Rebooting History On Film
By Caroline McLoughlin
Every episode is about a different film dramatizing a narrative from The Before Times. Caroline McLoughlin takes a deep dive into how historical fiction is just as much about *our* times as it is about the setting. And it’s more than "did it happen that way?", but "how and why was it portrayed that way?" The host loves story structure and doesn't believe in the cliche of "stuffy period dramas", so there will be sarcasm. @rbt_historyfilm
Rebooting History On FilmMar 16, 2021
Ep. 2 “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2008) - Part 2
Setting: 16th century England, the reign of King Henry VIII, the Early Modern Era
In the second episode of Rebooting History on Film, Caroline McLoughlin and writer Rachael Dickzen (https://www.rachaeldickzen.com/) finish our review of the 2008 movie "The Other Boleyn Girl", based on the Philippa Gregory novel that launched a thousand book covers with headless women in historical costume. That's fitting, as the protagonist is Anne Boleyn-wait, it's not? It's supposed to be about her boring sister Mary Boleyn?!
This version of two of the most infamous simultaneous breakups in history* portrays Anne as the Mean Girl who stole her sister's man and the crown from the rightful Queen of England, Katherine of Aragon. Perhaps that's the moral of this story: be a good girl and do whatever the men in your life tell you and eventually, "Forrest Gump"-style, you might strike it rich and drift into contented family life, free from ambitions or principles. Happy Women's History Month?
*only one of these breakups gets any screentime, and it's not the one about Henry dumping the Pope and racking up a massive body count
Follow the podcast here and on Twitter @rbt_historyfilm. This is the second part of a two-part episode on TOBG, because Rachael and I had a lot to talk about, mostly concerning all the crucial events and people omitted because we are Tudor history enthusiasts who cannot be contained.
Ep. 1 “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2008) - Part 1
Setting: 16th century England, the reign of King Henry VIII, the Early Modern Era
In the first episode of Rebooting History on Film, Caroline McLoughlin and writer Rachael Dickzen (https://www.rachaeldickzen.com/) review the 2008 movie "The Other Boleyn Girl", based on the Philippa Gregory novel that launched a thousand book covers with headless women in historical costume. That's fitting, as the protagonist is Anne Boleyn-wait, it's not? It's supposed to be about her boring sister Mary Boleyn?!
This version of two of the most infamous simultaneous breakups in history* portrays Anne as the Mean Girl who stole her sister's man and the crown from the rightful Queen of England, Katherine of Aragon. Perhaps that's the moral of this story: be a good girl and do whatever the men in your life tell you and eventually, "Forrest Gump"-style, you might strike it rich and drift into contented family life, free from ambitions or principles. Happy Women's History Month?
*only one of these breakups gets any screentime, and it's not the one about Henry dumping the Pope and racking up a massive body count
Follow the podcast here and on Twitter @rbt_historyfilm. Episode 2 is already available! It's the second half of this episode because Rachael and I had a lot to talk about, mostly concerning all the crucial events and people omitted because we are Tudor history enthusiasts who cannot be contained.