What Writers Should Watch: Poldark

One of the regular features I'd like to have on this blog is recommendations of what television shows, movies or theatre productions I believe all writers should take a closer look at, for inspiration and for pleasure.

I've been a fan of Outlander - the now-classic story Claire, a twentieth-century modern woman/healer/"white witch"/doctor who accidentally falls back in time and marries the love of her life, Jamie, and 18th century highland warrior - for years. I first read the book series before any talk of a television show was on the horizon, and now that the television series is going to be embarking upon its third season is less than a month, I couldn't be more excited for the adaptation to be back on my screen. It's still not quite as good as the book, but it's definitely still a delightful romp.

Last July, however, around the time when Outlander season two drew to a close, I fell into a bit of a slump. Every summer for the past six or seven years has been Outlander time for me: when I either work my way through one of Diana Gabaldon's tomes in the series, or enjoyed watching the television adaptation. Finding my Outlander options limited, I felt stuck. What next?

Well, ask and ye shall receive: Poldark is next, I was told.

Demelza and Ross 

I knew nothing at all about the series, having never read the source inspiration, a series of novels by Winston Graham. I heard that Poldark was a slightly grittier version of Outlander (!). I am always a little hesitant to dive into a television series or movie without first reading the book (yes, I am that person,) but considering my days were filled with writing at work, I didn't quite have the stamina to crack open a long series of novels. So, I gave the television series a try and was almost-instantly hooked.

I say almost-instantly, because the series does start off with a certain tone of broodiness and moodiness. The story is set in an isolated, small community in the remote region of Cornwall, England. The atmosphere can feel a little difficult to dive into, if you are looking for something that has more optimism and beauty; the grittiness of a Revolutionary War flashback in the opening scene and the shadows and the sense of lurking doom that the series began with, gave me pause. Still, there was something poetic about scenes imbued with majestic cliffs and crashing waves and swaying fields of wildflowers, a sumptuous sort of setting that the show highlights from the very start and is very easy to fall into. I think it was the scenery, and cinematography, with the added bonus of a beautiful soundtrack featuring a sweet, sad violin melody, that prompted me to keep watching.

After a while, I started to fall for the characters in the show. The titular character, Ross Poldark, is pivotal to really getting into this series. He is the main character, and it's his struggles as a member of the gentry that we as viewers have to buy into. Ross is a social justice warrior, fighting to maintain the livelihood of his beloved people, the laborers of Cornwall, and to see his community prosper. It's hard to hate a man like that.

He owns land, has tenants, but he also struggles to rub two coins together, a challenge that is all the more stark when we see him juxtaposed with a member of the local haute bourgeoisie, banker George Warleggan, whose hobbies include weighing his guineas, shopping for frilly jackets and plotting to destroy Poldark once and for all. Actually, all joking aside, I find George has this strange man-crush on Poldark that wavers between deep admiration and wanting to be him, wanting to inspire the pride and loyalty that he sees Poldark garner in the community with seeming effortlessness, to wanting to downright murder the man because, clearly, his jealousy is strong and he might prefer to never have to lay eyes on him again. He has no regard for the human lives and well-being of "commoners" and "peasants" and strives to climb all social ladders, including the ones that seem to be shut off to him, as his nouveau riche self struggles to be accepted in the gentle circles of Cornwall.

George aka. the Villain

When watching historical fiction I tend to more easily buy into the stories of the female characters. I think it all goes back to my childhood, when I obsessed over the lives of girls like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne of Green Gables: I need a unique, smart, driven female character to really get into a story. Obviously, and sorry to use so many Outlander comparisons, but Claire Fraser fits that bill. Poldark, on the other hand, did leave me grasping for a female character to really invest in. Poldark's paramour, Elizabeth, is his first love whom he returns to Cornwall after years of fighting in war - pining for her the entire time - only to discover is no longer available to him. She obviously features prominently in each season of the show, and while I find she is an interesting sort of character - a woman who succumbs to what she believes she should do, not what she wants to do - it can grow tedious, at least to this 21st century woman, to watch her be so passive and accepting of the bleak lot she is handed. Her character is effective because it begs viewers to ask, how much of her sad life is a product of her own choices, and how much is a product of circumstance and the situations of the time?

Perhaps more optimistic is the character of Demelza. She's a fiery redhead whom Poldark first meets in a brawl on market day in town. Echoing Pygmalion, he cleans her up, offers her a job as his servant, and... well, I won't spoil it, but I think you can imagine what happens next. Long story short, and this isn't much of a spoiler because it happens so early in the series, but they marry. At first ther marriage is more of Ross giving the finger to his social circles and Demelza being all... okay?! Why not?! This is better than going back to live with my religious nutcase of a father?! ... Although I do find myself investing in Demelza's story more than Elizabeth's, I had a hard time getting too interested in her at first. She's very emotional - the burst into tears for no reason kind of emotional - and there are times when I get tired of seeing her play the victim card. Not so comfortable to watch. Other times, however, she tosses the victim card aside and runs out to get sh*t done, so I have to say that just when I am giving up on her, she usually manages to redeem herself in this way. Do I like Demelza? Yes. Is she my favorite heroine of all time? Probably not.

