Please don't tell me we're pretending that the Keira Knightley P&P was anything but horrid. Good casting, but ludicrous directing and completely ridiculous plot changes. It was like Jane let a Bronte sister take over. They find their love! At dawn! In the mist! As opposed to on a walk to Mereton.
@jenrobe: But... but... there's a huge difference between staying true to the original material perfectly and staying true to the themes of the story while taking artistic license to make a visually arresting film. I love the book, but the new P&P is sooooo pretty. The use of light, the magnificent long shots (the first scene is *awesome*), and the wonderfully composed soundtrack. I know, I'm just gushing now, and its a matter of opinion, but I love that film from an artistic perspective.
@desertbloom79: I thought visually it was stunning, but it did not stay at all true to the characters. Plot changes are one thing (and often a necessity) but when you have characters behaving, well, out of character, it just loses all impact. Seriously, the proposal scene where she almost kisses him? Erk.
@desertbloom79: I can see that, and artistically it had merit, and thematically yes, but what bothered me was the anachronisms and plain old plot inaccuracies that were just clumsy, like the farm animals running through their house (either make them fallen gentry or farmers, but don't try a weird combination, it seems clumsy), or the corsets (in the Georgian era? Really?), or the part where Bingley says "I've been a complete ass", which never ever ever ever would have happened.
@laurasaurus: On the corset front, didn't they wear reduced ones under their dresses? Not full Victorian numbers, obviously, but I thought there was a bit of cinching going on.
OK, I just read a bit more. Seems Rose will be the Head House Parlormaid (or whatever the female equivalent of Hudson would be) and the show will start in 1936. I suspect we'll cash in on WWII before it's over. Assuming Hudson and Mrs. Bridges are pretty damn old, if not dead, and given how James went out at the end of the original, I assume we will see a lot of Daisy, Edward, Alice, and whatever the littel boy's name was, and perhaps Georgina's children.
@otherginger: Wouldn't the equivalent of Hudson be the housekeeper (which Upstairs Downstairs didn't have)?
On the one hand, I loved this show and would love to see a remake. On the other, it sounds like not so much a remake as a revisitation of the family, just a decade on. I'm not sure how much I want to see it without the original players (Mrs. Bridges and her awesome cooking!) but I do like that someone still appreciates such a wonderful series.
Hey now... I like Brideshead Revisited! It's painful, yes, but Jeremy Irons and his voice are in it!* I could listen to him wax philosophic on post-war ennui and sexual longing over a gin fizz for hour after sweet, unending hour.
*this is also the only reason I still watch The Lion King
@weakyknee: I think you misunderstood. The BR with Jeremy Irons in it is BRILLIANT (yes, it deserves caps). The recent movie adaptation, without Jeremy Irons in it, is not.
I was really tiny, but I remenber how I loved it. Georgina was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen! And there was this handsome guy, and didn't he have some sort of tragic lovestory?
As said, I was tiny then.
I hated the butler with a vengeance.
@BlondeGoddess: He could have personified the rise of fascism in England prior to WWII - it was interesting how the characters became iconic as the events of the show changed.
Lesley Anne Down (Georgina) is still very very pretty, BTW.
@long_division: The kintaku/shibari. Personally, I prefer something a little softer if I'm going to be on the floor, which doesn't really happen that frequently, frankly.
From Bisazza's website: "As usual, the central protagonist of Araki’s shots is an oriental woman, most often tied as per the ancient art of Japanese bondage or kinbaku. Her look (glance), with its strong evocative force, involves the observer into an emotional reflection."
They wrote that themselves and didn't see anything wrong with it? Yikes.
@KATE!: Before castigating white male racists for objectifying Asian woman I came across this on the UK site.
"Nobuyoshi Araki, one of Japan’s most provocative, and sought-after, photographers, has created the new 2009 advertising campaign for Bisazza that debuts internationally from April across Europe, USA and Australia.
Expressing Araki’s original and highly recognised style, the provocative yet iconic campaign represents Araki’s personal interpretation of the Bisazza brand.
