Represresenting_the_Past

|ba (hons) english and history year 1 | | | |REPRESENTING THE PAST | |Representing the Past | |History and Film | | | |Elisabeth Roberts | |13/12/2010 | CONTENTS Page Introduction Pages How does “The Young Victoria” represent the past' Page Conclusion Page Bibliography and References INTRODUCTION There are many ways in which we can research and learn about past historical events and lives: museums, journals, books, the internet, television and film but how do these actually represent the past' Do they explain how things actually were or are they just other people’s points of view and personal opinions' How do they represent the past and does it actually matter if we know exactly how things were or do we just want to have an idea' The aim of this assignment is to produce a written report on a topic relating to representing the past in some way. The decision has been made to research and discuss a film which was made and released in 2009. With the help of its researchers and actors/actresses, this film helps us to understand the past during the reign of Queen Victoria. The film to be discussed is “The Young Victoria”. Queen Victoria reigned as the Monarch of England from 1837 until her death in 1901. She is known as being the longest reigning female monarch in history, to date. Her reign is known as the Victorian era. Much is known about how she reigned and the events that took place, both personally and politically during her time but what do we know about her before this' What do we know about her pre-Albert, how they came to marry or how she was brought up by her mother and consort' The film, The Young Victoria, written by Julian Fellowes, is a dramatization of the turbulent first years of her rule and her enduring romance with Prince Albert. The storyline of the film is explained to us: “Dominated by her possessive mother and bullying consort, Conroy, since childhood, teen-aged Victoria refuses to allow them the power of acting as her regent in the last days of her uncle, William IV’s rule. Her German cousin, Albert, is encouraged to court her for solely political motives but, following her accession at the age of eighteen, finds he is falling for her and is dismayed at her reliance on trusty premier, Melbourne. Victoria is impressed by Albert’s philanthropy which is akin to her own desire to help her subjects. However her loyalty to Melbourne, perceived as a self-seeker, almost causes a constitutional crisis and it is Albert who helps resolve her self-confidence. She proposes and they marry, Albert proving himself not only a devoted spouse, prepared to take an assassins bullet for her, but an agent of much needed reform, finally endorsed by an admiring Melbourne.” But how much of this film is based on actual facts and how much is just entertainment' In what way, if any, does it represent our past' HOW DOES “THE YOUNG VICTORIA” REPRESENT THE PAST' Historians and researchers have already informed us through various history books, of the way things were during the Victorian era and if we have been fortunate enough to have visited any of the British stately homes or one of its many museums, we can see for ourselves the vast paintings, artefacts and documentation that has been found and restored, types of materials used and the amazing clothes that were available to the people of this period. This film is no exception to this. The locations at which it was filmed are grand, beautiful places and in themselves, pieces of history. Places like Arundel Castle, Belvoir Castle, Lincoln Cathedral and Westminster Abbey – where Queen Victoria’s actual coronation ceremony took place in 1838 are places full of history and artefacts representing our past. They hold vast information on how people used to live and survive. Just by visiting these places, we can depict how life was and compare it to our own lives of today. From the film we can see the types of clothes that were worn, not only by the royals but also their servants and politicians as well as everyday people. It would not be practical for the women of today to have to wear the same type of dress as they had to. Health and Safety today would not allow us to work in clothes that heavy. The Queen of today, as smartly dresses as she always is, is not expected to dress in such a grand way, in fact she only wears State dress on very special occasions. Her security would not allow her to dress in her jewels and crowns all day, everyday. Although times and expectations have changed a lot over the years, not everything has. We know from national and political news that the Queen meets the Prime Minister in Office, regularly for updates on the running of the country in the same way that this was shown during the film. We also know that the Queen and her husband have a great influence on the partners and marriages of their children. There has been huge press coverage during recent years on the marriages of Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne and of course, subsequent divorces and re-marriages. The film reflects on the fact that the King had someone in line to marry Victoria from her being a young age and also that it was a political ploy to introduce her to Albert. What they didn’t expect was for them to fall in love and become devoted to each other. Emily Blunt, the actress who played Victoria in this film, explains that, in her opinion, Victoria needed Albert as much, if not more than he needed her, that they balanced each other out. Victoria was a feisty, stubborn young woman who would argue or attack anyone and Albert made her realise she had to think logically before acting on anything, otherwise she may make a mess of anything political. Emily had the fortune of being able to read actual diaries and letters written by a young and Queen Victoria and could make her assumptions on these. This allowed her to portray her character on actual feelings and thoughts written by the Queen. From this, we can learn how the relationship between Victoria and Albert grew. Sarah Ferguson, one of the producers of the film and previously married to Prince Andrew of today’s Royal family, tells us during her interview, that she wanted to keep the connection to the family fact and not fiction. The props and costumes used