whitewash Cromwell, blackwash More?
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CCCampedel — 10 years ago(May 11, 2015 03:49 AM)
I'm currently reading a biography of Thomas Cromwell, written by Tracy Borman, in which she notes the differences between Cromwell and Thomas More. More didn't take care of his appearance and would dress sloppily. It simply didn't matter to him. He wasn't a man who cared what he ate and preferred water to wine. Wealth didn't matter to him. Maybe the characterization of Thomas More in 'Wolf Hall' is closer to the real man than anything we've seen before.
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Sook-Yongsheng — 10 years ago(May 12, 2015 04:29 AM)
More didn't take care of his appearance and would dress sloppily. It simply didn't matter to him.
Well it's definitely not your Paul Scofield's More (A Man for All Seasons).
Not saying you're wrong just an observation. I wasn't aware of how the historical More dressed.
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LeofricsBeloved — 10 years ago(March 14, 2016 03:13 PM)
After seeing Paul Scofield's eloquent portrayal of More in A Man for All Seasons, it is hard to watch any other interpretation of More. Scofield's portrayal of More is one of the greatest performances of all time.
Wolf Hall showed More to be an unkempt hypocrite. His distinction as a great man of letters wasn't shown very much. Cromwell's starry-eyed admiration of his More's scholarly abilities was acknowledged in just a few lines but not much development of More was explored at all.
I think what you said was interesting - Cromwell also had to be seen as sympathetic to engage audience interest. I don't think engaging an audience's sympathy is necessary - just interest in a character's fate is enough. After all, the gangster genre wouldn't be successful if sympathy is necessary.
transcendcinema.blogspot.com "Mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Room -
best_of — 9 years ago(September 01, 2016 10:29 PM)
Wolf Hall is a compelling historical drama. If More comes off badly, so what? For the last hundreds of years More has gotten a pass, seen as some kind of a martyr of the Tudor era. Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons with the performance (an Oscar winner) by Paul Scofield sealed the deal, ensuring his reputation. Wolf Hall takes another point of view and reveals a lot of the unsavory, less heroic things about More. Mark Rylance's Cromwell, is one of the most nuanced performances that has been on television in a very long time. Historically, the truth about Cromwell and More is probably somewhere between the two poles of A Man for All Seasons and Wolf Hall. However much is fact or fancy, this series, Wolf Hall, is an outstanding addition to what we think we know about the Tudor period. It is a great job by Hilary Mantel.
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KatharineFanatic — 9 years ago(September 02, 2016 07:04 PM)
Thomas More IS done an injustice in this series and so is Anne. She's a bitchy trollop in this, when in real life she was a reformist who wound up married to her stalker who then murdered her via execution. So romantic.
Cromwell I have mixed feelings about. He's extremely likable here; he was considerably more ruthless in history.
I don't actually hold much of anything against these people; it was a much different time and acts of kindness more extraordinary than acts of cruelty.
I just don't understand why drama has to force us to choose sides why not have a fair representation of Cromwell AND More? Make it that much more difficult for the audience to know what is the 'right' thing to do or which side to take.