tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-658569223352107065.post4242430683326825647..comments2023-07-01T07:36:59.129-05:00Comments on Reading, Writing, and Regency: The Butler Did It!Leigh Michaelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09617514121082832431noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-658569223352107065.post-30573867356993763862014-09-13T18:33:40.494-05:002014-09-13T18:33:40.494-05:00Gosford Park did an excellent job of portraying th...Gosford Park did an excellent job of portraying the life of an English country manor in the years between the wars. The contrasts between upstairs and downstairs are harsh.<br /><br />Some historical romance does explore the darker side of society, but I think we're more likely to see that side of things in Victorian-era stories than in the Regency (though I'm not sure why). I think we're likely to see more of it in future books -- partly because readers tire of themes and so authors move on to explore new areas which are often edgier and darker. <br /><br />Though there will always be Regency enthusiasts like me who enjoy reading and writing about dukes and earls and viscounts (and have created so many fictional ones that England would actually sink under their weight if they were all real!), there's room for the darker side as well.Leigh Michaelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09617514121082832431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-658569223352107065.post-67500119903914297042014-09-04T16:34:15.576-05:002014-09-04T16:34:15.576-05:00Hi, Leigh, I look forward to reading your new mate...<br />Hi, Leigh, I look forward to reading your new material. (I'm not really anonymous; I'm Vicki Bendau and I have such trouble using my name to comment here!)<br /><br />Your posts (I also looked at 'a day in the life of a housemaid') reminded me of a 2001 Robert Altman film 'Gosford Park.' A whodunit ala Agatha Christie, it takes place at a country manor in the 1930s, depicting the decline of the Empire and its peerage system. <br /><br />The visuals and the motion in the film are stunning. It shows the busyness of the servants as they perform their myriad and endless tasks; their nearly constant movement up and down staircases, traversing hallways, and in and out of rooms. <br /><br />Contrast that with the leisurely patronizing of the elites to their inferiors. Imagine a dowager Maggie Smith ordering her next day's breakfast in bed to a young girl brand new to the household and barely out of her teens. <br /><br />A couple of darker themes explored in the movie are the expectation of the young maids to provide sexual favors to the master of the house and his male cohorts. Also, it is brought out that the demands of the job made it impossible for man and woman servants working in different households to marry each other. <br /><br />I have not read much Regency romance, except for yours, and I wonder if those themes are ever explored. It's okay with me if they are not because I definitely prefer my entertainment on the lighthearted side, and I like to see my characters survive their tribulations at least until the end of the book!<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com