A Conversation for 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the Television Drama

Peer Review: A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 1

Bluebottle

Entry: 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama - A87885788
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

If you only read one of my entries this month, read A87871657 - 'Star Wars' Animated Adventures. If you read two, you may as well consider reading this one too, which was written to coincide with Create's current 'False Facts' and Fake News theme: A87885661. This examines how factual a television drama based on real events is.

Everything in this entry is true, however I admit that in keeping with the 'False Facts' theme I did choose to give at least one fact an, shall we say, interesting interpretation? Let me know if you think you've spotted it.

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 2

SashaQ - happysad

What a tale smiley - sadface I like the respectful humour you've added, though - Liverpool v Everton indeed...

I did have a bit of confusion at the mentions of Rubenhold - her name is mentioned after a quote by Dormer, and then later it sounds like the Review was by Jane Austen!

Robert predeceased Seymour by a decade rather than Jane?

The woman isn't in the bath at the trial, I presume...

Is the interesting interpretation something to do with George Washington and the trees?


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 3

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl George Washington and the cherry tree is a myth, so that fits right in.

Brilliant story! I didn't know about this. smiley - wow What a fun read, and it really fits the topic.

'...a talented poet in her own write...'

Could you either put 'in her own write' in quotes, or add something to the effect of 'as John Lennon might have said'? Otherwise, it just looks misspelled.


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 4

Bluebottle

Thanks for the comments smiley - biggrin I've reworded bits so hopefully they are smoother to read now.

And now – the interesting interpretation wasn't to do with Washington. I did know the cherry is apocryphal – I have seen Peabody & Mr Sherman you know – but couldn't resist. The most famous axeman in history remains Dr Beeching smiley - tongueout Did you know that one of the Worsley's nearest neighbours was John Wilkes?

You've spotted my cunning plan to get the Isle of Wight and a Beatles reference in all my entries. You're right that 'in her own write' didn't really work out so I'll have to tweak a bit somewhere else to make it sneakily Beatley.

I suspect the sad truth is that if someone was to make a Hillsborough drama that was profoundly respectful, moving, incredibly well-acted and presented the real, human tragedy of the event in the most emotionally profound way - but the characters were seen wearing the wrong shirts, that's all that a lot of people would care about. It seems so trivial in comparison. Will anyone really care about the shirt colour in 300 years time? Or 3,000?

I was unsure whether to include the sexual slang. Is it me, or does 'play rantum scantum' seem a charming phrase? It sounds like a bit like a Parlour Game popular during the Victorian Autumn – let's being with an invigorated round of the Minister's Cat or Blind Man's Bluff, we'll play rantum scantum and then go apple bobbing. Sounds so innocent.

I did think about whether a word or phrase is inherently and eternally unacceptable or does its shock value diminish over time if not in use? In the drama the bathing woman calls Bisset a 'mutton-monger', leading to shocked and aghast expressions on all present. Is this just over-reaction on the actors and extras' parts? Or is it merely a natural part of society moving and changing, in which things previously acceptable are no longer and what was unacceptable is now often indeed encouraged.

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 5

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Oh, I'm all for including the antiquated cuss words! smiley - rofl It's true - what scandalised once, is now quaint and cute. And much less awful than the stuff Tim Roth said in 'Rob Roy'. (They tried too hard to make sure you knew the macaronis were metrosexual rather than gay.)





A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 6

bobstafford

Have you come across the term "old bat" and its origin


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 7

Bluebottle

Let me guess - it originally meant an elderly prostitute? Am I right?

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 8

bobstafford

Correct 90%
Specifically a night trading prostitute circa 1650ad



smiley - cheers


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 9

Bluebottle

You learn something new every day.

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 10

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Why is this entry still sitting in PR?

Is it because we discussed shocking topics? smiley - winkeye


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 11

Bluebottle

smiley - shrugThere are some entries of mine that I don't mind if they sink to the bottom of Peer Review and hang around for a few years, but I liked this one.

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 12

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

*waves at passing Scouts*


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 13

SashaQ - happysad

I bookmarked this thread to reply to, as slang and strong language does fascinate me, but I see it has taken me quite a while to try to formulate my thoughts about it, sorry...

One thought is that I didn't know the strong four-letter C word for many years, so when I first heard it it had no power to shock me. Even now, I still find it odd that a word for anatomy is considered worse than a word for an act involving anatomy (and which word does have great power to shock me), but it's not a subject I could research myself... smiley - flustered Euphemisms are also things I think about, because I do prefer more delicacy in words, and some of the 'shocking' phrases you included in the Entry do sound now more like euphemisms than anything stronger...

Just having another quick readthrough of this and wonder if the mention of the Triffids should be moved closer to the first mention of Appuldurcombe House, as it seems to be a bit of a non sequitur after the Act of God, unless it is aiming to link in with the horror of it...

The final section is very valuable indeed - excellent amount of detail smiley - ok


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 14

Bluebottle

Words are offensive in their context, not offensive in and of themselves. (Like Dmitri, I've had a few battles with the filther about completely inoffensive things such as the name of a king of England). So for example, a decade or so ago the BBC decided to edit the word 'faggot' out from the song 'Fairytale of New York' in case someone was offended, only to then get lots of complaints from people offended they had done so.smiley - shrug

Anyway, I've moved the Triffids to the first mention of Appuldurcombe and into a footnote, and added a link to Cilla.

<BB<


A87885788 - 'The Scandalous Lady W' - the BBC Drama

Post 15

SashaQ - happysad

Very true about the context changing the power of the words, yes... "You smiley - bleep" does strengthen words in comparison with eg "having smiley - bleep for dinner" (not that I would like to eat smiley - bleep and I'm not particularly keen on Fairytale of New York either, but there we go - chacun a son goût... smiley - shrug)

Excellent tweaks there smiley - ok


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Post 16

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Post 17

Bluebottle

They'll allow any scandalous thing into the Edited Guide these days… smiley - tongueout

<BB<


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Post 18

SashaQ - happysad

smiley - laugh Congratulations! smiley - biggrinsmiley - bubbly

Fascinatingly, the smiley - bleep topic of conversation came up in the office today - in particular how farm animal names can be used as insults as well. Context is everything indeed!


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 19

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - bubbly


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