(ask me about the Marie Antoinette film, I dare you)

[deird1]

I don't tend to think of myself as being that interested in visuals. Despite this, last night I realised that I will often love (or loathe) a film based purely on whether their costuming is any good.

Pride and Prejudice (2005), for instance, is a terrible film. Because their costuming is not as accurate as it should be. (And for… no other reason that I can identify within my own brain.)

Little Women (2019), is, likewise, a dreadful movie – and not a patch on Little Women (1994). Because 2019 has inaccurate costumes, and 1994 is extremely accurate.

And Bridgerton? Not even worth watching. Because costumes.



And, on the other hand, I tracked down Gentleman Jack mainly because I saw a YouTuber raving about how historically accurate the clothes were – and apparently that really matters to me.




(Gentleman Jack, by the way, is really worthwhile. Especially if you're into historical lesbian dramas based-on-a-true-story with a tonne of upper-class Yorkshire snark.)

Comments

[petzipellepingo]

Because 2019 has inaccurate costumes, and 1994 is extremely accurate.

I just say that yesterday and I was wondering about that.

[deird1]

I have seen many YouTube videos discuss the costuming of these movies, with much more knowledge than I have. Mostly what they said lined up with what I already felt: that 2019 looked more interesting, but 1994 was much more realistic.

(I lost a fair amount of respect for 2019's costume designer when I found out that she dressed the March girls in cotton because they were poor. As one of the YouTubers pointed out, this was during the American Civil War, so cotton prices in the north were INCREDIBLY high.)

[zeborah]

For me it's dialogue. I could have loved the Doctor Who "Girl in the Fireplace" episode *so much* if they'd just used historically accurate speech cadences (and what even is the point of history if you don't??) I cut Marie-Antoinette some slack in this respect because it was attempting to do something quite different; I take it you don't. :-)

[deird1]

Actually, I cut Marie Antoinette ALL the slack! For much the same reason. Its costumes are inaccurate, but they're inaccurate in specific ways for specific purposes. (Plus, they're actually somewhat accurate...)

[zeborah]

:-D It is that "in specific ways for specific purposes" that makes all the difference I think. Like... I think for a parody to work, the author has to really love (or at least understand enough to fake loving) the original, otherwise it just comes across like a schoolyard bully.

[lirazel]

It's not a make or break thing for me, but I do often feel majorly irritated by bad costume design and Little Women 2019 is definitely one of the very worst offenders. It's ghastly.

Although honestly hair styles bother me more than costuming. Beach waves???? Seriously???

[deird1]

Totally. The hair in Little Women alone was enough to make me nope out.