north & south and north & south

I spent this weekend watching costume dramas and saying goodbye to my friends. 


As a child, I was totally obsessed with North & South. It was probably the first expensive thing I ever asked for (back in the late 80's the set of tapes cost like $150 or something ridiculous like that.) It's funny to think that my love of N & S actually pre-dates the obsession with Gone with the Wind by a couple of years, largely because even my mom watched N & S (I mean... Swayze. Not to mention, in some way that GWTW isn't, it's a total soap opera. Watching it now, I still love it, but I almost can't tell sometimes whether it takes itself seriously or not.)


In any case, I even watched it when it originally aired, so I was only like 3 or 4 or 5 (it went on for a while) and it re-aired a few years later. I would stay up late with all the lights off waiting to hear that damn Bill Conti score-- still second only to Gone with with Wind's for me (though Steven is writing some Nic & Alix  stuff that makes me reconsider both favorites...) Listening to it now, I'd redo the sound mix on it, but I still tear up and can remember my little self perched on the edge of the couch, pining to own a hoop skirt and daydreaming (though it was night) far back in history. So basically, N & S was my historical gateway drug.

When I saw another North & South (England, not America-- though very similar time periods, and geographic conflicts-- industry, leisure, the weather, etc) on Netflix (this one is instant streaming, don't worry, McC),  I almost refused to watch it out of loyalty to the other. It was the one costume drama I'd avoided in the carefully chosen for me section of pre- 20th century British anthologies of the BBC. But I finally cracked this weekend (on the first day all month where I  allowed myself to rest) and man, am I glad I did. At first, I didn't like the heroine, Margaret Hale, but all in all, yes, please. That Richard Armitage as John Thornton-- huge thumbs up. And not a shabby score, itself. 

I also watched some Daniel Deronda (excellent) which even made me contemplate rewatching Middlemarch. (Current Tony Winner for Albin in La Cage aux Folles, Douglas Hodge is in like 90% of all these things, btw). Anyhow, the combination of the two got me thinking about how many classics came from women writers during the 19th century. (North & South being from Elizabeth Gaskell, and Daniel Deronda & Middlemarch being from George Eliot aka Mary Anne Evans. (Of Course, then, let's not forget the Brontes, etc etc). I almost feel like women had a better shot at writing a classic then than they do now. I think it has something to do with our tastes. With what we consider feminine. I mean, I'll always have the luxury of people perhaps thinking I'm a man from my name, but I doubt they'd ever think I was because of my tone. But to be honest, I'd say that Eliot & Gaskell, etc, both had pretty feminine tones and talked about a mix of things that could be considered "feminine" but I think perhaps the times were less obsessed with being cool, or perhaps being cool was just less associated with being cynical or unsentimental or whathaveyou. Anyhow, watch away. Tons of great stuff here and "Northern England" was played by a dirtied up Edinburgh.