...living in a world where public executions such as burning at the stake, beheadings, hangings was a regular part of life? I can barely watch them being portrayed thru tv series let alone watch one in real life (ESPECIALLY burnings). Why on earth would townspeople want to watch this stuff??
shareThe novelty of it. Daily life was monotonously unchanging. Any excuse for a break in the boredom became an occasion for fair-like activities - and attendance was encouraged by the ruling classes as an object lesson on the consequences of breaking the rules.
shareThata true... But still!! I would never want to witness that no matter how bored I was!
shareNeither would I, but then again, had we lived back then, you and I both would be different people..
At least, whoever lost his head in medieval England usually was condemned by law to death and didn't just have the bad luck of being sold into death because they were slaves as it happened 2000 years ago for gladiator games in ancient Rome. I don't know if you've ever been to the colosseum, but in its prime, a lot of audience fit in there and they had no problems filling the seats.
Yea that is true! Although I read somewhere that gladiator death wasn't as common as we think it was but still... Going to watch people 'fight to the death' is messed up. Even as early as 1800's I think people were more for lack of a better term 'ok' with death as it was so common back then. But jeesh.... Burning at the stake is just awful! The torture chambers even more so! I literally can't even watch scenes in shows with torture chambers
shareI, too, had a hard time watching the execution and torture scenes. The cook being boiled in oil was just sickening as was the disemboweling.
True.
I always fast forward when Anne Askew or Mark Smeaton are being put on the rack.
If death was the punishment for a crime, the least they could've done was to make it a quick and as painless as possible one. I mean, your life is already the highest price you can pay anyway.
If death was the punishment for a crime, the least they could've done was to make it a quick and as painless as possible one. I mean, your life is already the highest price you can pay anyway.
Omg the electric chair is so bad. When I see pics or films with them I get super creeped out. And they used those up until fairly recently! What an awful way to die ?
shareYou may not want to ever watch "the Green Mile" if you haven't already. There was an electric chair scene that upset me so much I almost walked out of the theater. I'm like you, I hate scenes involving torture and burning at the stake. I don't see how people can do each other that way. Which reminds me, you may also want to avoid American Horror Story, it's really sick.
shareI watched the Green Mile when I was really young and it seriously scarred me. Is that the one where they didn't wet the sponge or whatever? Yikes!
I'm defiantly not watching AHS... no way.
I realize I sound like a real wuss on this thread but in truth my favorite show of all time is Spartacus and that is very gory. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Lol, my favorite show of all time is "Game of Thrones." And you're right about the sponge.
shareI loved Spartacus too! I was so sad when the original actor passed away from cancer. He was a great actor. I bet the show would have been better and had more seasons if he lived.
shareThe Green Mile is one of my favorite movies but the electric chair scene was so horrifying..I'm glad I never saw it in the theatre and I was at least able to turn the volume down (which I also learned to do with The Tudors). If you don't hear the blood-curdling screams for some reason it's not as bad.
The most horrifying Tudor scene? Season 3 and poor John Constable with the burning poker up his butt, and John Aske in his chains and his hanging. The Pilgrimage of Grace stuff was just beyond anything I could take. Oh, and the burnings at the stake of Anne Askew and the boiling of the cook I agree...unbearable. I just FF through. And I can't forget Francis Dereham who was Catherine Howard's first lover when they were pulling out his teeth and fingernails. That is some really, sick stuff.. I also detest any kind of torture or violence. It's amazing I watch "Banshee" on Cinemax but it's so violent it's almost not even real anymore...there reaches a point when it is so incessant it's overkill. The Tudors knew just how to use it, and it was horrifying but realistic for its time in history.
Game of Thrones is my favorite show but for some reason the violence just doesn't get to me the way these other shows did. The deaths of characters I loved was heartbreaking, but I don't think anything that i had to run out of the room for. A pillow up to my face sufficed!
Remember us, for we too have lived, loved and laughed
I haven't started watching Game of Thrones yet. I usually don't watch shows until they have their last season because I HATE waiting to see what happens. I'm excited to watch it when I finally do though! I love shows like GoT, Spartacus, Rome, The Tudors, The Borgias.... !
shareAll awesome shows! I love them all.
How about The White Queen, Da Vinci's Demons, Wolf Hall, The Hollow Crown, Vikings?
