#the Spanish Princess especially annoys me because for once. we actually have someone who somewhat looks like how Catherine probably did

[froggi-mushroom]

I saw your post on how much you hate the reign (XD) and wanted to ask what is a show you feel intensely about and why? 👀

Thank you for the ask!

I’ll be honest, I kinda play up my hatred for shows like Bridgerton and Reign because in reality I know they’re fantasy and not supposed to be historical (my only real gripe with them is that they use real historical figures but eh, that’s more of a nitpick though I do have some legitimate criticisms for bridgerton but I won’t get into those)

I suppose if there’s anything that I intensely dislike, it’s not really one particular show but a whole genre, I think I’ve mentioned it before, it’s those series’s that claim to be telling the real stories of women from history but miss the mark entirely and make them a caricature of an empowering woman (not to use a bit of a meme word here but I think the word ‘girlbossify’ is very appropriate here)

This is particularly noticeable with Tudor dramas (like any adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s works like The Spanish Princess, The White Queen, The White Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, etc. which are already bad for this I’d like to mention, the recent channel 5 Anne Boleyn miniseries, the recent(ish) Mary, Queen of Scots movie, and a few more I’m probably missing) but I have seen it with other time periods as well

I could talk at length about how reducing an actual human woman to a caricature is not the win for feminism directors think it is, but why would I do that when I can aptly summarise my issue with a quote from one of my favourite history youtubers The Laughing Cavalier where he described one of these characters as ‘Joan of Arc on steroids’ 🙃

#ask #needcake #froggi rambles #i could honestly go on and on about why I dislike these shows #but I won’t cuz this is already enough #a lot of these are from starz which is pretty funny tbh #it’s also why I’m really reluctant to watch the new Elizabeth drama because that’s also by starz #honestly I’m more so pissed off cuz we haven’t had many decent Tudor dramas since the 70s which is pathetic #the only one I can think of is wolf hall which is amazing btw #The Tudors is good for history shit for costumes and everything else #Elizabeth the golden age isn’t bad it’s enjoyable #but it doesn’t hold a candle to Elizabeth R #i don’t think we’ve ever had a good Mary queen of Scots adaptation and we’re probably never going to #the Spanish Princess especially annoys me because for once. we actually have someone who somewhat looks like how Catherine probably did #for once we haven’t got the stereotypical Spanish looking woman ever playing her #and yet they fucked up everywhere else