Hello
Everyone!
Oh Lord,
this is going to be a long one; so much so that I fear I won’t be able to fully
make my point in one post. This post has been long and coming, since 2014
honestly. And as the years have gone by I have added more to this rant and put
off this post more and more. Honestly I’m glad I put it off for so long, with
The White Princess premiering on Starz in a little more than 2 months from now
it is time to set my feelings (more like annoyance) free on my blog. About
fucking time!
Just a
little background for those who are not aware: The White Princess is a
continuation of The White Queen, a series that was on BBC and Starz in 2013
based on the book by Philippa Gregory of the same name. At the time of it’s
premiere I will admit I was a little excited because Tudor and Plantagenet
history is rarely shown in TV and with Downtown Abbey between seasons and The
Tudors no longer on TV I was kind of starved for any sort of historical drama.
But by the end I was just disgusted with everything about it. Between the added
soft core porn, (the BBC version had less sex and nudity but everyone knows
that the only way to make history interesting to Americans is to slut it up,
RIGHT? AM I RIGHT?!) to the cringey (AND INACCURATE!!) incest scene between
Princess Elizabeth and her FUCKING UNCLE Richard III, this show was just a
train wreck.
I guess I
was not the only one to think so because BBC decided not to make a sequel based
on the book The White Princess. Instead Starz decided “you know what? Fuck it,
let’s make a series based on The White Princess ourselves without BBC! WITHOUT
EVEN THE ORIGINAL CAST!”. And that is just what they did. In some ways The White
Princess is actually a worse book than The White Queen and just as inaccurate
to history in a most insulting way. But I will get to that soon.
Considering
how far they went to make the promotional poster look almost identical to the
one for The White Queen, you would think they would put more of an effort to
get the original cast. Guess they could not be bothered with this tripe no more
than I can. XD
Anyone who
knows me well knows how crazy I am about British History, especially Tudor and
Plantagenet history. As such anyone who knows me well also knows that I fucking
hate the author Philippa Gregory with passion that burns with the white hot
intensity of a thousand suns. Well, I don’t hate her personally since I don’t
know her; but I hate her writing and I hate all that she stands for. The main
thing that pisses me off about her (other than the fact that the book that made
her famous is basically a slightly twisted ripoff of Wuthering Heights )
is her “claim” to speak for history when her writing adds up to being on par
with bad e-harlequin novels at best. It seems like she cannot write a book
without including incest, rape and female backstabbing under the guise of
“feminism”.
What really
sealed my hatred for her was her book The Other Boleyn Girl which depicts Anne
as a conniving manipulative bitch with no redeeming traits outside of being
raped by King Henry VIII and who was willing to fuck her own brother in order
to produce a son for the king (a grossly false allegation that sent Anne to her
death). There are a lot of reasons why Anne Boleyn is till so reviled even in
our times (some of which I’ll write about in my yearly May 19th post
later this year) but I hold Philippa Gregory partially responsible for this
because of her writing and because the average reader is too lazy to do a
little research most people believe it and think such things really happened!
Which
brings me to The White Princess, which chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth
of York at the
conclusion of the Wars of the Roses when she is made to marry the new king of
England Henry VII after he kills her uncle Richard III and takes the crown by
conquest. Now history tells us that despite not having much political power or
influence and not being made Queen Regent in her own right, Elizabeth and Henry’s marriage was a rather
happy one. She birthed many children, including the all important male heir as
well as a future Queen of Scotland and Queen of France.
She seems
to have been a beloved queen and a loving mother; when she died in childbirth
(514 years ago this day) her husband genuinely mourned her death and would not
remarry. If you are interested, I highly recommend watching the 1972 drama “The
Shadow of the Tower” which shows the affection between Elizabeth and Henry
quite well. They were not in love at first of course and a little of their
famed love could be easily written off as Tudor propaganda, but over many years
they did grow to love each other. I believe that.
A small
selection of Elizabeth ’s
scenes in The Shadow of the Tower. While I’m not much of a fan of how they made
Elizabeth a bit
headstrong and haughty, it’s still a good representation and much better than
how her treatment in The White Princess will be.
In The
(fucking) White Princess Elizabeth is in love with her uncle Richard and commits
incest with him at least once before he is killed and hopes to marry him and
become his queen. Henry then rapes Elizabeth
and decides to put off their wedding to be sure she is not pregnant by Richard.