I seen the white queen! I loved that one too! Im waiting to watch Vikings too when that's over with! The others I haven't heard of? I'll have to check them out! Sounds like my style of show! I loved Deadwood too. Basically I prefer to watch shows based on history
shareThe Hollow Crown is more or less based on Shakespeare's plays.
Wolf Hall is based on Hilary Mantel's books, which are very good IMO.
Neither of these shows are what you'd call sexy or even fun, but they are all well acted and beautifully shot.
I loved Deadwood! There has been off and on talk about doing a movie in order to provide a definitive end to the story, and it looks like it's on again! In August 2015, talks resumed between HBO and David Milch, so I'm hoping something comes out of it this time. I've read that most, if not all, of the actors would be onboard for a Deadwood movie.
Omg the electric chair is so bad. When I see pics or films with them I get super creeped out.
Fast forward a hundred years, you have King Charles II executed at the end of the English Civil War for restoring absolute power to the monarchy! Hangings and executions lasted until the beginning of the 20th century.
shareThe more you are around something, the more you are desensitized to it. You would be so used to it that it wouldn't even strike you as particularly 'cruel' any longer.
Then too, there was zero respect for life or humanity during that period; lives were just thrown away. Animals were butchered for sport or burned alive as part of celebrations. If it's "entertainment" to treat an animal thus, why not a human?
The more you are around something, the more you are desensitized to it. You would be so used to it that it wouldn't even strike you as particularly 'cruel' any longer.
Most people didn't have access to theatre so they flocked to executions for entertainment. It was only the wealthy that had access to theatre.
shareProbably the worst scene to me was the guy who was drawn and quartered (I can't remember who). Horrific, it stuck with me for awhile. As did the woman who was put on the rack and then burned at the stake. The boiling cook was bad too. And the executions of Anne's "lovers" bothered me so bad because they were innocent. I am going through The Tudors again and am fast-forwarding through all this stuff. I love this show, but damn.
Dexter: I would give everything to feel nothing again.
You know what... I literally just re-watched the series a few weeks ago for the second time and I don't remember the drawn and quartered part of the boiling cook part? People keep mentioning specifically the boiling cook part. I think I must close my eyes during these parts or something just instinctively!
shareThe cook who was boiled to death was in either season 1 or 2, I think season 1. Someone paid a cook to poison a bunch of cardinals and he was boiled alive as punishment. The drawn and quartered execution was season 3 or 4. I just started season 3 again and have not gotten to that part yet. I will be fast forwarding though because I was traumatized the first time, haha.
Edit: I guess the correct term is hanged, drawn and quartered.
Dexter: I would give everything to feel nothing again.
The boiling cook is in season 2, episode 1. He's the one that poisons the soup at Bishop Fisher's house (Thomas Boleyn being the one to give him money and the poison).
The hanged, drawn and quartered man is Francis Dereham, who is executed together with Culpepper in season 4 episode 5 (with 'The execution ballet' as background music)
Thanks for clarifying that.
Dexter: I would give everything to feel nothing again.
The hanged, drawn and quartered man is Francis Dereham
Oh yea I do remember the drawn and quartered part... I totally either fast forwarded or closed my eyes... I couldn't stand that. I must have done the same for the boiling part cause...I don't have any visual of that and to be honest I don't want to see that! Yikes!
shareWatching them once was enough for me! I do not need to watch them again, haha.
Dexter: I would give everything to feel nothing again.
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public executions continued in England until the mid 19th century, and were immensely popular. i have no doubt that if they were reintroduced today, enthusiastic crowds would go to them.
shareIf by "enthusiastic crowds" you mean every human rights group you can name, then absolutely! lol
I wouldn't watch. I can't even watch those homeless animal commercials!
No. I mean there would be plenty of spectators who would go to enjoy it. just as there were in the 19th century. naive to imagine otherwise.
sharePerhaps. Even though public executions were outlawed in the U.S. back in the 1930s, there are still people who show up outside the prisons where executions are held. I remember seeing news footage of all the people gathered for the Ted Bundy execution. They even showed two old ladies giving each other the high five as the hearse with Bundy's body was driving past them.
So, I believe you're correct in that people would come out for executions. I'm sure if they were shown on pay TV, people would pay to watch it.
Although, I think there has also been a lot more public and organized opposition to the death penalty, so there would also be those coming out against executions as well. I don't think that would have been allowed in England in Henry's time, to have organized public protests against his executions.
The same could be asked, if people from 200-500 years ago were to be shown "gay porn". They would have a look of disgust.
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