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2020 which, to date, has had a viewership of eighty-two million households and reached number one in eighty-three countries worldwide. 1 The international popularity of historical dramas in this time of global health crisis has tended to be viewed by both critics and consumers as a form of escapism. The trials and tribulations of the British royal family, the life of an orphaned American chess prodigy, the froth and frolics of the Regency ton
instances of cruelty reinforce the Prince’s own belief that the Windsors are not a family but a ‘firm’ – a reference to the beginning of the royal family circulating as a brand in the global marketplace. The pressures of the nuclear family and the impossibility of reconciling private desires with patriarchal power and duty – that is, the stuff of family melodramas – are rendered more acute for royals since
main function was to help him clear his own head. The second additional lesson had to do with script writing. This is a subject normally fudged or dodged in most documentary courses, particularly when they follow the path of cinéma vérité. In this case my learning experience came when I talked to Antony Jay, a British scriptwriter whose major fame now rests on co-writing Yes, Prime Minister. Over tea in his west London house Antony told me how he came to write the narration for Richard Cawston’s film The Royal Family, about a year in the life of Queen Elizabeth and
-screen introduction to Diana alludes to this narrative mode by describing the drama as ‘a vivid human interest story about a dream marriage that turned into hell for Diana: it’s a story of a fractured fairytale’. Action representing the public appearances of Diana and the royal family was counterposed and given significance through its relationship to Diana’s private life and her psychological and emotional turmoil. Her increasing stature
fashions of Mary Quant, and the tradition and glamour of a young Royal family. In response to Beatlemania, an older generation of Americans attempted to rationalise the group’s appeal and popularity in much the same way that Presley’s early stardom had generated reappraisals of popular American culture in the British media.20 The harsher American critics disparaged the commodification of the group and the enormous revenues accrued through the sale of their branded merchandise. Teenage identification with the Beatles took many forms but none more conspicuous than American
administered to an elite, well-educated student body at the Courtauld Institute, the mission of which was to train teachers and researchers, but hardly to reach out and educate the masses. His scholarly work was academic and reached only a narrow, specialized audience. And, in perhaps the most egregious betrayal of his former convictions, he became Surveyor of the Queen's pictures, curating works of art that not only remained in the possession of the royal family but which were typically only displayed at special exhibitions. As the play opens, sometime in the mid-1970s
the film becomes a continuation of del Toro’s Three Amigos.indb 60 1/4/2013 1:01:56 PM Hellboy II: The Golden Army 61 visual and mythical universe, and consolidates his artistic status. It is significant that the royal family in Hellboy II are rulers of the kingdom of Bethmoora, the name of the underworld kingdom in El laberinto, and that he invents a royal family who visually reference that of his previous film (see figures 2.1 and 2.2). The director informs viewers in the DVD commentary for Hellboy II that ‘this movie came from the same place that Pan
books and public appearances he shaped an identity as a raconteur and entertainer, delivering carefully crafted and rehearsed epigrams and witticisms. Not unlike a member of the royal family, Crisp’s answers were rarely spontaneous or off-the-cuff; he was always performing himself. The one member of royalty that Crisp did pass judgement on, negatively, was Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer). In an
, funded by the European Research Council, and entitled ‘Indigeneity in the Contemporary World: Politics, Performance, Belonging’ 168 Conclusion (Indigeneity in the Contemporary World: Politics, Performance, Belonging, 2009). 3 Of course, the royal family’s multicultural European heritage is relatively well known to their public. Nonetheless, their residence is in England for most of the year, and the Queen speaks the ‘Queen’s English’. These are among numerous facts that contribute to the strength of the Royals’ link with England – a link that is far stronger than
them. The pleasure in such comedy becomes a mixture of admiration at the accuracy of the recreation coupled with enjoyment in their being exaggerated and perverted. For example, The Day Today’s opening titles are an over-urgent mix of a sequence of spheres, each one representing a different part of the news’s remit, such as sport, economics, crime, government and the royal family. Dotted throughout the programme are graphics illustrating concepts which are relevant to the fake news stories being presented, such as the Space Shuttle on its stunt mission to jump over a