Main characters aside, which I have mixed feelings about, one of this show's strongest points is that it has some incredible secondary characters and storylines that I completely got invested in from the start. Seriously, this series should be a textbook example of how to write a story with a strong ensemble cast and unforgettable "minor" characters. I really enjoyed Verity's story in season 1. She was by far my favorite lady in the show's first season and it was easy to really enjoy her story. Her friendship with Ross, her cousin, and her insistence on having a life and family of her own despite society scoffing at the idea, was really heartwarming. In season two, I fell head over heels in love with the story of the wise and modern, yet shy, Dr. Enys and wealthy heiress Caroline Penvenen. I love that Caroline seemed to be haughty, spoiled and somewhat bratty at first but slowly we realize that she is lovely, kind, smart and truly openminded. She and Dr. Enys fall in love with eachother, but because of their different "stations" they have to keep it a secret. I genuinely didn't know how their story was going to end and enjoyed watching it unfold every step of the way. Their lovely story was also a major reason why I felt season two of Poldark was stronger than the first season.

Caroline and Dr. Enys

Characters are a big reason why I love (or don't love) a television series, which is why I am spending so long talking about them here... but there are many other redeeming features of this series. The storylines, the twists and turns. The fact that this is one of the few shows out there that I don't feel like is just stringing me along from one cliffhanger to the next; there is true attention to detail and care and thought put into each story. Everything that happens feels very intentional and very much in support of the characters' progress and journeys, and not just a manipulation of the audience to keep us coming back for more. Some storylines end happily, others not so much.

I also find that much of what happens in this series is not anachronistic to the time period, which is a rarity right now in television, including, yes, Outlander. What the characters do or don't do, the choices they make, is very much mindful of their station and conditions in the time period. I mean, yes, liberties are made, but I really appreciate that the world-building here is mindful of the time period much more than many other series.

I also like that the time period is the 18th century: to me, this is one of the most interesting historical periods. The 1700s were a time of great change in our Western world. The American and French Revolutions play an underlying role in this series. I am always excited about seeing the change that was happening in the 18th century: these changes really drove the next 300 years, an era we are still living in, politically, socially, and economically. Indeed, many of the themes and situations in this show are familiar to us as viewers today. Globalization, the fall of the gentry and nobility and the rise of the bourgeoise classes, the early dawn of modern science and medicine, the birth of free thought, free speech, a revolution in justice and rights for all men, the rising discontent of women and outdated practices such as marrying within one's class or marrying to secure one's finances, etc. As a writer, I can appreciate the full exploration of the era and its implications on our lives today through this series. Okay, okay, and on a much shallower note, I do love escapades with pirates and men wearing flowy blouses and tights and the big, sumptuous, low-cut gowns on women; the use of tarot and characters who dabble in the Occult; and, yes, perhaps most famously about this series, the shameless romance of the show's lead character employing a scythe in a wheat field, shirtless.

Demelza... and the pretty coastal scenery of Cornwall

With that said, I think that the best feature, to me, of this series is the characters. Their stories that carefully unfold. Their flaws, too. Again, without getting into any spoilers, I think something that really stuck with me was Ross and Demelza's relationship. Their story basically starts with marriage, and goes from there, which is definitely a difficult formula to get right in fiction. Their marriage is incredibly real and relatable even to those of us in the 21st century. They struggle with feelings of infidelity, resentment, and basically everything in between. At the same time, there is something that still binds and connects their lives together and there is an underlying mutual love and respect for each other. The exploration of that, in all of its challenges and difficulties, is something that I ultimately really bought into, and I continue to be interested in how it unfolds. Both are tortured souls, selfish in many ways, but at the same time, their hearts are always in the right place, and I think that is the key to me buying into their story despite the incredibly rocky road. These are characters that transcend time and connect to us today. And that is exactly what I was looking for in a good series.

((Photo credit))

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What I'm Binging On: Rita (and Danish television in general)

Supremely intelligent, funny, powerful women who are totally likable.

Great acting.

And the side effect of learning a brand-new Scandinavian language (by osmosis). 

These are all the benefits of obsessing over Danish television... and I would know, because I am currently obsessing over Danish television. Yep, it’s early summer and for the second year in a row,  I have fallen hard for a Danish series. You know, the kind of falling hard that involves watching 3-4 episodes nonstop, tearing through an entire season in only a day or two, frantic Googling to see when (if) another season is on the way. (And I tend to find great Danish tv series in May, for whatever reason).

Okay, yes. I said Danish. As in Denmark. And yes, I have been going on and on to everyone I know for the past few weeks that they must watch Danish television, so it was about time I found a place to vent my excitement. My family thinks this is yet another quirky phase and it will eventually pass, but really… trust me (please, because apparently no one else in my life does on this,) Danish television is incredible and you must watch it now.

