Today let’s talk a bit about films/shows/movies!
Before I get started on my own list, know that I’d love to hear back from you about your particular favorites.
I cannot put these in order of how much I adore them, but maybe I can distinguish between my very, very favorites and my other favorites based on how many times I’ve watched them.
The first ones are easily as follows:
North and South (2004 BBC mini-series)
North and South
This was my obsession for several years and I’ve even read several fan fiction (kind of unusual for me) spin-offs. It’s also how I discovered Richard Armitage who has the tendency to melt into several of my own book heroes.
North and South vibes are strongest in (Cherrybrook series) book 2, “A Fair-Weather Friend” and my coming medieval book 1, “Lady in Waiting”.
A Room with a View (1985 Merchant & Ivory film)
A Room with a View
I believe I may have this film memorized. If not today, there was a time that was true for sure. Some of you may have seen on my social media (Thimgan Hayden) that I made a sculpture bust of the hero, George Emerson (played by Julian Sands) back in 2000. I shared that seeing this movie literally reshaped my life and inspired me and my husband to go live in Florence, Italy for a while.
I really don’t have a book or character written yet that’s been directly influenced by “A Room with a View” but maybe that will change in the future!
Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 BBC tv series, thank you very much)
This is another show that I put on time after time. Certainly by a young age I had already developed an attraction for the brooding hero and Darcy is of course that. Before Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle happened, there was the lovely 1940 version with Greer Garson and Sir Lawrence Olivier…
Christopher Morton in (Cherrybrook) book 3, “A Bird in the Hand”, was loosely based on Charles Bingley (P&P) and Henry Tinley from “Northanger Abbey”.
Persuasion (I haven’t seen the new one, but I like both of the previous versions)
Persuasion
My dear hero, Lawrie Trellaway from book 1, “Creatures of Habit” is in manner and looks based on Rupert Penry-Jones who plays opposite the amazing Sally Hawkins.
Emma
Jane Fairfax (Emma) and Charles Bingley (Pride & Prejudice)
(I’m still waiting for Harriet to be cast the way I read her, but I am hard pressed to tell you which version I like best. I haven’t seen the newest one.)
Emma is my favorite Austen novel, and Emma as well as Elizabeth Bennett make inspiring models of clever, yet loveable women. Jane Fairfax shares some similarities with my book 3 heroine, Cherise, but Jane is a more emotionally restrained, I’d say.
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Wives and Daughters (BBC mini series 1999)
This is one of my favorite angsty romances. It’s sort of difficult to watch as it takes our fated pair SO LONG to get things right! However, I’ve watched the final scenes over and over again. I think it’s partly responsible for all the rain storms in my own stories.
(one of my oil paintings , Thimgan Hayden is my real name)
Umm… A note about how SMALL my list is. There are some films, like Moonstruck and Amelie, that are technically historical but not what we’re covering here. They also have no known bearing upon what I write.
I choose to take in dramas by reading rather than watching. I loved Jane Eyre (example), but the movies tend to fall short of the novels and they’re too difficult a medium for me to emotionally handle. I gravitate toward comedic films and shows.
I can’t watch “Outlander” for the same reason. I got too upset by a certain upsetting event in the beginning of the series so I’ve got to read them instead.
I enjoy “Bridgerton”, but it has no effect on my own writing and I wouldn’t call it a favorite. I do love some of the characters, plot twists and the diversity. Similarly, I enjoyed Season 1 of “Miss Scarlet and the Duke”. Amazing characters possibilites and sizzle but writing seemed fizzle. I didn’t feel progression.
Ok, I feel I’ve rambled on long enough! If you have what I’d call a low-angst historical or one that’s more upbeat than down, please share it with me? Thank!