throughout the film represent the past in quite a big way Sandy Powell, the Costume Designer informs us that she was shown actual dresses worn by Queen Victoria, including her wedding dress, at Kensington Palace. This enabled her to make exact replicas of them for the film, using the same materials and colours that would have been used during the Victorian era, enabling the audience to see how grand the clothes were and how awkward they could be. During the film, six ladies are seen helping Victoria undress, this is not an exaggeration, it would actually have happened. The dress shown in the film that Victoria wears for her first meeting with her council is a copy of the actual dress worn by Queen Victoria on this occasion. The actual dress survives in a UK museum collection but has faded to brown as the black dye used at the time, was not stable. The chair used during the filming of the Coronation scenes is a replica of the actual Coronation Chair, housed at Westminster Abbey, commissioned by Edward I in 1300. The replica chair was used to film the scenes at Lincoln Cathedral and was then part of the exhibition displayed within the Cathedral to help promote the film. We can see from the pictures and photographs below, how similar they are and that to the untrained eye, they may be taken as identical. [pic] Actual Coronation Chair, housed at Westminster Abbey [pic]Drawing of the actual Coronation chair [pic] Photograph taken of replica Coronation Chair, taken at the exhibition, held in Lincoln Cathedral Patrice Vernette, the production designer, explains during an interview, that detail and accuracy were vital to the crew during the production of the film. This was to ensure that the part of history being represented was done so based on fact not fiction. Hours were spent studying actual diaries, letters, documents and artefacts from a variety of sources to enable the accuracy and detail was correct. Stately homes, castles and palaces which are part of the British Heritage, were visited and studied to ensure the feel of the rooms and scenes were as close to the actual time as was possible. This is a very well documented period, diaries and journals played a big part int he lives of all classes of people. Years of research went into ensuring the film represented the places, lives and emotions of past historical events and people as accurately as possible. CONCLUSION Researchers and historians took great pride in their work to enable as near as perfect replicas of props and costumes were produced for the use during this film. It was released in 2009, filming started in 2007 but they research into the history started years before this. On reflection, even though the interpretation of this period is excellent and much can be learnt from it, it could be argued that it does not represent the past to the extent that we can take it as gospel. There are a few factual errors made throughout the film and it could said that these were added to add interest to the storyline. A few examples of these errors are: After Albert dies, Victoria is seen wearing a blue dress as she lays out Albert’s clothes. History has shown and proved that Victoria actually took to wearing black for the rest of her life after Albert’s death. The scene in which Albert is shot whist shielding Victoria from an assassination attempt, although based on a real attempt that took place on 10th June 1840, it is not true to fact. Edward Oxford, an unemployed barkeep, fired two pistols towards the Queen’s carriage as she and Albert travelled along Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace but that in actual fact, no one, including Albert, was injured. The film, however, contains several significant departures from the facts. It shows that immediately following the shots, Albert being carried back to the Palace, seriously injured. Another example is that during the film Conroy can be seen to be still present in court after Victoria is crowned. History has shown that she expelled Conroy from court as soon as she became Queen. A major error is made during the closing titles of the film as it informs us that “Victoria and Albert reigned........” whereas in actual fact, as sovereign, only Victoria would reign. Albert had no official title. No husband and wife ever reigned over England together except William and Mary. This is, of course, still evident of today’s Monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II reigns over England with Prince Phillip having no official title. It could be argued that these are not in fact errors but included purposely to add entertainment value to the film. The crew involved with this film were fortunate to have a substantial amount of money available to them and also had connections to the royal family. On reflection of the film, interviews and research, it could be argued that this is not a difficult topic to cover. With the amount of available documentation, exhibitions, artefacts and information on the lives of Victoria and Albert, in fact the Victorian period as a whole, it could be said that it is a easy project to complete. Personal opinion is that although a large part of the film represents our past, mainly due to the accuracy and skill put into ensuring replicas and interpretations of characters were as real as possible, we need to remember that films like this are made for profit and entertainment. We can see how the royals and their subjects lived, materials and objects used and owned and the decor and colours used during the period but again we have to remember that it is the emotions and skills of the actors/actresses and crew that bring the characters to life on the screen. Yes, we can research and read actual hand written evidence from the people being portrayed but their ways, feelings and emotions shown during the film are only those based on the opinions of the people playing them. In the same way, it could be argued that some history books or journals are written based only on the opinions or views of the people writing them. Will we ever know what is true fact about the past without physical evidence or will we be happy just to carry on portraying it how we think it was to enable books, films etc to sell' BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES