Melodrama, high fashion, elegant decadence, unrepresentative lifestyles -- royal movies reunite many of the elements that series like Gossip Girl are loathed for. The fact that these shiny products are based on real-life people of influence gives them the appearance of being historically compelling, but let's be honest: Diana's life, for example, had no impact whatsoever on the fate of nations, not even the British nation, for all of the extraordinary interest it ignites. These films and series arouse interest merely because of the spicy gossip they expose and the opportunity they give us to stare at gaudy dresses for hours without feeling we're being shallow -- which are exactly the same pleasures that series about decadent rich youths provide, but in a more raw and honest way. Just as no one learns anything about how money shapes the thinking and behavior of young people born into New York's elite in these series, nobody comes out from watching The Crown or Spencer with a clearer idea of how the British monarchy, for example, wields power and manages to make other power centers rally to its defense in a country where it's supposed to only have symbolic presence. Thinking about reality is not the aim of this type of work - the aim is to provide a moment of escapism to the embattled middle class that makes up most of its audience. Royal-themes products are just the high end of a rather low brow genre.
Royal movies are just 'Gossip Girl' for pretentious people
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | November 26, 2021 11:58 PM |
Your point?
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | November 8, 2021 4:28 AM |
Diana birthed the future king who has an heir of his own and 2 more spares. One of them could be the last king of the UK for all we know. To say she didn't even impact her nation is simply wrong. That's like say QEII didn't impact the UK. Diana's gene pool is intricately intwined with the royal house. Her death causes both of her children to be massive assholes that we the people must forever hear about.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | November 24, 2021 5:39 PM |
Yes, and?
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | November 24, 2021 5:54 PM |
r2 If your only argument for Diana's historical importance is her crotchfruit, then maybe we should have a trendy, self-important biopic about Trump's German peasant great-great-grandparents.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | November 26, 2021 11:32 PM |
Serena van der Woodsen *is* a Queen...of DoBro.
Too bad, she could have it all when I offered.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | November 26, 2021 11:44 PM |
I sneered at Downton Abbey.
I smirked pityingly when my friends tried to tell me about it. Oh, Masterpiece Theater, I’d say gently but witheringly.
Then eras went by. I binged on it during the pandemic, gentle reader. I was hooked. I couldn’t help talking about it. I had become one of THEM.
Only now THEY smiled indulgently with a worried look in their eyes. I could tell they did, as I tried to text them about it. There was no emoji for what they were feeling.
Then recently one helpfully said as to a fellow sanatorium inmate that another DA movie is coming out. I felt nauseous. And I found myself sneering once again.
It’s good to be me again.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | November 26, 2021 11:48 PM |
When I read “Royal movies” I thought the OP was referring to those syrupy Hallmark films where a common American girl meets a European prince not knowing he’s a prince and then marries him.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | November 26, 2021 11:53 PM |
OP is a man of the people!!
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | November 26, 2021 11:56 PM |
OP, you do realize you're on a [italic]gossip site[/italic] yourself, don't you?
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | November 26, 2021 11:58 PM |