The last episode was obviously very outlaw-heavy, and now we turn to court politics. Marian once more comes to the fore, and we learn about what Queen Eleanor is actually attempting to achieve with her various manipulations – and unsurprisingly, it doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense.
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Lady Macbeth from Macbeth
The Year of the Villainess is nearly over, though I still have plenty of candidates left to chose from. The Wicked Witch of the West, Cruella de Ville, Annie Wilkes, Nurse Ratched, Delilah, the White Witch, Agatha Trunchball, Morgana le Fay, Amy Dunne, the Marquise de Merteuil… the list goes on.
But I wanted to end on a strong note, so who better to showcase than Lady Macbeth (no first name given), who is undoubtedly Shakespeare’s most memorable female villain. I mean, who else is there? Goneril and Regan? Tamora? Sycorax, who isn’t even in the play? There really aren’t that many to choose from.
Lady Macbeth obviously embodies traits that Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have considered “ungodly” in a woman: not only her ambition to become Queen of Scotland by committing regicide, but her expert “wiles” that goad Macbeth into doing the deed in the first place. Like Eve and the serpent combined, Lady Macbeth is a danger to her husband precisely because of her skill at manipulation, knowing exactly what to say and do in order to get him to act.
That womanhood and weakness are considered intertwined is apparent when Lady Macbeth first learns of the opportunity that lies before her husband, and so in order to rid herself of any femininity that might hinder her capacity for murder, she gives her most chilling monologue: “Come, you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose.”
This notion has always unnerved me; the idea that someone could self-consciously pray for evil to come upon them so that they might have the “courage” to go through with an evil act.
Yet despite all the powers of persuasion she has at her disposal, she’s also an active participant in the murder. She is the one that prepares King Duncan’s bedchamber, ensures that his attendants are inebriated, and makes sure that weapons are in place for her husband to use. Afterwards, she has to hurriedly clean up Macbeth’s mess when he neglects to place the daggers alongside Duncan’s attendants in order to frame them.
Although she also manages to salvage the situation when Macbeth has a vision of the murdered king at a banquet, her own grip on sanity starts to wane, and after her famous “out damned spot,” sleep-walking scene, she drops out of the action entirely. News of her off-screen death is brought to Macbeth only a few minutes before his own.
And yet despite this lacklustre conclusion to her character, it’s a testimony to her impact that she’s one of the most unforgettable parts of the play. I’ve heard it said that every serious stage actress should play Juliet in their youth and Lady Macbeth in their prime, and there’s certainly a line-up of talent when it comes to those that’ve taken on the role: Vivien Leigh, Isuzu Yamada, Judi Dench, Helen McCrory, Keeley Hawes, Alex Kingston, Marion Cotillard, Frances McDormand, Tabu, Ruth Negga, Saoirse Ronan, Indira Varma and Valene Kane (and those are just the ones I recognize).
I’ll end with a quote from her, which in many ways could be attributed to any and all of the women I’ve written about this year, demonstrating their drive, their tenacity, their cruelty, and their allure: “you shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall to all our nights and days to come, give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”
There goes November, and now Christmas is just around the corner. There’s no real theme to this month’s reading/watching log – I just sort of went with the flow and did whatever I wanted. Most of my free time is currently being taken up with festive-related activities, and my nephew/niece are fully into the Christmas spirit at this point (we’re taking them to the markets this Sunday, in which they’ll be able to see Santa go punting on the Avon).
Having taken it a bit easier this month, I’m going to have to start cramming if I’m going to get all the books/films/shows I wanted to finish this year done with. Sinners, Weapons, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wake Up Dead Men, Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth re-read, Scott Westerfeld’s Behemoth… I’ll have to offset it all with the slightly more holiday-appropriate Ghost Stories for Christmas. But here’s November…
We are now halfway through the season, and what to make of it so far? I’ve found myself comparing it to the BBC’s Robin Hood a lot, mostly because that show looms so large in my imagination, but it strikes me that the biggest difference between long-form storytelling and a series of standalone episodes is how it effects the overall quality of any given project.
When you’re watching episodes that each have a beginning, middle and end (even if they plug into an overarching storyline) then it doesn’t really matter if there are a couple of duds. You know there are going to be ups and downs, and a solid episode usually makes up for a few weaker ones.
