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Jan. 23rd, 2010 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swatkatHistory without Oppression by naraht -- a post which might be of interest to those of you interested in Regency romances/AUs, especially here:
You can interrogate oppression, subvert it, attack it, analyze it, satirize it, wearily accept it, ignorantly accept it, happily accept it, ignore it, brush it aside or try to hide it. All of those are options when you're writing historical fiction. But I don't believe it's possible to create an oppression-free society within a given recognizable historical context. Escapism can only ever go so far.
Because, yes, THIS. Last night I was reading Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (which is not as awesome as advertised, sorry flist), and the characters were discussing the merits of muslin. Muslin, of course, was imported from India -- the present day Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, if I recall correctly, and the famous Dhaka muslin, from Dhaka in present day Bangladesh. According to stories -- which may or may not be hyperbolic in nature, I'm not sure -- the best Dhaka muslin was so fine that you could slip a full-length sari through a small ring. Dhaka muslin trade suffered tremendous after the East India Company wanted to sell Manchester cotton, and also after it wanted the planters to cultivate indigo instead of that other stuff, like food and cash crops (er, I'm simplifying a bit here). There is no place for this in the story Heyer is telling; Freddy, kind and good-hearted and practical though he is, is also mostly ignorant of things that do not pertain to clothes and is somewhat shallow (this, in the context of the book is supposed to be charming; I didn't think so -- but I'm probably not the ideal reader here? give me Mr. Darcy any day). And there does not necessarily have to be, because I'm willing to believe that little things like muslin traders in the faraway colonies would not be of any interest to Freddy or Kitty (although I'd like some information on where the Legerwood fortune comes from). But it's important to acknowledge -- even in your average escapist fare -- that this pretty Regency universe comes with in-built Problems that require very careful handling if you choose to engage with them.
*
And okay, if of all the comic/books you read and all the television shows/movies you watch, there isn't a single female character you find 'interesting', you're doing it wrong.
*
Further LoTS questions after 1.07: Why does Richard hold his sword like a baseball player handling a cricket bat for the first time? Why is the priest wearing a sherwani? Have they spent all the show's styling budget on Kahlan's hair, thereby leaving none for poor Richard and his really unfortunate hair? How dare they make Kahlan (almost) cry?
naraht -- a post which might be of interest to those of you interested in Regency romances/AUs, especially here:You can interrogate oppression, subvert it, attack it, analyze it, satirize it, wearily accept it, ignorantly accept it, happily accept it, ignore it, brush it aside or try to hide it. All of those are options when you're writing historical fiction. But I don't believe it's possible to create an oppression-free society within a given recognizable historical context. Escapism can only ever go so far.
Because, yes, THIS. Last night I was reading Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (which is not as awesome as advertised, sorry flist), and the characters were discussing the merits of muslin. Muslin, of course, was imported from India -- the present day Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, if I recall correctly, and the famous Dhaka muslin, from Dhaka in present day Bangladesh. According to stories -- which may or may not be hyperbolic in nature, I'm not sure -- the best Dhaka muslin was so fine that you could slip a full-length sari through a small ring. Dhaka muslin trade suffered tremendous after the East India Company wanted to sell Manchester cotton, and also after it wanted the planters to cultivate indigo instead of that other stuff, like food and cash crops (er, I'm simplifying a bit here). There is no place for this in the story Heyer is telling; Freddy, kind and good-hearted and practical though he is, is also mostly ignorant of things that do not pertain to clothes and is somewhat shallow (this, in the context of the book is supposed to be charming; I didn't think so -- but I'm probably not the ideal reader here? give me Mr. Darcy any day). And there does not necessarily have to be, because I'm willing to believe that little things like muslin traders in the faraway colonies would not be of any interest to Freddy or Kitty (although I'd like some information on where the Legerwood fortune comes from). But it's important to acknowledge -- even in your average escapist fare -- that this pretty Regency universe comes with in-built Problems that require very careful handling if you choose to engage with them.
*
And okay, if of all the comic/books you read and all the television shows/movies you watch, there isn't a single female character you find 'interesting', you're doing it wrong.
*
Further LoTS questions after 1.07: Why does Richard hold his sword like a baseball player handling a cricket bat for the first time? Why is the priest wearing a sherwani? Have they spent all the show's styling budget on Kahlan's hair, thereby leaving none for poor Richard and his really unfortunate hair? How dare they make Kahlan (almost) cry?
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Date: 2010-01-23 09:09 pm (UTC)Consider crossposting this to
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Date: 2010-01-26 05:27 am (UTC)