#as far as the depiction of jane... yes that story does not arrive until the 17th century. i don't think anne necessarily discovered

[fideidefenswhore]

I see the anti Annes are concern trolling at how "sexist" bsr is and how they fear for "future generations" if this is their gateway drug. It's a danger to society people! Win for Boleyn.

It's arguably so in certain scenes, the two writers of the series, one being a woman, the other nonbinary, doesn't preclude it from sexism.

But I would also consider it concern-trolling, and hypocritical, since many of them seem to find Anne’s death hilarious...I do almost think they mock Anne’s fans just for being earnest, compassion is not in currency. 

However, it does seem like, not all the historians, in the final edit, were in favor of, for example, the depiction of Mary Boleyn.

And it's surely infantile to cuss out one of the commentators for something they never said because you're upset that, in this series they contributed to, about their rival, the portrayal of your fave did not adequately kiss their ass to your exacting specifications. 

#i mean they did this with TSF too... #they are mistaken if they think it is the norm in these documentaries for all the historians to collab / endorse every single comment of #the other...the interviews are filmed independently? #anon #'i don't like anne or henry because they were cruel to catherine' #this series: *anne and henry are cruel to catherine* them: omg choke and die for portraying this #like... what is it exactly that they WANT ahtrugfjfksj #as far as the depiction of jane... yes that story does not arrive until the 17th century. i don't think anne necessarily discovered #her on his lap. nor ripped off her locket. #however...she did by contemporary report say that she blamed her miscarriage on that 'it broke her heart that he loved others' #(they reitreate this in her 'testimonial': my heart was broken) #which suggests maybe an inciting incident/revelation of some kind? even if it did not play out like that persay #and if when she found out coincided with when she started to show a sign of miscarrying (bleeding etc) #then of course she would blame it on that. #of course she would say 'i lost the baby because of her' #of course if it did it was a coincidence. but of course that's how she would see it #or rather: how she would feel #our emotions are not always 'accurate' #or rational...hence them being emotions #like i just don't... lol. know #a lot of people that do not like to consider events from anne's perspective #watched a series from anne's perspective. and then were mad that it was. #honestly seems the crux of it #*towards/to/about catherine that is

[aris-goes-abroad]

Gothic or Not

Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey is widely considered a gothic novel. However, it is far too easy for its audience to question its role in the gothic genre. I definitely found myslef questioning it during my read. Unlike other gothic texts, Austen's book does not follow the usual tropes which are often depicted in a gothic story. There's no "question" or mystery that is thrown upon us at the beginning of the story. And while the novel has some mystery—which is mostly brought upon by Catherine's especulations—it does not appear until much later. And it is rather quickly resolved. Regardless, I cannot ignore some of the characteristics which Austen implores in the making of her book such as the love interest who appears early in the book as well as the sidekick friend.

The tone of the book in the beginning is neither somber, dark or mysterious and there's no real suspense. The ratio of these, compared to the other tones that are far more prominent in the novel such as light-hearted and humerous, is about 3:7. And I understand that its meant to be a satire on young women and their fascination by Gothic literature at the time. However, in my head it still does not fit into the Gothic group. Yes, the discription of the Abbey and its Gothic Architecture and Catherine's love for the Gothic is prominent throughout the piece and even more so when she arrives at Nothanger Abbey. Nevertheless, it is only then that the story has the usual Gothic suspense. The observation of the chest and her expeculations drive forth a sense of intrigue, even the weather changes to fit the darker mood that Catherine is invisioning through her observations of the Abbey. But Catherine's entire dilema/belief that General Tilney murdered his wife is the biggest push towrads the Gothic and it is quickly dismissed by Henry. Who allows Catherine to grasp into reality and slowly but surely start to realize that not everything is like a novel.

