The Tudors

[Oscar]

Women are strange creatures. They will refuse to watch Sci-Fi space opera fantacy where the characters blast each other away with laser guns because such entertainment is "stupidly violent". But take the setting away from outer space and place the characters in, say, Tudor-era England, dress the charactors in elaborate wigs and tights, replace the laser guns with lapiers and sabers, and they will gladly watch it even though, as entertainment goes, it is at least equally violent and the story line is essentially the same. The same can be said of soft porn. You would have to be already intimate (or nearly so) to get a woman to sit down with you to watch two naked actors simulating blowjobs and doggie style sex if the furnishings are modern. But if the actors are on an elaborately carved canopy bed in a room with carved panelling and coifered ceilings, suddenly the gratuitous sex is justified.

So when you rate or criticize "The Tudors", it makes no sense to note that Jeremy Northam is no Paul Scofield, Sam Neil is no Orson Wells or, God forbid, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is no Robert Shaw. That is just not the point. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this show is excellent foreplay to use on unsuspecting women. It is artsy and historical enough to make it seem sophisticated. I don't see why dumb women who can't string three words to make a sentence are so into "intellectual entertainment" but they are. So the package is perfect for selling sex and violence to women who would not watch Deep Space Nine at gun point.

The content of the show is classic soap opera. "Dallas" in a different setting, only with more nudity and bloodshed. Jonathan Rhys Meyers' Henry VIII is substantially less mature than Mark Hamil's Luke Skywalker. This Henry is actually more self absorbed, more prone to be manipulated and more emotionally excitable than Jake Lloyed's Annakin Skywalker. Sam Neil doesn't quite cut it as the scheming cardinal either. The dialgue has to constantly remind us how evil this guy is. The usually effortless Jeremy Northam seems to be having trouble with the interpretation of Thomas Moore that was handed to him. He looks stiffer than Mr. Spock. There is not a single character you can feel for.

Most guys are not going to love this show in the same way they love Mad Men. But they will love what it will do to the women who they watch it with. It's sexual foreplay brilliantly executed. I hope this show will go on for many seasons. And when the DVD comes out, I will certainly buy it and encourage women to watch it with me.

[randomcow]

treated much worse

Depends on your definition of "worse."

I know someone who would disagree with you. You may have heard of him, but just in case I'll give you a link:

http://roissy.wordpress.com

RC

[sakaya_slag]

Nice find Oscar. Sounds like a good weapon. I will wait for the Japanese subtitled version!

[twist]

Ah DS9, I'm downloading and watching most of the later seasons right now. Never really got to fully follow the show. Fat chance I'll get a chick to watch it with

[KinkiDude]

Yeah, I can't think of many women that would be cool with decapitating the family's dinner. LOL

What they forget in these fantasies of chivalry is that the men weren't new-age sensitive chumps who did everything for them. Once the courting was done and over with, you had your place bitch, and that was the kitchen while your husband was out killing shit, or maybe farming (in which case you would help with that too). Being barefoot and pregnant ain't nearly as fun when you're walking around on a mud floor, or perhaps cold stone, and washing the families clothes in the nearby river.

They think they have it hard in THIS day and age with their automatic washer/dryers, dishwashers, indoor plumbing with heated seats, refrigeration in every home, public transportation, etc., etc., etc. They wouldn't last two days back then. Most guys today wouldn't either.

[Oscar]

Heh, it's the age when most women gave birth by the age of eleven, died of tuberculosis or some simple infection by the age of eighteen or lived to lose most of their teeth by the time they were thirty five.
If you go to the Victoria Albert Museum in London, you will find elaborate medieval dresses that were worn by princesses of the era. They rarely fit people more than 5 feet tall. The reason is that the princesses who wore them were children by our standards and most of them died during childbirth, so big dresses weren't needed. When they lived to grow any older, they mostly wore mourning gowns because someone in the family was dead by then.
I don't think they spared much thought to their deprived opportunities.

[skillskull]

Heh, it's the age when most women gave birth by the age of eleven, died of tuberculosis or some simple infection by the age of eighteen or lived to lose most of their teeth by the time they were thirty five.
If you go to the Victoria Albert Museum in London, you will find elaborate medieval dresses that were worn by princesses of the era. They rarely fit people more than 5 feet tall. The reason is that the princesses who wore them were children by our standards and most of them died during childbirth, so big dresses weren't needed. When they lived to grow any older, they mostly wore mourning gowns because someone in the family was dead by then.
I don't think they spared much thought to their deprived opportunities.

Guess you busy men of the world didn't see it, but there was an exhibition of artefacts from the Meiji court at Toodai's museum back in June.

A lot of the stuff on display was striking in some way or another, but you should have seen the Western-style ball attire that had been made for Meiji tenno and his good lady wife.

I swear that a 10 year old child couldn't squeeze himself into it.

[Rat Fink]

In finance there's a term 'churning' where a broker unnecessarily buys and sells stock for a client in order to create trading commissions. What I really hate about these modern adult soap operas is they practice a form of dramatic churning where there are maybe 20 characters and they all go around fucking each other to create drama but without advancing the overall storyline towards any catharsis. The parts of Mad Men that work are when we see the characters evolve as individuals -- the parts that don't work are when the story is bogged down in 'guess who's banging who' high school nonsense. (And boomer nostalgia for the Kennedys/civil rights movement [racism is baaad mmmkay] but don't get me started.)

[Oscar]

the parts that don't work are when the story is bogged down in 'guess who's banging who' high school nonsense.

Works for chicks.

[sakaya_slag]

I have not seen this show but isn't it supposed to be a period drama? I would guess it follows a lot of what actually happened back then. Those Tudors were naughty fellows and highly promiscuous too. I remember reading that the popularity of corsets led to an increase in immoral public behaviour. Make what you will of what they were referring to.