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Well, that treatment might not be far very far from the truth. Here’s an excerpt from the NYT In 1996 on Krakauer’s book:
<blockquote> Mr. Krakauer, a contributing editor at Outside magazine, tracks down virtually everyone who knew McCandless in his two years of wandering. As their memories reconstruct Alexander Supertramp, an image of the young anchorite begins to emerge, so vivid at times that it dazzles, at others so mystifying that one wants to scream. The people who meet him love him, while the reader longs to kick him in the pants. An 81-year-old man whom Mr. Krakauer calls Ronald A. Franz loved McCandless so much he begged to adopt him as a grandson.
''We'll talk about it when I get back from Alaska, Ron,'' McCandless replied. The author adds: ''He had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy.''
After he had slipped away, McCandless wrote Franz an insolent letter admonishing him to live as he, the Supertramp, saw fit: ''If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy.''
''Astoundingly,'' Mr. Krakauer writes, ''the 81-year-old man took the brash 24-year-old vagabond's advice to heart. Franz placed his furniture and most of his other possessions in a storage locker, bought a GMC Duravan and . . . sat out in the desert, day after day after day, awaiting his young friend's return.''
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/15/bsp/krakauer-wild.html
</blockquote>
Quite: “ I'm a southerner and Jefferson Davis is a hero to us.”
Gross.
I disagree with you. Yes, it’s a story and not real life. It’s melodrama and a bodice ripper. And if a reader is going to give up the amount of time it takes to slog through all that pulp fiction, they Deserve the reward of seeing the villains (albeit mustache twirling, cardboard cutout, cartoonish AF) get what they deserve.
EYEROLL
No way! As you mentioned, I Claudius is superior, as is most of the programming on Masterpiece Theatre: The Jewel in the Crown, The Pallisers, War and Peace, The Forsyte Saga (predates Masterpiece), Edward the Seventh, Cranford, Pride and Prejudice, and the A&E P&P, Ivanhoe (A&E), I could go on and on.
And for strictly USproductions, The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, The Blue and the Gray, And others, are far better. They manage to portray villains without resorting to cartoon characterizations (and have better acting, overall).
North and South has gorgeous production values, although the 80s hair And makeup is distracting, but the costumes are superb (mostly from stock and many rented from UK costume houses). But iNorth and South is still a melodramatic bodice ripper. And rewatching it now in the second decade of the 21st century really exposes its other weaknesses. It wasn’t strong enough in its handling of important themes such as slavery and women’s roles, and fell into the GWTW trap at times of painting a quaint picture of gentility. Much blame goes to Jakes, but also writing and production.
Fulton took a role in Knots Landing and wasn’t available for N&S bk 2
They did it because billing is one of the negotiating points when actors are contracted for work. Those big-name actors must have had it in their contract their billing credit order and how many eps they got billing, regardless of how many they appeared in.
Back in the 1970s and 80s I read all of The Kent Family. Chronicles. Then when these bks came out I read all three. Jakes always starts out strong in the first book (KFCs the first 3 books were okay, but 3rd book was already sinking).
His books aren’t great literature and are extremely formulaic and repetitive: murder; rape; men wetting themselves as they’re dying; cardboard cutout, mustache-twirling villains; etc.
I’ve never read Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels, but judging from the series on Starz, she uses the same formula. And to some extent, Winston Graham’s Poldark novels fall into the same category.
My favorite Lincoln is Gregory Peck in The Blue and the Gray.
Book 3 was a terrible read. Of all Jakes’s historical bodice-rippers, that was the worst.
Apparently there are no missing parts. Those complaining on amazon apparently did not understand how to use the disc menus and therefore did not realize they had to select each episode from the dvd menu. [eyeroll]
They were definitely condescending. They left Marta out of the funeral. Two different people tell her that they wanted her to come but they were out-voted. What reason could the family have for leaving her out of the funeral? They tell her she is one of the family, but they leave her out of the funeral.
I think you mean scything, not wood chopping, lololol.
Definitely Ross. Aidan Turner, hello!
Same problem with Livvy on The Waltons. Michael Learned was a beautiful woman, but the severe hairstyle and plain clothing did her no favors. No wonder she left the show to do the medical drama series, Nurse.
It’s not a Hallmark movie, it’s a Lifetime movie. Lifetime releases their xMas movies on dvd kinda rarely. Usually if there”s a big name star (e.g. Kristen Chenoweth).
You can buy a digital copy from Amazon for $4.99.
Oh dear, where to begin?
Your post makes some very good points, but is too heavy-handed pro Diana. The woman had many faults that also contributed to the failure of her marriage, her unhappiness, and her death. She was an immature, fragile, needy, emotionally-damaged young woman when she married into the royal family. She was ill-equipped to deal with the strict rules of being a royal. She was even less equipped for marriage —to anyone, but especially to a man so much older than she who was just as trapped by royal Tradition as she would later become.
Because she didn’t have the tools needed to navigate such difficulties, she made so many poor choices. So much attention-seeking behavior that gave her a quick thrill for a moment, but ultimately could not fill the void and ease her pain— and ultimately, only made things worse for herself. The worst of which, and most damaging to herself, was the Panorama interview. She felt so pleased with herself at the time, but later came to regret it. It was such a rash, poor decision on her part. She never considered how her sons would feel about it, both at the time, and years later. She knew full well that such interviews never go away, disappear, or are forgotten, and that Panorama interview is unfortunately part of her legacy she left the world, and her sons.
The Panorama interview was in bad taste, and makes her look vindictive, desperate and dramatic. It is also the reason why the queen finally agreed the divorce was necessary and the quicker the better.
The queen, and the royal “firm,” Have made plenty of mistakes, especially at the time of Diana’s tragic death. She was ill-equipped to deal with the changing world. If she had acted sooner, instead of digging her heels in and crying “No precedence” at every suggestion, things in London would not have gotten so out of hand and she would not have been so personally humiliated. But in the end, I think it turned out to be a good thing she learned that lesson.
We can only hope. It should have happened years ago
She is what made that series bearable to watch.
Perfect response. Thanks for taking the time (and having the patience). Really. Thank you.
No, worse. (Just watched Selma.)