So I would say that no, Northanger Abbey is not a Gothic novel. It has some chapters and moments in which the mood and tone fit the Gothic genre it feels as though they are only there because Catherine has set it in her head that something dark happened. The novel read more like a commentary on Gothic novels and their impact/effect on young women at the time. It shows that one can have a somewhat Gothic experience without any of the supernatural, and that as much as one (Catherine) can long to be the character in a Gothic novel we need to open our eyes to reality. At its roots Northanger Abbey is a commentary on the social economic structure at the time as well as the gender roles. This is seen through the "friendship" between Isabella and Catherine, as well as through General Tilney's actions.

P.S. This is all truly just about Cathernine's naivety to Isabella. If Isabella's actions were an assortment of random letters on a wall that stood twenty feet from Catherine, and Catherine had to name the letters one by one. The doctor would diagnose Catherine as blind because she would be unable to read the letters. Which is fascinating coming from someone who reads so much.

[whopooh]

Knights in shining armours – or shining dresses. The MFMM August trope challenge

“I’m not sure, Sir. How do we know if she actually wants to be rescued?”

The August trope for MFMM turned out -- just like the earlier ones -- to instigate a lot of really good fic, and also very different fic. August’s trope was “the Dulcinea effect”, which means “the compulsion many male heroes have to champion, quest for, or die for girls they met five minutes ago”; the name is taken from the woman Don Quixote in Cervantes’s novel strives to be a champion for (more here).

This is a fun trope, but it’s also very ironic – making fun of these self-appointed and not seldom selfish and self-aggrandizing male champions. This poses specific problems for a fictional universe like Miss Fisher’s, where most men aren’t depicted as stupid like that, and where the male lead is behaving in what could be said to be the opposite of the dulcinea effect: very rational, not seldom actually saving people, but also hardly ever managing to save the leading lady, because the lady is so good at saving herself -- which he accepts. 

This means that just like the soulmate trope of January, the idea and the fictional universe collide in interesting ways, asking for twists and tweaks and thorough considerations. The imagination of the fanfic writers of course found ways to use the trope, and it is turned around and peaked at from different angles (here is the full collection). 

I’m trying to follow some kind of logic in this post by following who is the dulcineaing person, and who is being dulcinead – not that these words exist, but I hope you catch my drift.

“She was not in distress – she had climbed up here for the view.” Art by @kidnthehall​.

First there are fics that use well-known story templates to completely subvert the idea of the dulcinea trope -- a subversion that fits perfectly with the fictional universe of Miss Fisher.

Here we find @ollyjayonline, @kidnthehall & @solitarycyclistadventures, “Love and Other Fairy Tales”. This is a short, beautifully crafted fic, with few words and with images, rather like a picture book – a picture book for adults. It explores who Phryne is and what she stands for, and shows this as a contrast to the common fairy tale idea of a woman needing a man to come to her rescue. The fic is very succinct, and has one-liners about Phryne like "She could do everything herself – but good company was always welcome" and "She was not in distress – she had climbed up here for the view." 

A second fairy tale to the trope is @loopyhoopyfrood, “The Prince Who Said No”, where Phryne tells a lovely bedtime story about a woman who dances with everyone except one prince, who all the time tells her no, and he’s the one she falls for. The prince is so far from dulcineaing that he doesn’t even pay her much attention, which triggers her curiosity. It’s a sweet and well narrated fairy tale, with lovely reactions from Dot and Hugh’s daughter, and in the end Jack peeks into the room and helps out with the telling at just the right time:

“Did they have a big wedding?” “They didn’t have any wedding.” “They didn’t get married?” “No.” “But why not?” “Because they didn’t need to.” A familiar voice spoke up from across the room, and both storyteller and audience turned to see Jack, leaning against the doorway with a soft smile on his face.

A third fic that also stays on this meta level is @longlineoftvdetectives, “A Hero’s Journey", an amusing scene where a man is pitching a movie to Phryne in the hopes of her financing it. Both Phryne and Dot find some fault in the story’s depiction of the hero, that after an absence of three days is coming to rescue a woman he doesn't even know:

“But three days,” Dot repeated, her voice lowered this time as she leaned closer to Phryne to speak to her directly. “I think the damsel may have saved herself by now.” “In that case, the hero will be quite disappointed,” Phryne answered wryly. (...) “I don’t think so, Miss,” Dot replied, her voice now barely above a whisper. “I've seen quite a lot of movies. I’m certain the hero will find a more agreeable damsel in the next town.” 

