For real this time. Just watched the first installment of the BBC's 2004 Drama North and South which was a present from my honey for my bday.
I am totally blown away. I am a miniseries whore, 'tis true, but this one sucked me in so quickly! From the first moment of screentime, the series reminded me of the times in high school when my family used to gather together on Sunday nights to watch Russell Baker introduce so many many Masterpiece Theater adaptations, particularly the Dickens novels Martin Chuzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend.
Victorian novels, because of their serial nature and plot twists, are obviously perfectly adapted to multi-part TV series (as, like, everyone who's ever watched the BBC is aware) and you really get to recreate that feeling of waiting for the next issue of Household Words (That's Chaz Dickens' magazine that published many pieces of Victorian novels) so you'll know what happens to your protagonist, be her name Mary, Margaret, or Mercy.
And in this case, I cannot wait to find out what befalls Margaret (well, I know, but to see it unfold). She's such a spunky, proud, perfect 19th century heroine. Gaskell knows how to write 'em. The cotton, the dreary industrial landscape, the angry mill workers and the brooding hero are all pitch-perfect. Oh, and the coughing chick who you know will be dead by act 3. Coughs might be one of the most universal literary/visual cues ever, along with mirror-gazing and window-gazing.
Or navel-gazing, which is all I'm doing at the moment, so I'ma sign out for now.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
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*swoon*
ReplyDeleteI just "discovered" the BBC miniseries recently after hearing so many people rave about it lately. I was hooked immediately- the cinematography is just luscious, and the score really draws you in. I watched the first 3 parts last week and have been putting off 4 becasue I don't want it to be over! I think tonight may be the night though :)