What's with all the decapitations?
by M. Stewart
Over the weekend I picked up the second season of the Showtime series The Tudors. With historical dramas, the viewer tends to know what’s going to happen, so he watches to learn not what happens but how it happens.
A great deal of tension can come from this. For example, on The Tudors I know Henry VIII will soon order the beheading of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Given that knowledge, it’s quite horrifying to watch her fate slowly unfold, especially in the hands of gifted writers and directors.
If you aren’t familiar with The Tudors, I recommend it highly. It is one of the most authentic historical dramas ever produced. Speaking of historical dramas, I’m sitting on a copy of the HBO series John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti, but I haven’t had time to get to it yet. I very much look forward to that.
And speaking of beheadings, it seems that decapitation is becoming popular again. We know about the grisly filmed beheadings carried out by Al Qaida a few years back, but what about this recent one at Virginia Tech? What the heck is going on down at my old school? First it’s mass murder; now it’s decapitating women in coffee shops.
Then there is Muzzammil Hassan, founder of an American Muslim television network in Buffalo. Last week he allegedly cut his wife’s head off in his Orchard Park office.
The wife, Aasiya Hassan, apparently had a protection order against the husband directing him to leave the family home by Feb. 6. Rather than leave his home, Muzzammil decided to cut off Aasiya’s head.
According to the Reuters story, Hassan started the Muslim television network to “show Muslims in a more positive light.”
Over the weekend I picked up the second season of the Showtime series The Tudors. With historical dramas, the viewer tends to know what’s going to happen, so he watches to learn not what happens but how it happens.
A great deal of tension can come from this. For example, on The Tudors I know Henry VIII will soon order the beheading of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Given that knowledge, it’s quite horrifying to watch her fate slowly unfold, especially in the hands of gifted writers and directors.If you aren’t familiar with The Tudors, I recommend it highly. It is one of the most authentic historical dramas ever produced. Speaking of historical dramas, I’m sitting on a copy of the HBO series John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti, but I haven’t had time to get to it yet. I very much look forward to that.
And speaking of beheadings, it seems that decapitation is becoming popular again. We know about the grisly filmed beheadings carried out by Al Qaida a few years back, but what about this recent one at Virginia Tech? What the heck is going on down at my old school? First it’s mass murder; now it’s decapitating women in coffee shops.
Then there is Muzzammil Hassan, founder of an American Muslim television network in Buffalo. Last week he allegedly cut his wife’s head off in his Orchard Park office.
The wife, Aasiya Hassan, apparently had a protection order against the husband directing him to leave the family home by Feb. 6. Rather than leave his home, Muzzammil decided to cut off Aasiya’s head.
According to the Reuters story, Hassan started the Muslim television network to “show Muslims in a more positive light.”
posted by M. | 6:10 AM
5 Comments:
I have not seen the Tudors yet.... but I did see the John Adams series and thought it was awesome! You will enjoy it.
Well, it is, after all, Buffalo. Perhaps the 160 inches of snowfall this year sent his Muslim-mind mad.
Ultimately, very sad for all those who lost their heads. I would have preferred bankers and investors.
I haven't gotten to The Tudors yet, but I know some historians are sniping about some of the liberties taken for dramatic purposes.
In fact, they have a whole Web site dedicated to it (Sorry, I lost the link).
Anyway, I don't really care because history has proven whenever a good film/TV show about a real-life event comes on, people inevitably seek out the "True" story. So if The Tudors gets more people reading history books, I could care less if the timeline is compressed or if they combined some characters to make the story easier to follow.
I'm watching Nip/Tuck right now, but The Tudors is on my list.
Nip/Tuck: Not bad. A little too soap operaish for my taste but I've seen worse. My wife really likes it.
Brian
Brian--
As you are well aware, dramatic performance must always take liberties with history because history does not supply a script--only artifacts and documents, many of which can be innacurate and misleading.
Though I am no expert on Tudor history, neither am I entirely ignornant of it, and the story seems largely faithful to its historical backdrop. I would place "The Tudors" alongside "Rome" in the way it tells its story within its historical framework.
I wasn't trying to besmirch the show, only point out that even faithful adaptations of historical events always get skewered over the little things.
I was looking into The Tudors online since I want to start watching the show and that's when I found the site. The guys on that site were very upset about how certain events got "compressed" for the show and that certain characters were doing things that in real life, someone else did.
Like I said, petty shit. But it did get me to go back and read the historical account and find out that King Henry VII indeed was a very athletic, attractive man in his younger years and that the show is depicting this accurately.
It wasn't until a jousting accident ripped up his leg in his mid-30s that he put on the weight. Only the portraits of him in his later years are the ones reprinted in the history books.
In fact, the actor portraying Henry (Name failing me at that moment) has wondered in interviews if he's going to be asked to pile on pounds should the show keep going.
As for "Rome," there are talks of a feature film to continue the story. The same was said of "Deadwood," though, so I'll believe it when I see it.
Brian
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