Another fic that is primarily resisting the dulcinea trope is @longlineoftvdetectives, “Of Mothers and Men and Rescues”. This fic gives us two scenes where Phryne doesn’t need to be rescued, and also isn’t, although the set up and the conversations touch on the possibility of it -- and rather like in the first fairy tale mentioned, she doesn’t need to be rescued, but she doesn't mind company either. It’s lovely done, with a lot of mirroring between the two scenes, and both of them including Phryne hiding away from her mother, one time right before and one time right after the show’s time frame. 

In some fics, the person going into dulcinea mode is Phryne herself. 

Quailitea, “Rain and Whiskey”, is a lovely and very poignant drabble of Phryne’s introspection about her need to save people, ever since Janey: “And all the rescuing she’d done since, proof that she had always tried, dammit, that it had only been because she was too small and too weak then, and now that she was strong, it would never happen again.” It is beautiful, and in all its shortness it captures a lot.

Also in @whopooh, “Separate Spheres”, it is Phryne that has an urge to be the saviour, in this case in a more light-hearted situation – she wants to save Jack from social embarrassment. But it turns out that Jack doesn’t need her knight in shiny dress-stint, since he already has a date to the event they’re invited to, which instead causes Phryne embarrassment. On a gala night for Raymond’s film, she has to navigate the insight that Jack has friends, friends she had no idea existed, and even female friends. Much as it rattles her, it also piques her interest and of course she befriends this unexpected woman. 

Finally, Phryne in the dulcinea role is also in @zannadubs23, “Axiom Tilt”, where Phryne wants to play saviour to a young nurse. The fic has only started so I can’t predict where it’s going, but it has several very interesting parts: Phryne trying to cope with a case she starts to feel very personal about, wanting very much to help out, and Phryne being unhappy about Jack’s too thorough adjustability. I know there will be plot twists coming, but I can’t predict in what way.

The next type of fic is where someone wants to save Phryne. 

In @rithebard, “Interference”, a random, stuck up man at a party wants to rescue Phryne – from the social disaster of being with Jack. This does not end well for the unsuspecting man, whom Phryne sets straight on the matter, and in quite a physical way. In @longlineoftvdetectives, “Locked Up”, we instead see an aftermath of a similar event: a random man did try to save (well, “save”), Phryne and the result of this is that Phryne has been arrested for assault. The way Jack gets to know about this, from Dot not really breaking any confidences but hinting very thoroughly, is much fun, as is the way Jack reacts to the fact that he gets news via Dot:

“But you’ve heard from her?” “Yes.” “Of course,” he stated, a slight edge of jealously joining his tone as he leaped to a certain conclusion from Dot’s evasiveness. “As long as she’s well.” Jack pivoted to duck back into his office before Dot’s voice stopped him again. “Did you have plans with Miss Fisher, Inspector?” “No,” he answered. “Not as such.”

Jack does not in his turn try to save Phryne per se, but he sure makes her arrest more comfortable and social.

In @ollyjayonline’s, “Evil in the Shadows”, the dulcinea trope is even more surprisingly developed, by the use of a crossover with another fictional universe. Here it is Spike, the vampire from Buffy the vampire slayer, who wants to get to Phryne – he wants to understand, threaten, in a way devour her. Phryne is holding her fort beautifully, and her strength here is her bravery and loyalty. The layers of the trope are several -- Phryne rejects the idea of a man coming for her rescue: “This statement made her angry. “There most assuredly is a Jack but I don’t need him to rescue me.” and finally, in the end, Spike turns around from threat to instead wanting to save her.

