I hated this BBC series and couldn't watch more than half the first episode. Though I don't agree with Germaine Greer's views on the PRB, I think her remark:
Although one might agree with Franny Moyle, author of Desperate Romantics, and with whoever it was at the BBC who decided that the TV series should have the same name, that the pre-Raphaelites were desperate, the notion that they were romantic (whether you spell it with a big or a small r) is nonsense. Not that anyone at the BBC cares; the intention was to smuggle pretentious pornography on to the small screen in prime time and get away with it. Job done.
Wow - she's quite bitter about the PRB. I haven't seen that kind of animosity towards a particular school of art in quite a while. And then, it was also about the PRB, when an exhibit of their work opened in Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteI think it's hard to deny the work of the PRB when they elicit such strong feeling, either for or against.
Another WOW! here. I agree with Sam.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm including a large part of my new course in Somerset on The Brotherhood I think popularizing history is all good as it opens up debate.
ReplyDeleteI'm since reading William Morris's News from Nowhere which I probably would have ignored on my never going to get to you pile, The depictation of Rossetti was as stylized as Darcy in P and P by the beeb but it brought many to Austen's books. I'd rather see some history than none.
Susan
It was a terrible series. Nothing wrong with the subject matter but yet again the BBC had to strive to make it "relevant" and appealing to youth.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments. I always enjoy her writings even if I don't agree wuth them. But why not tell the true story of the PRB - which doesn't need sensationalising or turning into fiction.
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