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The Firebrand and Dirty Dancing
Feb. 24th, 2022 03:04 pmThe Fireband by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a fairly chunky novel, telling the life story of Kassandra of Troy. Given what I already knew of her story, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It's very involving, with most of it taking place before the event of The Iliad, and also taking Kassandra's story in a slightly unexpected direction after the fall of Troy, as well.
I was less interested in the sections I already knew well from Homer, and the ultimate conclusion felt a bit rushed, since Kassandra's ultimate fate was introduced and decided upon in only the last few pages of the book, while I would have preferred to find out more about it, especially since this was Bradley's interpretation of certain documented evidence.
However, overall, I really enjoyed this book. It explored lots of interesting gender politics - both from the point of view of the men in the story, and the attitudes imposed on young women by those older women assigned to care for and nurture them. Kassandra was a compelling protagonist, dealing with a lot of both external and internal conflict - and her issues around visions of the future and not being believed were dealt with in a very effective way (it did get a bit repetitive, but that was partially the point). I loved the period where she was sent away from Troy to spend time with the Amazons, and all the aspects of learning to care for the sacred serpents were very interesting.
In total contrast, last night, I went to see the stage version of Dirty Dancing. Overall, it was really fun. They guy playing Johnny was a bit too pleased with himself for my tastes, especially since his acting was pretty poor. But, in essence, all he really had to do was look good dancing with his shirt off, and he definitely aced that. And, I suppose he can be forgiven for being pleased with himself, given hundreds of women scream at him every night. Anyway, I'm probably a bit difficult to please, since I felt the first half of the show stuck far to closely to every beat and line of dialogue from the film, but I also thought the extra bit crowbarred into the second half (additional time with Penny and the parents, and a subplot about freedom riders) felt weird. Regardless, the dancing was all excellent, and it was a fun night out.
I was less interested in the sections I already knew well from Homer, and the ultimate conclusion felt a bit rushed, since Kassandra's ultimate fate was introduced and decided upon in only the last few pages of the book, while I would have preferred to find out more about it, especially since this was Bradley's interpretation of certain documented evidence.
However, overall, I really enjoyed this book. It explored lots of interesting gender politics - both from the point of view of the men in the story, and the attitudes imposed on young women by those older women assigned to care for and nurture them. Kassandra was a compelling protagonist, dealing with a lot of both external and internal conflict - and her issues around visions of the future and not being believed were dealt with in a very effective way (it did get a bit repetitive, but that was partially the point). I loved the period where she was sent away from Troy to spend time with the Amazons, and all the aspects of learning to care for the sacred serpents were very interesting.
In total contrast, last night, I went to see the stage version of Dirty Dancing. Overall, it was really fun. They guy playing Johnny was a bit too pleased with himself for my tastes, especially since his acting was pretty poor. But, in essence, all he really had to do was look good dancing with his shirt off, and he definitely aced that. And, I suppose he can be forgiven for being pleased with himself, given hundreds of women scream at him every night. Anyway, I'm probably a bit difficult to please, since I felt the first half of the show stuck far to closely to every beat and line of dialogue from the film, but I also thought the extra bit crowbarred into the second half (additional time with Penny and the parents, and a subplot about freedom riders) felt weird. Regardless, the dancing was all excellent, and it was a fun night out.