As usual, the central protagonist of Araki’s shots is an oriental woman, most often tied as per the ancient art of Japanese bondage or kinbaku. Her look (glance), with its strong evocative force, involves the observer into an emotional reflection." [www.bisazza.com]
@Rare Affinity: but it doesn't matter if the photographer is asian, white, male or female. the images themselves still depict submissive bound asian women, being used in advertising to play to racist fantasies
@Rare Affinity: copy/pasting the website of the company that the ads are for doesn't prove that its not a form of racialized sexism. Araki is a man taking pictures of bound japanese women in order to sell tiles to westerners. it panders to western ideas of asian women as passive and submissive creatures who will willing subject to your dominance.
its sexual AND cultural domination in one highly stylized picture. and its not like this is a new meme or anything. images like this are as old as imperialism itself.
The juxtaposition of the tile and the kimono really IS quite striking... so why did they need to tie her up? They could have made the same visual statement with her sitting/kneeling/lounging/lying on the tile. artdirectorFAIL
@pear.shaped.Sara: on the website there are other photos with this idea. there are other photos that show the tiles and mosaics better too so all around, this ad sucks.
I don't find this ad offensive it all. Nothing about it looks violent to me. She looks bored more than anything else.
But, wtf is it advertising? If I have to ask that question? Ad fail
@Rare Affinity: how many regular people know about different tile brands anyway? these are really expensive as well so most people aren't picking these up for their average bathroom remodel. this photo aside, they usually have really beautiful stuff.
@Rare Affinity: They're not obscure; they're expensive. I'm guessing they wanted something artsy fartsy to appeal to professional interior designers who are their most important conduit for sales.
And add me to the chorus of "wtf does this have to do with tile?"
@PhillyLass: I went along to my local DIY superstore to source my (cheap) tiles. In terms of the actual product alone, I find this advert irritating as the geisha distracts from the pattern of the tiles.
10/12/09
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Though, I'll admit, I love the most recent version. Not really as P&P, but if viewed as a separate movie, it was great.
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Perhaps you're right about viewing the new one as not actually being P&P... it's just a Regency love story.
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LOL'ed so hard I have officially embarrassed myself in public.
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On the one hand, I loved this show and would love to see a remake. On the other, it sounds like not so much a remake as a revisitation of the family, just a decade on. I'm not sure how much I want to see it without the original players (Mrs. Bridges and her awesome cooking!) but I do like that someone still appreciates such a wonderful series.
Who's going to be Alistair Cooke, then?
10/12/09
*this is also the only reason I still watch The Lion King
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10/12/09
As said, I was tiny then.
I hated the butler with a vengeance.
10/12/09
Lesley Anne Down (Georgina) is still very very pretty, BTW.
10/12/09
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(And yes, I know you're being facetious.)
09/30/09
They wrote that themselves and didn't see anything wrong with it? Yikes.
09/30/09
when are people going to realize that asian women have other desires than being bound in order to the sexual desires of creepy white men?
there is nothing that turns my stomach more than racialized sexism.
09/30/09
"Nobuyoshi Araki, one of Japan’s most provocative, and sought-after, photographers, has created the new 2009 advertising campaign for Bisazza that debuts internationally from April across Europe, USA and Australia.
Expressing Araki’s original and highly recognised style, the provocative yet iconic campaign represents Araki’s personal interpretation of the Bisazza brand.
As usual, the central protagonist of Araki’s shots is an oriental woman, most often tied as per the ancient art of Japanese bondage or kinbaku. Her look (glance), with its strong evocative force, involves the observer into an emotional reflection."
[www.bisazza.com]
09/30/09
09/30/09
its sexual AND cultural domination in one highly stylized picture. and its not like this is a new meme or anything. images like this are as old as imperialism itself.
09/30/09
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But, wtf is it advertising? If I have to ask that question? Ad fail
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And add me to the chorus of "wtf does this have to do with tile?"
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