In @firesign23, “One Night In Berlin”, set during WWII, Jack seems to randomly want to save a woman, which means he seems to have become a dulcinea man. But it turns out that he knows what he’s doing, as the woman might not be a stranger after all, and might also count on him being there:

“I wasn’t aware you were in town,” he said conversationally. “Just arrived,” the woman replied. “I do hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

And then, interestingly enough, finally a fic actually managed to turn Jack into a proper dulcinea knight! This happens in @firesign23's short fic “In An Instant”. We’re here not talking about the world-weary, experienced Jack we know, but about young Jack, wanting to save Rosie. This is a lovely fic about young constable Jack who is in love with Rosie, but socially below her, and so they will never be – until she is in need of help and he offers. It’s a tale about how life can change in an instant -- as the title says -- and this choice is followed up by another similar one, to go to war. Knowing how their marriage turned out later gives the fic an extra twinge of melancholy, and it’s a beautiful exploration of one way their relationship could have started.

Two fics that put the dulcinea reaction on other characters completely are Quailitea, “Hero in Love”, a very sweet short fic where Hugh wants to take on the whole world for his newborn daughter, and @flashofthefuse “About a Girl” that dives into Jane’s school life seen through one of her school mates, Fin, who has a crush on her. It’s a great exploration into both the boy’s mind and into how school could be for Jane, with mean classmates and a tendency to get swallowed up by reading. There are so many lovely details here, of Fin finding out a way to help Jane against bullies without her even noticing, of Fin seeing two grown up men assaulting Jane and trying to help her – but it turns out they are Bert and Cec and only joking with her. And there’s a lovely scene where Cec really sees and understands the boy, and also gives him some really good advice about how to treat a girl.

I’ll round up this overview with three fics that are leaning heavily towards the lighthearted and fun in their use of the trope.

In Sassasam/@phrynesboudoir, “Save Me”, there really is a rescue, Jack saving Phryne – although it turns out to be more of a sartorial rescue, and mostly being about her dignity:

“Oh come on Miss Fisher. Are you saying you need me to save you?” he chuckled. “I thought there was no problem you couldn’t overcome.” “Jack,” she said a little more forcefully. “I need your help.” “You could ask nicely,” he replied. “Do you want me to beg?” she asked sharply. “This may never happen again,” he replied.

Also in @geenee27, “In Over Her Head”, set at the beach, there is an amusing play with the trope. A girl very much wishing for Jack, who is out in the water swimming, to rescue her decides to feign distress in the water. But when she does get rescued it is from someone else’s strong arms instead -- and that is someone who completely sees through her act. Perhaps Phryne can also be said to be overly protective of Jack in relation to other women, which would be another version of the knightly persuasion, this time in a bathing suit.

Finally, @scruggzi, “Braving the Storm”, is a very fulfilling fluffy story about Jack, at City South on a Christmas eve in full storm, facing the realisation he needs to take care of two kittens. There is such powerful adorableness in Jack trying to keep up his dignity although the kittens totally melt his heart:

The assembled day shift was therefore treated to the sight of their DI handing out assignments and issuing orders with his usual taciturn efficiency, but with one fluffy kitten in hand -- which had rolled on his back in order to have his tummy tickled -- and another perched on the Inspector’s shoulder, staring the junior officers down with all the ferocity of a warrior queen. It was a sight no-one at City South who saw it would ever forget, and yet no-one could quite bring themselves to question it.

There are also lovely parallels to when he himself, one year earlier, was let in by Phryne from a similar storm. Jack decides to call them Cleopatra and Marc Antony and bring them back to Wardlow, to a surprised and sleepy Phryne. The next day, as the kittens meet the household, the poking at his dignity continues: "Apparently realising quite suddenly that he had in fact been talking out loud to a kitten in a room full of people, the Inspector’s ears turned a beautifully festive shade of red and he cleared his throat, glowering at Phryne in the futile hope that she would let his pre-caffeinated comment go unremarked.”

As we can see, the explorations of the trope has really gone in all directions, and I am extra pleased with that this month, as I thought it might perhaps be a bit of a difficult trope -- but it turned out to be just as good at generating fics as the others have been. 

That was all about the August trope. These overviews can also be found here on AO3. And I am very much looking forward to the September trope challenge -- “Rumours and Gossip”.

#reading miss fisher #mfmm fanfic tidbits #mfmm year of tropes #the dulcinea effect