tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post7337383399285179376..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: Game of Thrones - historical roots of fantasy by Eve EdwardsMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-82934287925294565712013-07-04T11:52:23.134+01:002013-07-04T11:52:23.134+01:00In our house The Borgias is known as Game of Popes...In our house The Borgias is known as Game of Popes!Judihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01024426495778381183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-41879292301194418222013-07-03T20:48:52.979+01:002013-07-03T20:48:52.979+01:00Julia equals Eve - the new comment form doesn'...Julia equals Eve - the new comment form doesn't allow me to be my pen name!Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01898520338579733193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-14811437556842055152013-07-03T20:48:10.481+01:002013-07-03T20:48:10.481+01:00C J - sounds like our sons are very alike!
A J ...C J - sounds like our sons are very alike! <br /><br />A J - I suppose one good thing about the versions such as Braveheart is that it does open up a discussion - many historical documentaries have a hidden bias that is harder to spot. In Braveheart it is literally 'in your face'!Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01898520338579733193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-92008112238554731492013-07-03T15:15:53.600+01:002013-07-03T15:15:53.600+01:00My love for history (which has, this year, culmina...My love for history (which has, this year, culminated in my attaining a degree in history and beginning a career as a teacher) was sparked in me while I was in middle school largely through fantasy. My favorite computer game, which I would spend hours playing, was <i>Civilization II</i>, a game in which you guide the progress of a civilization, fighting wars, developing new technologies, choosing a government, etc., from a small settlement in 4000 BC through to the modern world in 2000 AD. Each of the technologies, wonders of the world, and military units the game featured included a short text on what those things were and what their place was in real-world history; this was my first bit of "study" in history. Based on my experience, I think that fantasy is an excellent portal into a love for and a knowledge of history. I doubt I would have found my own passion for it without fantasy.<br /><br />I think, however, that we (educators, parents) must be careful to distinguish between the history and the fantasy. The line was relatively clear in my case as I was guiding the story in the computer game, creating the fantasy while dealing with figures, ideas, etc. from history. The line is very blurry, however, in things like television shows which tell the stories of historical figures. It is easy for those who don't know better to mistake a modern re-telling for a mass audience for the real thing. If we can make this distinction clear (and perhaps this is a good teaching moment to discuss "poetic license"), I think fantasy is a wonderful way to get children -- and even many adults -- hooked on history.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00265468732588320935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-52297569757333034702013-07-03T11:44:02.605+01:002013-07-03T11:44:02.605+01:00I noticed the nails too! Sarah Gristwood, author o...I noticed the nails too! Sarah Gristwood, author of Blood Sisters, will be posting a review of The White Queen here on 6th July.<br /><br />And, C.J.Busby, can you really not have heard that there is a TV adaptation of Wolf Hall in the pipeline, with Mark Rylance at Cromwell? Not to mention the two-parter of both books at the RSC next year (cast to be announced).<br /><br />I am rather relaxed about the dentistry and complexions - the producers do actually want us to watch their programmes and I for one would be turned off - and would turn off - if we had blackened and missing teeth and poxy faces.Mary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-31446980481097685722013-07-03T09:13:04.918+01:002013-07-03T09:13:04.918+01:00I haven't been watching either The White Queen...I haven't been watching either The White Queen or Game of Thrones, but it always annoys me when women in Victorian TV dramas walk through London streets without wearing hats or bonnets. And I recently saw a couple of dvd episodes of 'North and South', in which Margaret seemed to be wearing pale orange eyeshadow for much of the time. Also - and maybe someone can enlighten me here - clearly, women COULD have plucked their eyebrows in the Victorian Age - after all, the Tudors plucked not only their eyebrows but their hairlines - but DID they? In most photos I've seen, Victorian ladies' eyebrows seem au naturel. The super-trim, shaped, not-a-hair-out-of-place eyebrows of most heroines in adaptations of Dickens and Gaskell and even Austen, always looks wrong to me. Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-33005491581545027712013-07-03T09:12:20.782+01:002013-07-03T09:12:20.782+01:00Great post - BBC history is absurd, I can't ta...Great post - BBC history is absurd, I can't take all the heaving bosoms and shiny attractive cast, give me a good book with all the grime and pox any day (I sincerely hope they NEVER make n adaptation of Wolf hall!) But my son sounds exactly like yours - read the whole Game of Thrones series non-stop over about two months, and also claims to know most of his history from Assassin's Creed! (But likewise, a very sweet-tempered lad...)<br />Cecilia C.J.Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12288574235370421625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-22722127604584978512013-07-03T08:55:19.603+01:002013-07-03T08:55:19.603+01:00I'm a retired history teacher and also find te...I'm a retired history teacher and also find televised 'histories' helpful and interesting as long as you keep reminding yourself that they're making a TV programme with sprinklings of poetic licence to keep the viewers happy. I'm loving the White Queen but don't remember reading of the Woodville women's skills in witchcraft. Maybe I missed that section in my history studies.Rosalind Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05363027308436257933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-91251804220212588372013-07-03T07:50:38.091+01:002013-07-03T07:50:38.091+01:00I'm a History teacher and fictionalised histor...I'm a History teacher and fictionalised history is very useful if used in small doses. The worst part is when children watch it without my supervision, especially when they argue with me over things they have seen (that;s not right, I saw it in Braveheart!)<br /><br />Not usually a fan of fantasy - unless I can identify with it. hence The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being my favourite book. It was the wardrobes, you see.<br /><br />Great blog.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00335721389507237440noreply@blogger.com