Black Sails
Mar. 27th, 2018 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI've seen a few people on my reading list who're excited about Black Sails, so it went on the Christmas List and we received a box of four seasons. We're in season two right now, enjoying it—wonderfully complicated, with many interesting characters and plenty of interesting surprises—and I don't particularly want spoilers, but I have a few minor irritations to express.
Firstly, the class problem. Presumably it was made for an American audience, who are used to hearing movie evildoers with cut-glass upper-class English accents, but to this Englishwoman it is awfully jarring when a pirate crewman starts speaking as though he's just left his nice little estate in Wiltshire. I can *hope* that, say, Rackham has a past that makes it plausible for him to speak this way—he could, I suppose, be the black sheep from an aristocratic family who ran away to sea and became a pirate, but from what I've heard the character say, that's not where he came from. So why is his speech more aristocratic than mine?
It's completely reasonable that a lot of the pirates would be English, but it really isn't reasonable that so many of them sound as though they went to Eton. There ought to be Cornishmen, there ought to be Geordis and Scousers and men from Kent, Norfolk, Yorkshire, anywhere with a coastline. Is it just that the actors are mimicking the only English accent they know? It's really irritating.
Secondly, the language. Yes, I know that nowadays nobody seems to understand the difference between she and her, between none and some, but if they want to put a period flavour into it one of the easiest ways to do it is to have the characters get their grammar right. Particularly the ones who are from obviously upper-class and/or educated backgrounds. Mrs Barlow at least should not get it wrong!
And thirdly, why the hell was Vane rowing backwards? Sitting in his little boat with his face to the bow and progressing stern-first, what the fuck? I don't believe this was some period eccentricity appropriate to 1715. Boats go pointy-end first, and you pull the oar through the water, you don't push it. A show about sailing ships should do better.
Firstly, the class problem. Presumably it was made for an American audience, who are used to hearing movie evildoers with cut-glass upper-class English accents, but to this Englishwoman it is awfully jarring when a pirate crewman starts speaking as though he's just left his nice little estate in Wiltshire. I can *hope* that, say, Rackham has a past that makes it plausible for him to speak this way—he could, I suppose, be the black sheep from an aristocratic family who ran away to sea and became a pirate, but from what I've heard the character say, that's not where he came from. So why is his speech more aristocratic than mine?
It's completely reasonable that a lot of the pirates would be English, but it really isn't reasonable that so many of them sound as though they went to Eton. There ought to be Cornishmen, there ought to be Geordis and Scousers and men from Kent, Norfolk, Yorkshire, anywhere with a coastline. Is it just that the actors are mimicking the only English accent they know? It's really irritating.
Secondly, the language. Yes, I know that nowadays nobody seems to understand the difference between she and her, between none and some, but if they want to put a period flavour into it one of the easiest ways to do it is to have the characters get their grammar right. Particularly the ones who are from obviously upper-class and/or educated backgrounds. Mrs Barlow at least should not get it wrong!
And thirdly, why the hell was Vane rowing backwards? Sitting in his little boat with his face to the bow and progressing stern-first, what the fuck? I don't believe this was some period eccentricity appropriate to 1715. Boats go pointy-end first, and you pull the oar through the water, you don't push it. A show about sailing ships should do better.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-28 04:23 pm (UTC)I came across a reference to rowing stern first recently in Tove Jansson's "Summer Book" and I can't remember exactly, but under some sea conditions, it was apparently a better option. Cannot remember why, and can't find the quote online.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-28 04:30 pm (UTC)Stern first rowing is a Thing! Well, well. Although I suspect this instance was just getting it wrong, and not being more expert than the audience...
no subject
Date: 2018-03-28 05:33 pm (UTC)I think in the book, it was something to do with not being seasick in choppy water, but I could be wrong. I only remembered it because I always row the other way.