the adventures of edi: a word on the victorians

i went through a bit of a victorian phase this semester.

it began with 'jack and the beanstalk'.

during the first class of 'visual elements of the story', we were told that we were to choose one of three stories:dracula, sherlock holmes or jack and the beanstalk. with this story we would create the 'look' of our concept.

for some reason my mind went straight to the victorians. i initially wanted it to be much more in the 'steampunk' style, but four OTHER people in my class were doing steampunk and i lost interest, for the most part.

so it just became victorian. i was able to do lots of research on carriages, lamp posts, london at night, the clothes, the funerals, etc. for two classes. it was awesome.

throughout my research i watched many period films, in addition to the animated films. one animated film that i forgot to mention in my previous post, and the only film to span both animated and victorian genres: tarzan. tarzan was great. beautiful. sweet. romantic. and dark. surprisingly dark.

one film, which i watched the most because i own it, is 'nicholas nickleby'. i love 'nicholas nickleby'. i watched it many, many times while i was drawing.

dickens apparently wrote it to expose the appalling conditions of the boys' schools in yorkshire that were notorious at the time. the hideously cruel headmaster, squires, is based on an actual man. i love that dickens really rooted for the common man, his villains are SO evil, his heroes SO pure hearted and honorable.

i love that 'nicholas nickleby' is about family and what it means. 'family is not only with whom you share blood, but those for whom you would give your blood'

i next watched 'the forsyte saga', as recommended by my mom, who is practically a scholar on british mini-series. i love the bbc mini-series phenomenon, and am grateful that they are so numerous. 'the forsyte saga' was pretty great, but i was glad when it was over. the character of soames was becoming too much for me. but i do love the family dramas, especially the victorian ones.

that's soames there. *shiver*

roman polanski's 'oliver twist' came next. this story, especially, illustrates the staggering difficulty living in victorian london must have been. man. terrible terrible misery, filth, poverty, disease, nastiness, etc etc. this movie was well done, but i didn't love it, necessarily. i'd recommend it, but don't need to see it again.

i was forced to take a break from all movie watching when my work load increased in volume and importance at the end of the semester, but after things had quieted down, i was able to begin again.

bleak house.

*sigh* where do i begin? i somehow wrangled my roommate abigail into watching it with me. my mom also recommended this one. aside from some weird filming choices (i.e. filming through a bush covered in white blossoms. most irritating and ridiculously unnecessary)bleak house was so wonderful(and not as phenominally dreary as it sounds)! gillian anderson is just stunning as lady dedlock, with her chestnut hair and gorgeous dresses. i think she's the most beautiful woman ever.

this story was dickens' exposure of the inefficient and corrupt legal system of the day. it was such an interesting cultural examination. abigail and i were continually impressed with the character of esther.

the way she spoke, with such strength, directness and firmness while being unfailingly polite, is something i so wish i could do.

she was such a great character.

all of dickens characters have such depth that his stories are a delight to watch (and read, as i've seen in my limited exposure).

like in the case of the character smallweed. he always made me laugh with his level of nastiness and angry yelling. his orange-brown teeth and disgusting, greasy, scraggly hair really brought it all together.

and it ends with everything as it should be. love love LOVE 'bleak house'.

today, we ventured out into the cold to face the hoards of movie goers to see 'sherlock holmes' and thus continue my victorian obsession.

i've read some criticisms of the movie by lame critics who are mad at the world or something because it was great. the look, the costumes, and the story are so good. i want to see it again. the end titles seriously BLEW my mind. blew my mind.