mjmooney Posted February 5, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 5, 2019 So, does it belong in here, or the new racism thread? The BBC Les Misérables, with a black inspector Javert seems to have caused a bit of controversy - historical inaccuracy in the name of political correctness? Or a way of engaging black viewers? Or it's just drama, and it doesn't matter? FWIW, I thought it was a pretty good production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 4 minutes ago, mjmooney said: So, does it belong in here, or the new racism thread? The BBC Les Misérables, with a black inspector Javert seems to have caused a bit of controversy - historical inaccuracy in the name of political correctness? Or a way of engaging black viewers? Or it's just drama, and it doesn't matter? FWIW, I thought it was a pretty good production. good question , and a subject that has cropped up in a few shows lately .... if i was watching Scooby Doo then , yeah I'm not really that bothered , Les Mis yeah ok I guess I can let it slide its not claiming to be an historically accurate show ( presumably ... I've not watched it ) and if they want to widen its appeal but having a multi cultural cast then so be it .... but if it's something purporting to be historical fact interacting with historical re-enactment , then I think then it needs to be accurate .... Dan snows excellent 1066 documentary with re-enactment felt the need to give William the conquer a Black envoy , I'm highly sceptical that William had one ,though tbf the only historical reference to an envoy at the Battle doesn't specifically state the ethnicity of the envoy .. should I care about the envoy , arguably not , but why alter history ? I'd be surprised if someone was to make a show with artistic license and have Hitler as a black man as a way of "engaging black viewers" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I raised it in here a few pages back as I don't watch modern period drama, so was surprised by it, however, I hear the argument is largely about ensuring BAME actors have the opportunity to portray a range of historical characters beyond either some various form of servitude or from foreign climes. It struck me odd personally first episode and was initially in historical stickler mode, but he completely won me over, I thought he was terrific. As was the guy playing Thenardier. So I am converted to it not being an issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I suppose an issue would be with particularly obvious figureheads, like monarchs or as tony says Hitlers would be much tougher to buy into, and would seem a bit absurd. Well actually I suppose with Les Mis, the character is of course fictional, and so allows more flexibility ( even if historically speaking, still implausible ) than out and out documentaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 5, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Rodders said: I raised it in here a few pages back as I don't watch modern period drama, so was surprised by it, however, I hear the argument is largely about ensuring BAME actors have the opportunity to portray a range of historical characters beyond either some various form of servitude or from foreign climes. It struck me odd personally first episode and was initially in historical stickler mode, but he completely won me over, I thought he was terrific. As was the guy playing Thenardier. So I am converted to it not being an issue. Pretty much my reaction, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 This is probably old to you english people, but I started to watch BBC production Unforgotten yesterday. Rather slow pace but really good. On S2 now. First season was really good, and the 2nd has started well too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 5, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 5, 2019 17 minutes ago, Pelle said: This is probably old to you english people, but I started to watch BBC production Unforgotten yesterday. I've forgotten what it was about. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I'm often struggling with the dialogue/ accents/ drawl in True Detective III, especially Ali. Loving the series so far though. Has me gripped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 The second season of Tin Star went slightly too loopy and whilst Tim Roth was decent (as usual) it got a little silly and so differed greatly from the very good first series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 On 05/02/2019 at 16:23, mjmooney said: So, does it belong in here, or the new racism thread? The BBC Les Misérables, with a black inspector Javert seems to have caused a bit of controversy - historical inaccuracy in the name of political correctness? Or a way of engaging black viewers? Or it's just drama, and it doesn't matter? FWIW, I thought it was a pretty good production. I have no problem with it at all. Is it historically inaccurate? Weren't there black or mixed-race soldiers fighting for Napoleon, for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Was actually pretty funny, if you are into wildly politically incorrect nonsense. And who isn't 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 10, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 10, 2019 On 08/02/2019 at 22:06, snowychap said: I have no problem with it at all. Is it historically inaccurate? Weren't there black or mixed-race soldiers fighting for Napoleon, for example? Yes, there were. But the Paris Chief of Police? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted February 10, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 10, 2019 Didn’t watch Les Mis, but no, don’t have a problem with a character being played by a black or someone of ethnic minority when in all likelihood the character in real life would probably have been white. Funnily enough I was thinking about Tony’s example of the envoy in the William the Conquerer. I did notice it and it registered with me at the time, but it didn’t seem jarring or anything. Just a reasonably fair way of having a diverse cast. So fictional characters or characters where their ethnicity could be debated, not a problem at all. You can be a bit flexible with some things, one instance I can think of is Patrick Stewart played the lead in Othello, but they remained in keeping with the play by having the rest of the cast being played by black actors. Someone of a different race playing a real life person....well, I might find that a bit more jarring to begin with. But I’d be curious to see how they’d do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 (edited) 50 minutes ago, mjmooney said: Yes, there were. But the Paris Chief of Police? I don't think so. He's only a Police Inspector, isn't he, not Paris Chief of Police? Dumas's father was mixed race and he was a general in the French Army I gather. I'm not trying to say that it would have been anything other than very unusual for people of colour to hold senior/seniorish positions in France in the late 18th and early 19th centuries or that there were many black or mixed-race people in France but rather that it is not perhaps the huge affront to history that people might be suggesting. Edited February 10, 2019 by snowychap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 About 7 episodes in to You, starts well and then descends in to the implausible, think they padded it out with unlikely out there characters to drive the story, peach benji her on Instagram etc the abusive bloke next door, awful characters and I'm still expecting there to be some sort of twist where the penny drops that she's a dick Think the Netflix social media marketing machine has caught me out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted February 11, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 11, 2019 3 hours ago, villa4europe said: About 7 episodes in to You, starts well and then descends in to the implausible, think they padded it out with unlikely out there characters to drive the story, peach benji her on Instagram etc the abusive bloke next door, awful characters and I'm still expecting there to be some sort of twist where the penny drops that she's a dick Think the Netflix social media marketing machine has caught me out I was just coming in here to post how I'd enjoyed it. It is what it is (no great depth) but it was entertaining and engaging enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 (edited) Just finished season 6 of Ray Donovan. I don’t know how many people on here watch it, but it’s bloody brilliant. I’m struggling to think of another series in the past 8/9 years, that has been this consistently good, season after season. It’s the closest thing to the Sopranos, since the Sopranos and whilst it isn’t quite up there with it, each season has been a consistent 8/8.5 out of 10 imo. Some great acting performances as well. Edited February 11, 2019 by wazzap24 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 3 minutes ago, wazzap24 said: Just finished season 6 of Ray Donovan. I don’t know how many people on here watch it, but it’s bloody brilliant. I’m struggling to think of another series in the past 8/9 years, that has been this consistently good, season after season. It’s the closest thing to the Soprano’s, since the Soprano’s and whilst you it isn’t quite up there with it, each season has been a consistent 8/8.5 out of 10 imo. Some great acting performances as well. Starting this tonight - good to hear this is up to scratch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazzap24 Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 18 minutes ago, theboyangel said: Starting this tonight - good to hear this is up to scratch! Honestly, it’s superb. I’ll take it on the chin if you think it’s rubbish, but I don’t think you will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 I've resumed Hannibal series 3 having previously quit after a couple of episodes as it was irritating beyond belief, but it's actually got a lot more watchable. The only problem is they seem to have had to cram at least two of the movie/book plots into the last series because they must have known it was getting cancelled or something. It makes the utter bilge of the opening couple of episodes even more irritating as they could have had a more even pace to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts