What's in a name?
Dec. 6th, 2016 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI recently watched the first seasons of both Victoria and The Crown. I enjoyed both, and was interested by the many surface similarities in the stories - young girl unexpectedly becomes queen, experiences difficulties in gaining the respect of politicians, restrictions on daily life, and challenges in marriage to a man who wants to be more than just a figurehead. However, the tone of the two shows is very different, and their respective titles explain a great deal about the differing approach.
Victoria is very much about the human aspects of the young queen. There's a lot of light and colour, particularly greenery, and the focus is very much on her personal struggle with her new status. The Crown, on the other hand, is much more about the role than the person. Elizabeth is quite remote, and everything is desaturated and grey. The last shot of the last episode of each series makes a particularly good contrast (apologies for spoilers, but only minor ones) - in Victoria, we are left with a joyful picture of family unity, whereas The Crown gives us Elizabeth standing alone, being exhorted to forget her individuality and become Regina.
I have to admit I'm looking forward to future seasons of Victoria, but may not follow The Crown into season two.
Unquiet Land by Sharon Shinn was a delight of an audiobook. It's the fourth in the Elemental Blessings series, and I just love visiting this world. The plots may be quite predictable, but the immersive nature of the setting, and all the little details of the society always make me eager to go back there. I love all the characters, as well, so it's great to see so many familiar faces from earlier books in this one. As always, it tells a very personal story of inter-relationships against a background of political intrigue, and this one really tugged at my heartstrings in places. Highly enjoyable, and I'm hoping there will be at least one more, as so far the titles and stories have each focused on one of the five elements - and wood/bone is still to come.
Yesterday, I watched Moana, which I understand was originally going to be named Maui. I'm glad the change was made, because Moana was an appealing and very capable heroine. She doesn't always know what she's doing, but she tries anyway, making her plucky and admirable. Maui as a secondary character was much more interesting than I think he would have been as central protagonist - his place in the story allowed him to be quite flawed and thus have both depth, and a well-drawn redemptive arc. The film didn't enchant me all the way through (though the coconut pirates were awesome and I also loved Maui's independently sentient tattoo), but it kept me interested, and had a lot of good things to say, with beautiful animation providing a compelling backdrop.
Victoria is very much about the human aspects of the young queen. There's a lot of light and colour, particularly greenery, and the focus is very much on her personal struggle with her new status. The Crown, on the other hand, is much more about the role than the person. Elizabeth is quite remote, and everything is desaturated and grey. The last shot of the last episode of each series makes a particularly good contrast (apologies for spoilers, but only minor ones) - in Victoria, we are left with a joyful picture of family unity, whereas The Crown gives us Elizabeth standing alone, being exhorted to forget her individuality and become Regina.
I have to admit I'm looking forward to future seasons of Victoria, but may not follow The Crown into season two.
Unquiet Land by Sharon Shinn was a delight of an audiobook. It's the fourth in the Elemental Blessings series, and I just love visiting this world. The plots may be quite predictable, but the immersive nature of the setting, and all the little details of the society always make me eager to go back there. I love all the characters, as well, so it's great to see so many familiar faces from earlier books in this one. As always, it tells a very personal story of inter-relationships against a background of political intrigue, and this one really tugged at my heartstrings in places. Highly enjoyable, and I'm hoping there will be at least one more, as so far the titles and stories have each focused on one of the five elements - and wood/bone is still to come.
Yesterday, I watched Moana, which I understand was originally going to be named Maui. I'm glad the change was made, because Moana was an appealing and very capable heroine. She doesn't always know what she's doing, but she tries anyway, making her plucky and admirable. Maui as a secondary character was much more interesting than I think he would have been as central protagonist - his place in the story allowed him to be quite flawed and thus have both depth, and a well-drawn redemptive arc. The film didn't enchant me all the way through (though the coconut pirates were awesome and I also loved Maui's independently sentient tattoo), but it kept me interested, and had a lot of good things to say, with beautiful animation providing a compelling backdrop.