He proceed to treat her like shit throughout the book and is under the nose of
his psycho mother (do not even get me STARTED on her bad treatment in this
tripe novel) and all the while Elizabeth continues to dream about her uncle
(whom may I remind you took the crown away from her brothers and her, locked her
brothers away in the Tower and is the reason why Henry Tudor invaded in the
first fucking place). It’s not a very fun read honestly and a real insult to
the history of these people.
The trailer
But here is
the thing; I don’t want to talk about all that. Oversexualization in premium
cable dramas is not a new thing, nor is oversexualizing history to make it more
palatable to the average stupid viewer who is too ashamed to look up some
actual porn and neither is the over use
of rape as a plot point (just look at what HBO did to Game of Thrones!) It’s
all disturbing and unnecessary but sadly it’s still there. I want to talk about
the asinine way that the producers seem to be changing the series from the
novel to make it more interesting and the even more asinine idea that this somehow will make this a
feminist friendly show.
I
understand that the term “feminist” has been more or less reduced to a buzzword,
almost a derogatory term and no one can seem to understand what it originally
meant or people use it and change it’s meaning to suit their needs whenever
they can. The general idea is that anything that advocates for female
superiority over men and or has a strong representation of women to the point
that all men are evil or inept (I’m looking at you 2016 Ghostbusters) is what
is considered feminist. Personally I think that is ludicrous and gives actual
feminism a bad name. Honestly I have little hope of feminism ever being seen as
anything but a joke now because of such ideas.
Based on
the little shown in the trailer and based on articles I’ve read about the
series, that seems to be the route they are taking with it and if I were to be
completely honest, I’d have more respect for the show and it’s production staff
if they just stuck to the book. Totally twisting around not only history but
the book to make Elizabeth of York this feisty bitchy warrior queen (she even
strikes Henry in the trailer and I feel like this is when the rape scene will
happen) and making the whole story of these women about backstabbing and
political turmoil is not only grossly inaccurate but also an insult to
Elizabeth’s own feminine agency.
“I’m
stronger than I look! I’m a badass warrior who don’t need no man!”
Feminism is
not only about feminine triumph over the obstacles of a misogynistic society
and simply being strong or “badass” does not make for a good female character.
This is one of the reasons I did not much like the 2015 version of Cinderella
and absolutely reviled the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters. Female superiority
should never be what feminism is, what it should be is respecting and
celebrating all women no matter what they what or how they are. The cold fact
of the matter is that female subservience to men is a big part of women’s roles
in history, it sucks of course but that is just how it is. History has no safe
spaces.
Were there
badass women in history? Of course, but for every Isabella of France or Anne Boleyn there were
at least three Elizabeth ’s of York . But that does not mean we should look
down on Elizabeth
as uninteresting or so bland that she must be made “strong” to be relatable. One
article I read even stated that the changing of Elizabeth ’s character from passive to badass
was actually a good thing. Ugh!
No she was
not as ambitious as her mother or mother-in-law Margret Beaufort but do you
know what Elizabeth
was? Elizabeth of York was a loving mother who taught her younger children to
read and write as opposed to sending them to tutors. Elizabeth of York was a
peacemaker whom bought end to a war with her marriage. Elizabeth of York was
the Mother of the Tudor Dynasty and gave name to the greatest of their
monarchs: Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was a kind and generous woman and was so loved
by her husband that he never remarried after her death and fell into deep
depression (it is generally agreed that this is when most of the corruption of
his reign began).
A contemporary illuminated manuscript done around the time of Elizabeth ’s death. The king looks very sad
and his daughters can be seen in the background wearing black mourning hoods.
The little prince Henry can be seen weeping on his mother’s bed.
That was
her agency. That may not seem like much compared to other historical women but
I feel like demeaning the more traditional aspects of womanhood in the name of
having strength is one of the greatest follies of 21st century
feminism. Many women willingly choose such roles for themselves and happily
find fulfillment in them. Be it mother or warrior, neither role is superior to
the other.
But that is
the exact type of bullshit pumpkin spiced “pussy grabs back”
“feminazi” pandering that this show is gearing up to be. At best it will
probably be more like a 15th century version of the 80s show Dynasty with lots
of bodice ripping and female backstabbing for good measure. If that’s what you
like than fine, but its not feminist. And calling it such is not only stupid
but just makes it more difficult for the world to take seriously actual
feminists. Doesn’t feminism and historical fact have enough issues without Philippa
Gregory and Starz making our plight all the more difficult? I look forward to
watching it online when it’s made available if only to laugh at it’s absurdity
and inwardly weep as another one bites the dust.
Yours
Jasmine