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But in long-form storytelling, it’s either all good or all bad (or all average) since it’s all part and parcel of a single story. There’s no room for comparison, as the run-on effect makes it difficult to discern one episode from another.
That’s probably the most crucial structural difference between this show and the BBC’s version (and Robin of Sherwood, and The Adventures of Robin Hood, and any other show based on these legends), making it impossible to tell if it’ll be worth our while until it’s over. Right now it’s levelling out at “it’s fine, I guess.”
Well, the most important news of the day is that my Reading/Watching Log for June is finally UP! Hopefully you’ll understand why it took me so long once you see the size of it.
The very day after I thought to myself: “hey, it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Laika’s Wildwood,” the studio goes and releases a behind-the-scenes promotional video. And damn, it looks gorgeous.
I’m so excited to see this one, and I have high hopes it’ll be a balm to my soul after being exposed to so much slop recently. Speaking of Laika…
Fifteen years after Paranorman, the studio is releasing a short film set in the same world, with Anna Kendrick returning as the voice of Courtney. Though it’s CG animated rather than stop-motion, it keeps the visual style of the original movie, and as a cute little bonus, we’re finally given a look at Mitch’s boyfriend (who was perpetually off-screen in the film itself).
Aww.
I can’t remember if I’ve posted this before, but Cartoon Saloon has a new animated short film coming up, called Éiru. As ever, it looks amazing, and very aesthetically similar to Wolfwalkers. Now the only question is: where can I watch it?
By the time this gets posted, most of fandom will have already absorbed the first four episodes of Stranger Things’ final season. I’ve got my viewing plans lined up, but I’m going to hold off commenting on it until I’ve seen every episode, which won’t be until the beginning of next year (the grand finale airs on New Years’ Eve). I’m casually looking forward to it, as it’s been a reliable source of entertainment since 2016 – yikes! – and I have faith that the Duffer Brothers will stick the landing. Of course, it helps that I’m not desperately invested, which means that if it does crash and burn, I can shrug it off and move onto the next thing. But I don’t think that will happen, and I’m ready for (as the trailers promised) one last adventure with these characters.
With the end of the year in sight, I’m looking ahead to more posts and projects. I’d like to write more about how our understanding of vampires has changed across the years, and continue my deep-dive into the portrayal of Rowena and Rebecca in various adaptations of Ivanhoe. Philip Pullman’s The Rose Fields is officially available, but I think I’m going to hold off reading it until I can read it in tandem with Philip Reeve’s Bridge of Storms, his new upcoming Mortal Engines book (and the third book in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy). Those books just vibe so well with each other.
Come December, I’m reading my last two Babysitters Club books of the year, and am continuing my newfound fascination with Yuletide ghost stories: I’ve ordered a bunch of appropriately-themed anthologies from the library and downloaded a bunch of the most recent A Ghost Story for Christmas episodes. I’m also currently watching the latest season of Doctor Who, which ended up being the last for Ncuti Gatwa. It’s mildly devastating, but perhaps he’ll turn up again in future seasons. I mean, why not? David Tennant and Matt Smith have certainly done so!
And the Christmas festivities are in full-swing here in Christchurch. I took my nephew to the Santa Parade last Sunday, and this coming weekend is the annual Christmas in the Park (basically a lot of guest performers on a public stage – my friend and I usually head in a bit later just to watch the fireworks). Then there are the Christmas markets, and the carol singing at the local church, and the mall Santas, and the Christmas tree decorating… I’m getting myself into the spirit!
Oh, and my review for the latest episode of MGM’s Robin Hood is also forthcoming…
This is a bit of a patchy episode, the goal of which seems to be moving pieces around the board so that everyone is in place for the second half of the season. And introducing Friar Tuck, of course.
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It’s also a Four Lines, All Waiting situation, as the writers’ room is now juggling a fairly massive cast of characters, all of whom are off in their own plotlines that barely intersect.
In which Robin’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (or Week) continues, and Marian kickstarts her own plot at the court of Queen Eleanor. The showrunners promised us something like this for her, and I’m glad it looks like they’re going to try and deliver.
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