North and South, BBC adaptation of Gaskell

Oh, I forgot to say, since I'm wishy washy and back from outer space, you should probably de-friend that RSS feed if you had it goin'.

I kept hearing about North and South from bbccostumedrama, but I kept getting it confused with that Civil War mini-series by the same name. Anywho, it's an adaptation of a novel Elizabeth Gaskell wrote in 1855. I am only familiar with Gaskell through another BBC adaptation, Wives and Daughters. W&D is alright because it has a nerd in it, a Victorian nerd, but overall I wasn't overwhelmed. But it's period romance!

Y'all should've seen what Mr. Daroga did when I said I wished I had a period hat. Yes, he did go there. Halfway through watching N&S I emailed my_daroga to tell her I loved it, so obviously she needed to see it. Now that I've watched the other half, I doubt she'll like it as much as me. There's certainly not much of a sense of irony or humor in it, and it tends to be socially concerned and moralistic. Now, I like things to be socially concerned and moralistic, as long as I don't feel preached at, or that I'm being told the difference between right and wrong.

But I do have a kink for Heroines Trying Very Hard To Do The Right Thing Because It Is Right, which I think might be less interesting to some than Clever Heroines Who Make Mistakes, Forgive Themselves, And Move The Fuck On. The former is Elinor Dashwood, you know, with her Sekrit Pain. The latter is more Lizzy Bennet. (In fact, these differing styles of heroines could bear more scrutiny, maybe one day I will do a post. Maybe it will involve pastries. Or something.) The point is, N&S did hit it a bit on the head at the end, had some rather too cheesy moments. At one point it actually said, "For the children! You must, for the children!" . . . but what I'm saying is this is probably why I liked it. I'm the sort of person who goes to Sound of Music Sing-A-Longs and says the line, "Oh please, Captain, love them; love them all!" right along with Maria. So, I dunno. The film might interest only a narrow cross-section of the ole flist.

( So only click if you care about period romance. Or floofy skirts and Victorian hairstyles--ya hai thar r pictures. Or Industrial Revolution politics and the changing class systems of the times. Or the suffering of the human condition. Only click if you care about human dignity, and pride and love. Or the children. I tell you, click for the children! )