep and go through all the emotions that a normal person would in order to get the speech perfect. Bravo!

You Go Girl!

The whole time I was watching this movie all I could think was, "YASSS QUEEN!" Elizabeth from the beginning did not care that she opposed the views of others. She was sentenced to prison and almost death by her own sister for not viewing religion in the same way. She couldn't even lie to her sister and promise her to keep England Catholic after her death to ensure that she becomes Queen. Elizabeth was strong-willed, and had good ideas to make England better and to win the war with Spain, but the men in her court refute her commands, which of course make things worse.

Throughout the movie, Elizabeth tries to remain her kind and loving self, which nobody took seriously. The plot shows that in order for her to get her way, she had to change her appearance and demeanor to prove she did not need a husband or an heir. I feel that this dramatic switch also follows the portraits we were showed in class. The first couple portraits are soft; she also is not wearing wigs or make -up, then she has the large luxurious wigs and pale make-up to emphasize her stoic face. The movie shows us what led to the look she was known for, and it was because she was heartbroken and taken advantage of.

But her personality itself had always been sassy and strong. She had perfectly timed comebacks, she flaunted Lord Robert around even when she was supposed to be getting to know the Duke of France, and she killed those who wanted to overthrow her. She also was forgiving and compassionate. She remembered the good deed one lord made towards her when she was being sentenced to the tower, and spared him and his family when she sentenced to kill everybody else. She was able to laugh and dance regardless of the situations she was in, such as the time she came back from seeing the Duke of France in a dress and wig pretending to be a woman, she came back, laughed it off and started to dance with Robert. Queen Elizabeth in this movie constantly surprised me with her reactions, especially since we only know the one face she makes in the portraits, and I absolutely loved it.

Queen Elizabeth

So in all honesty, I did not leave the film feeling like I had a good sense of who Elizabeth really was. I understand that the film was only focused on the early years of her reign, but I felt like there could have been a little less dance scenes and a little more badass Elizabeth scenes. The film intended to depict Elizabeth’s evolution from a timid, nervous, young queen to a more assertive, powerful queen. But even until the end when she orders the murder of all those bishops, it was Sir Francis that orchestrated it. The end was definitely her taking control of her identity by cutting her hair and all that business, and we are left to assume that following what was depicted on film, she finally took control.

The film was entirely focused on Elizabeth’s gender and the constant pressure on her to find a man. The “you are only a woman” lines were really, really annoying.

 By the end, I felt just as exhausted from hearing Sir William reminding her she needs to lock it down with someone. Not only was there pressure to run a country that as it war, but to then find a proper suitor on top of it! That is still extremely difficult in 2016! (Enter exhausted face emoticon).  So in that way, the film felt a little bit like a romance story with a monarchy in the background. But I must say the scene where she catches Duke Anjou in drag was pretty hilarious! He added some much needed comedic appeal.

One aspect I thought was interesting about the film was how they depicted Elizabeth as no virgin at all! I went in with an expectation that there probably were going to be sex scenes, but none that involved Elizabeth, so that was a little shocking. But it made the character seem more likable; she wasn’t as frigid as I thought she was. The first scene where she is dancing around outside with her ladies in waiting helped with that too. She actually seemed playful and free-spirited. I wonder if she kept those qualities after she was ‘re-born’ into the Elizabeth we now know; the pale-faced, wig adorned “virgin” queen we know now.

Queen Elizabeth

As a young girl I always dressed up like a princess and dreamed of becoming one. I think most little girls play dress up, and want to be a princess. Unlike Elizabeth who became a real queen, we did not dress anything alike. She had to wear dresses that made her arms look bigger than her body. She never aged in the photographs. She was a girl who was well liked and got a lot done. At the age 13 she looked like she already had so much power and her years of being in royalty had just started. None of us of today could say that was us when we were young. I barely knew what power was. They only person who told me what to do were my parents. Those are the two people who had power over me. Guess you could look at it as king and queen and I was their little princess, who had two other sisters. To grow up and not actually be able to live life the way you and I have, I couldn't imagine. Having so much responsibility and power held by one person. Having someone tell you who you should married and how it should be done seems different and not something I would like. Wearing fancy dresses and going to fancy parties, just to put on an act, fun but not so much.

In the movie Elizabeth showed to be a happy girl who got to experience a little of life, unlike her sister Mary. She was in the field skipping around with her friends, while Mary is unhappy with her life, she went from having everything to nothing when becoming queen. She had to grow up and Practice her speech over and over again, like we do sports or other things we want to be good at. Elizabeth gains power, the minute she speaks the crowd stops talking, although she isn't doing well because the crowd isn't happy. She goes from a happy girl to not so confident when she is on the thrown talking to the crowd. Somehow though she gets better and becomes a very good queen.

