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Bridgerton review – Netflix's answer to Downton Abbey is a moreish treat [Austen Wanna be Series] [ed]
UK Guardian ^ | December 25, 2020 | Lucy Mangan

Posted on 12/25/2020 5:05:02 AM PST by C19fan

Preposterous and cliche-ridden, this tale of Regency intrigue – with Julie Andrews giving a Georgian Gossip Girl touch – nonetheless leaves you wanting more

It cannot be – no, most assuredly and for the good of humanity, it cannot be – that there are people out there who aspire to write like Julian Fellowes. It simply cannot be. And yet. Now has come Bridgerton (Netflix), suddenly into our lives, and as the minutes and the hours and the eight episodes of the new costume drama roll, the thought becomes ever more inescapable.

For Bridgerton is the tale, set in 1813 Bath, of the Regency rivalry between the lordly Bridgerton family and the lordly Featherington family who are each keen to be seen as the most lordly of lordly families and lord it mostly lordily over the rest of Regency Bath’s Regency high society. We are in the Regency period, btw, and Bath. I, like the writers of the show, wish to make this very clear.

Those writers – foremost among them Chris Van Dusen, who is (is “credited” the right word?) with creating the series, which is based on Jane Austen superfan Julia Quinn’s series of romance novels – show every sign of having watched one too many episodes of Downton Abbey. Like learning one too many facts before an exam and it pushing everything else out of your mind, that final, fateful hour in the company of the Crawleys has squeezed out everything the writer once knew about dialogue, language and character and left them only with the echoes of Fellowes ringing – as they might put it – round their mental ears.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: fantasy; netflix; period; revisionisthistory
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To: mewzilla
BTW, for fans of historical romance in particular, if you're wondering why so many books suck anymore, here's a clue...

What are Sensitivity Readers? (And Should Authors Use Them?)

21 posted on 12/25/2020 8:22:16 AM PST by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds. )
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To: Jewbacca
It's not just the skin color of the cast.

There xmcharacters, plots, subplots, scenes that are going to be jettisoned or mangled in order to fit into their woke version of what women want.

This whole thing is going to another SJW cluster.

They're using Quinn's books to sell the series, but the series will gut the books.

No thanks. Just like Outlander, fans can just pick up the books.

22 posted on 12/25/2020 8:31:03 AM PST by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds. )
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To: sphinx
Re: "Slavery in Kentucky only ended with the 13th amendment."

I did not know that.

That certainly takes ALL the sparkle off the "Juneteenth" legend.

Thanks.

23 posted on 12/25/2020 8:53:06 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen
Juneteenth is a meaningful date for Galveston, Texas. Hyping it into a bigger national deal is a stretch.

Yes, slavery was abolished in Kentucky only by the 13th amendment. I think Delaware waited that long as well, but there were so few slaves in Delaware by the time of the war that Delaware is an afterthought. Now that I'm thinking of it, I need to go look up Missouri and Maryland as well. I think they acted sooner but I need to confirm that. In any event, four slave states fought for the Union and were not affected by the Emancipation Proclamation because they were not in rebellion.

24 posted on 12/25/2020 9:03:05 AM PST by sphinx
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To: zeestephen

You didnt need to be an African slave to be human chattel for the English
Ask the Irish

and the lower classes in England sent to work houses or transported to Australia or the colonies for debt or minor crimes like stealing food or game


25 posted on 12/25/2020 9:09:50 AM PST by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change.)
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To: silverleaf

Yes, the Irish were treated very badly.

I have read several long essays at Free Republic about the inhumane treatment of the Irish in Colonial America and the Caribbean.


26 posted on 12/25/2020 9:24:01 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: JonPreston

Get a chance watch The Queen’s Gambit. Also Indian Horse.


27 posted on 12/25/2020 11:24:53 AM PST by Engedi
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To: JonPreston
Speaking of Netflix, DON’T watch George Clooney in The Midnight Sky. It’s a mess.

I was going to watch it tonight - what's a mess about it?

28 posted on 12/25/2020 11:39:01 AM PST by Inspectorette
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Blacks only started coming to Britain en masse after WWII with the Jamaicans, they needed workers after the war to make up for the manpower shortage the war left.


29 posted on 12/25/2020 11:41:12 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: zeestephen

Good movie “Black ‘47” about the Potato Famine.

The English were horrible towards the Irish. It was a “Holocaust” in every sense of the word.


30 posted on 12/25/2020 11:43:50 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Inspectorette

It’s two hours of glum acting within a script that is boring and disjointed. Think of the movie, On the Beach without the plot or acting skill.


31 posted on 12/25/2020 11:58:22 AM PST by JonPreston (Crash the whole thing down)
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To: dfwgator

That’s on my list. I want reparations from the British.


32 posted on 12/25/2020 11:59:37 AM PST by JonPreston (Crash the whole thing down)
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To: JonPreston

Thank you. After watching the original “Die Hard” last night (for the umpteenth time), I don’t think I would enjoy it. I’m more of an action and adventure fan.


33 posted on 12/25/2020 12:24:43 PM PST by Inspectorette
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