The Greatest Showman (2017) is a musical presenting the fantastical life of Phineas Taylor Barnum, best known as the creator of the three-ringed circus. Set in the mid-nineteenth century we have a rags to riches story where Barnum transforms himself from homeless orphan to the richest and most successful purveyor of entertainment in America. After… Read More Everything wrong with The Greatest Showman (Historically at least)
Christopher Nolan’s latest Blockbuster has finally, finally hit UK cinemas and it was worth the wait. Portraying the evacuation of the British army from France in 1940, the film contains minimal dialogue, using instead, dramatic visuals to propel events forward. The end result is an experience so immersive and realistic that one Dunkirk veteran was… Read More The History Behind: Dunkirk (2017)
*Post contains details of the introductory sequence of Transformers: The Last Knight*
Spoiler warning: Game of Thrones Season 5 finale.
Robin Hood is something of a curse word in the fantaesque household. Many moons ago my boyfriend-now husband decided to write his thesis on the changing media interpretations of the English folk hero and so began his quest to watch every film and TV version of Robin Hood there has ever been. Which happened to… Read More Robin Hood on Film
The Golden Age of Piracy was an entirely male dominated affair for a number of reasons. On the most practical level women generally lacked the physical strength to endure the brutal back breaking labour men participated in, daily, while at sea. While Gibbs of Pirates of the Caribbean might declare that having a woman aboard… Read More Pirate Women in the Caribbean
I love The Tudors, I probably shouldn’t, but I really do. The history is so ridiculous and mashed together and I wonder why at various times they make up stuff when the actual history is far more interesting and dramatic, but the acting is good and the costumes are stunning. It would take far, far… Read More The Tudors, Artistic Licence and Outright Fictions
I have a lot of time to catch up on films and television series at the moment, so there’s that at least. Recently I watched Katherine of Alexandria (or Decline of an Empire depending on which part of the world you are from). I was really looking forward to watching this as female hagiography (saints’… Read More Katherine of Alexandria/Decline of an Empire
Disclaimer: I love Disney. If I went on Mastermind my specialist subject would be the history of the Walt Disney studios. So much so that when I saw a poster for the recent release Saving Mr Banks (2013) documenting the story around the production of Mary Poppins I had a weird fangirl moment in the… Read More Saving Mr Banks
Right, normal blogging resuming in 5,4,3,2… My most recent article The History of: The Young Victoria touches on the role of Prince Albert in modernising the monarchy with the advent of new inventions. This theme continues in The King’s Speech (2010) showing the monarchy having to adapt to the popularity of radio and the rising… Read More The History of: The King’s Speech
