This is a sign I'm internalizing the norms of historical study: for a 1000 word paper, a mere bagatelle, I checked out eleven books from the library. I'm probably going to quote at least six of them.

I don't even like the subject that much. I'm discussing how the movie The Governess reflects on the modern cultural interpretation of the Victorian period. And the movie didn't turn out to be that good. The director seems to have been overawed by the cinematographer, in that it is full of beautiful perfectly posed scenes in which nothing happens. And the ending… well, it doesn't really have an ending. It just sort of peters out.

As a side note, I didn't have to write about The Governess, as there was a list of films to pick from. Perhaps I should have gone with Tom Brown's Schooldays. I was a bit nervous about that one because it is about my professor's specialty, so he'd be more apt to notice any infelicities in my paper. It looks like a more interesting movie, however. Ah well, I'm not going to start over now.

UPDATE: I used seven of the books. A thousand words is really quite limiting. I had to cut out all my discourse on Victorian ideals of childhood, focusing solely on Jewish acceptance and assimilation into British society. I hope I don't get called on the fact that the movie's events mostly happen in the Isle of Skye, which is Scottish rather than British. The family that hires the governess seem like Brits that purchased a northern estate, rather than actual native Scots. Their coachman wears a kilt, but no one else does. And the family scion attends Oxford. That's British enough for my purposes!

Posted by: Boviate at 08:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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