Period Drama week - Part 1

Welcome to my first post for Period Drama week, which is being held by Miss Elizabeth Bennet over at her blog Elegance of Fashion! I’m really looking forward to taking part in the rest of the week, and hope you choose to do so too if you aren’t already :)

1.       How did you get into period dramas?

I covered most of this in my Jane Austen Week Part 3 post (clue: it was through Jane Austen), but I’ve always watched period dramas, ever since I was quite young since my mum really likes them. Also, as far as I can remember period dramas have always been the sort of thing I’ve enjoyed watching. I suppose it probably all stemmed from my love of history, which then led me to period dramas as a simple matter of course.

2.      What is it that you like about period dramas?

Ooh, everything! I can’t possibly put it down to one thing…I love the beautiful costumes, scenery and scores. I love the element of escapism: living for a few hours in a world of the past where everything is very different, yet in some ways very similar to life now. I also like how you can rely on them to deliver good moral lessons, something which films and tv nowadays doesn't always do. Even the characters that don't act morally very rarely get a happy ending: they face the consequences of their actions, while those who do good are rewarded - in short, everything turns out as it should. Something else I like is how good manners and courtesy towards others is usual practice in period films.

3.      Do you usually read a book and then watch the adaptation or do you watch the adaptation and then read the book?

In most cases I watch the adaptation first, sometimes deliberately: I find it’s a more accessible way to see if you like something – to put it plainly, if it turns out to not be any good, then I’ve only wasted a few hours, rather than a few days with a book :’) Sometimes I’ll do so by accident, as often watching the adaptation will inform me of the existence of a book, or that it would be something I might be interested in reading.

4.      What are your top three period dramas and why?

Pride and Prejudice 1995 – I’ve limited myself to only one Jane Austen adaptation, but it was easy to choose this one as my favourite! I love the book, and I love how faithful this version is to it. I re-watch it over and over again, and just love everything about it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel 1982 – This is one of my favourites largely because it’s an adaptation of one of my favourite books! Plus I love Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy and Jane Seymour as Marguerite! When I read any of the books, it’s their faces and voices I see and hear. Even though some things were changed, it still captured brilliantly all the things I love about the book. You can see my review of the film here.

Okay, so third favourite was a tough one but I really, really loved series one of Downton Abbey. I can’t wait to the second series, which starts on September 18th! Super, super excited for that!

Sneaky addition: A close fourth is The King’s Speech 2011 – I first saw this back in January when it was first released and just loved it! Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter were all absolutely wonderful and the film completely deserved all the various awards it won.

5.      From those three period dramas that you picked, who are your favorite characters in each one?

Elizabeth Bennet – Predictable, I know, but she’s my favourite Austen heroine, and one of my favourite ever heroines :) I love pretty much everything about her: her wit, vivacity (whenever I write that word I always hear David Bamber as Mr. Collins in the 1995 version saying it! But anyway...) and how although she’s flawed she’s still very easy to admire.

Marguerite Blakeney – Although I of course love Sir Percy, I have always greatly admired Marguerite: despite her mistakes, she tries to right them even though she is torn by an impossible decision.

Lady Sybil Crawley – I would say she is probably my favourite character, since she’s certainly the nicest sister out of the three...plus she’s committed to helping others, open-minded, determined and intelligent.

Wow! I can’t believe I kept to my resolution to post every day this week :) I admit I am quite proud of myself, although this won’t be a regular occurrence by any means! School starts next week, so after the Period Drama week is over I'll be posting about once or twice a week.

~Abby