Not failing at life: you're doing it wrong

[lizbee]

One of the less-comfortable aspects of The Tudors is the extent to which it's a glorified exercise in watching beautiful women be humiliated and degraded by a powerful man.  That's the history, of course, and Henry VIII is a great argument for small-r-republicanism, but the show itself uses it as a marketing ploy, as you can see from the widget I grabbed from the official site.

I had assumed, foolishly, that the fandom itself would subvert this, just as fandom has always subverted dodgy text and unwanted subtext.  Imagine my facepalming when I discovered my first Henry VIII fangirl.  Because it's not Henry's fault he couldn't father boys, it's just that he never had true love with Mary Sue, and they'd have lived happily ever after and there'd be no need for those silly queens because her magic womb could supply sons.  SERIOUSLY.  (Also on FF.net: a fic where Anne of Cleves is hooked on Harry Potter, Thomas More is possessed by the aliens from Stephenie Meyer's The Host and Katherine has LOTS OF ANGST.)

Here's a message for the fangirls of the world: Henry VIII != Edward Cullen. In his case, sparkling in the sun would be an improvement.

In short: fandom fails nearly as hard as Showtime.  And I'm still unable to reconcile my love for the crack of The Tudors with the misogyny.  And I just unwrapped a Fantale, and it had a biogaphy of Sam Neill.  DAMMIT, SHOW, I DO NOT APPRECIATE YOUR HOLD OVER MY BRAIN.

Comments

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

... I keep waiting for the Elizabeth I fangirls to come out and start and intercollegiate fanwank about this show.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

I can't watch the show because of the humiliation and degradation of so many women by that particular character. But, I suppose there some other show out there that does so in a way more to my liking. :/

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Wow, that ad alone is a delightful squickfest.

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

One of the less-comfortable aspects of The Tudors is the extent to which it's a glorified exercise in watching beautiful women be humiliated and degraded by a powerful man. That's the history, of course,

but of course the show isn't particularly concerned with historical accuracy anyway, is it? even if it was, there are a multitude of ways to address such issues without engaging in them oneself. so... blah.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

Well, there's so much of Henry VIII's life and exploits that feed right into a sensationalist soap opera that I can understand why they're advertising/presenting it as such. But the fangirling is creepy. I mean, they did learn about this fuck in school, yes?

[fyrdrakken]

Probably not, if they went to an American school.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

...I went to an American school! Even in middle school, I was informed of his...ways.

[fyrdrakken]

You went to a better set of schools than I did, then. (Though it wouldn't surprise me a bit, given that I doubt Texas is near the top of the list in terms of state curricular emphases on non-American history.) My mother and I had been watching The Tudors together musing on how little we actually knew about Henry VIII -- and how much we did "know" had come from historical fiction of similarly questionable accuracy.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I went to a British school (albeit not an English one) and the only monarchs we covered were Elizabeth I and Victoria.

[fyrdrakken]

History has fallen sadly out of fashion in basic education.

[owl]

Wot, no Good King Billy? LOYALIST HEARTLAND FAILZ AT INDOKTRINASHUN.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I agree, on both counts.

[fyrdrakken]

I would just love it if at some point in the run on The Tudors they bring up the suggestion that Henry caught syphilis at some point and this was why his children kept being stillborn or sickly. Just to further underline the injustice of his treatment of his various wives.

Also, I thought you might appreciate this bit from Warren Ellis about writing narration for Tom Baker to read.

[weaverandom.livejournal.com]

Wait, wait, that guy in the ad is Henry?

...

When I was quite small, some bits of the Tudor Rose came to the museum in my town, and my mum's choir put on a performance, and my school's choir. There's a picture which I keep meaning to find of Wee Weaves being one or other of the wives (red velvet, pearls, ice-cream-bucket hat) every time I see this post.

And Henry VIII was about ten times the size of Wee Weaves, and Wee Weaves was never particularly wee in the first place.

Henry VIII being handsome = does not compute!

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

I remember my history teacher talking about seeing Henry's armour - he still got a gobsmacked look remembering it. Apparently it's cose to a cube-shape.