Elizabeth and Her Transformation

Before watching Elizabeth, I did know a little about her life and era because of my mom. She is a full blown history buff when it comes to the Tudors and that time period. Knowing the main points of her life, and then going into this movie with a small idea of how it was going to go, I was slightly surprised with her character development. She grew into her role as queen gradually and it was fascinating to watch. It was also interesting to see her go from a woman who I felt like didn't really want to be queen to a woman who fully excepted it and never wanted to let go of it or the power, even with all the dangers that came with the job.

I loved watching the part where she goes before the court? I think it was, when she proposed her idea of a united England under one church. It symbolized one of her first commands as queen and you could see her internal struggle moments before when she was practicing what she was going to say. She emitted power while the other men were outraged. She showed queenly qualities and put some of those men in their places like all good women do.

Another part I loved was when she finally accepted her role. Her transformation is truly seen when her hair gets cut off and when she exclaims that she has become a virgin and is now married to England. She had to get though a ton of hardships to get to that point. The ending scene with her in all white and the powerful/hunting music in the background was what every person imagines Elizabeth to be. Mighty and powerful.

From Elizabeth to Queen Elizabeth

After watching Elizabeth there were some interesting parts that stood out to me.  In the opening credits it pulled in my attention right away with the music.  The music starts off kind of slow then progresses to get louder and kind of seems dark.   Then Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth faces pop up and the background is red with crosses floating around.  I think that the credits alone tell a lot about Queen Elizabeth’s reign.  Elizabeth’s reign started kind of slow and she did not want to do anything to fast, and then things started to take a turn and started to do some dark things.  I think that the crosses symbolized the religion and the large impact that it was during this time especially since it was changing so much.  I believe that the red symbolized the blood of those that Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth killed during their reigns.

The next thing that I noticed is that when Elizabeth was crowned queen, she looked just like the picture we looked at on Thursday in class.  As Elizabeth is being crowned we are below her showing us that she has power, but also that she has already embraced it.

Lastly after the meeting with the counsel and deciding to go to war with Scotland, there is some dark music, thunder, and Queen Elizabeth did not have a pleasing face.  I thought that this showed darkness and defeat, since England had lost the war.  Elizabeth to me seemed to get persuaded into a lot of things if it helped her to keep her power.  This can be seen with the war with Scotland because Elizabeth was against war, but she agreed with counsel and it did not pay off in the end.  Also when Elizabeth was told that the church was against her, she quickly went to them and changed the religion back to Protestant.  Maybe Queen Elizabeth was just insecure.  Queen Elizabeth seems to think that she can make decisions on her own but all the major ones to keep her power came from someone else telling her what is best for her.  At the same time Queen Elizabeth does show that she is powerful since she does not marry and that she stood up to many men.  After finding out that the Robert was married I think that Queen Elizabeth became a more confident and powerful queen!  Queen Elizabeth was definitely an interesting person and made me wonder what she was going to do next.

The ups and downs of Elizabeth

The movie definitely caught my attention in the beginning when they were burning the protestants. I think everybody that was watching this hated bloody Mary from the way she acted like a child. On another note, it seemed like every time her and Sir Robert were having a good time together, something bad happened. The first instance she was arrested, the second time, someone tried to kill her with an arrow. I was shocked that Robert was already married, I dont know if it was just me, but that took me by complete surprise, I was a fan of Robert before I found that out. I really dont think she had alot to choose from, that French guy seemed like a horrible guy. But Robert was also kinda cheating. I laughed so hard when the French guy was dressed like a girl when she walked in.

I feel like throughout her time being queen she gained confidence very quick, like making jokes while addressing the men, and winning the first vote. I really didnt know who to trust. Everyone that was around the queen was so sketchy and i felt like anyone one could have killed her at any monent.

THE SASS OF IT ALL

w

"Lord Robert, you make whores of my ladies, but you will not make one of me"

 Our first female avatar for this class, Queen Elizabeth, who from this movie has grown to be a very sassy person.

"I may be a woman sir William, but if I so choose it I have the heart of a man." 

If that does not scream extreme sass then I do not know what else will. Oh yeah the first quote in this post. I mean she, one does not want a man who makes her feel guilty, and two at the end she literally says she is married to England. She needs no man!

 Anyways, the start of the movie where the Catholics are preparing the Protestants to be burned at the stake gave me a really American Horror Story: Coven vibe there goes Mat referring to AHS again... #NOTMYFAULT

Like do you not see the resemblance? 

Also I really liked how the costume designer really matched Elizabeth's Coronation Outfit to the t.
Another thing I noticed while watching is the it seems that the movie follows a pattern of alternating between light and dark scenes. While watching I was wondering why they kept doing that. Then again I was wondering why they needed to torture people or burn people at the stakes like... why? Also they captured Elizabeth to imprisoner for having conspiracy to murder but then release her to become Queen of England like...

WHAT IS YOUR LOGIC PEOPLE?!?!?!

In all this movie was all over the place...no wonder I fell asleep while watching it ( Ok for the record everyone was speaking very softly and it bored me to sleep like it is not my fault if they decide to speak softly and then out of the blue just be loud again...) 

(Sorrynotsorry)