So I don’t have a phobia of subtitles, and have fallen in love with many foreign films. But I never realized - and I know this will make me sound a tad ignorant, but those of us on this side of the pond get exposed to very little else other than what Hollywood churns out other than the occasional British thing - that there are some amazing television series being made in Scandinavia. Danish television's biggest worldwide hit has been The Killing, a crime drama, although hot on its heels was Borgen, a political drama revolving around a female Prime Minister and a young woman journalist. Borgen is a show that is sublime in every way possible. For months, I’ve actually wanted to write a blog post about how amazing Borgen was to watch (and re-watch), but have been unable to put my love for this series into words thus far. So I’ll save that for another time.

What I can articulate my love for is the show that caught my eye this spring (and kept me up far too late on work nights): it’s a Danish dramedy (for lack of better term, not sure whether the Danes would approve), called Rita. 

Why everyone will love and basically want to be Rita

On the surface, the premise of Rita is simple: it stars a woman (mid-40s*) who is a spectacular teacher in every way and is in this profession for all of the right reasons (to protect children from their parents, as she puts it). The catch? Rita makes every bad decision possible in her personal - and particularly romantic - life. She also tends to be remarkably “bad” in between classes: she smokes, a lot, even on school property. She has liaisons with the principal of the school during the school day in his office… while he answers phones. And she graffitis the bathroom stall (although that is for a noble purpose: to correct a spelling error in a graffitied sentence - that slanders her no less - that was already there).

So, on the surface, Rita is essentially a rendition of the “bad teacher” (with a heart of gold) trope, but there are layers that this show explores that go beyond that surface-level definition of "bad teacher." In fact, the show actually seems to deepen and come into its own as it goes on: in fact, I wasn’t completely convinced I’d even continue watching the show after the first episode or two, but I continued and found myself enjoying it substantially more with each passing hour. In fact, I found the show’s second season to be better than its first (and I have high hopes for its third season - which is available on Netflix today!)

Although this show has a cliché or two in its storyline, it never feels old or stale, and indeed the way that they decided to explore many of these story choices through the characters and the plot points was so different (and refreshing) that I found the show was impossible to predict and definitely surprised me on several occasions. 

Another major facet that this show has in its favor is that she is supremely likeable. Even though Rita is self-destructive in many ways, you never hate her for the choices she makes - because she owns them. In fact, one of my first thoughts, after watching the first episode, was that she was the type of character I’d never really connected with before, much less wanted to watch a show about. Rita seems like she should be the know-it-all badass character who is too cool for school and who ends up being a colossal screwup instead. A kind of character you hate to love (or love to hate). But this isn't the case. Rita is saved from being pigeonholed in this box by the show's twists and turns and overall good writing and the superb acting choices by Mille Dinesen, who plays the titular character.

I first saw Dinesen in “Borgen”: she had a small story arc on that show as a woman whom the audience should also not have, in theory, liked, but she ended up being reasonably likable. I am not sure what it is about Danish actresses that allows them to accomplish this so well, but they truly bring a layer of empathy and depth to their characters. Despite being drop-dead gorgeous (tall, blonde, Scandinavian, you get the idea), she’s so easy to relate to. This is in great part because of the excellent writing: just when you think she’s being too perfect, her insecurities seep through, or we see her in a moment of vulnerability.

Villain or hero? Sinner or saint? It's hard to say... and who cares.

It’s also the little choices that I think make all of the difference about how we get to know the character: her body language, expressions and how they become a larger part of how we perceive Rita. The way she connects with her children on screen, or her students, and how she handles all of those awkward little moments in life are all pretty important to this show. You get these bits in the episodes where you see how she feels when she’s alone at night on her couch, or walking to and from work, or waiting for someone, or just taking a cigarette break and pondering what the hell just happened to her. It’s that, I think, those little moments that are sometimes weird and awkward, that make a character like Rita so easy to relate to.

She’s also someone who is not 100% a protagonist - sometimes, she very clearly makes the wrong choices. She tends to have self-destructive behavior. Occasionally her choices are even problematic. She has had her bad teacher moments (as well-intentioned as they may have been). It’s this duality - is she a villain, is she a hero? - that makes the character so compelling.

One thing I really like about Rita is that she sees people for who they are, and knows when they are genuine or faithful. (Of course, she doesn't always reward them for that; she's a tad too selfish, and besides, that would make her too perfect.) In the first episode, she meets a new, very green teacher, Hørdis, and takes her under her wing. And even though the new teacher is a little odd, is very naive, and bizarrely serenades Rita was old Scandinavian poems, Rita is never judgmental and treats her as an equal colleague. Instead, she reserves her vitrol for a character that she supremely dislikes: a prissy guidance counselor who has an inflated sense of self and an almost Dolores Umbridge-esque demeanor. Rita can see right through her saccharine exterior, and these two women do spar throughout the series which culminates in a predictable, but shocking, climax. Yet, there’s nothing demeaning about how they verbally spar, and they are able to maintain a professional façade for the workplace (saving the show from going into ridiculous territory).

Let's talk about sex

The men on this show are emotional and sensitive (well, some of them are, definitely not all,) and the women are sometimes hardened, abrasive, even. It's definitely a reflection of Scandinavia's post-feminist climate. In fact, Rita is everything that most smart, funny and/or powerful female protagonists on American television are not (and in fact it almost seems ridiculous to compare the two): she is sexually promiscuous, but accountable for her actions, never needing to be “punished” for her sexual choices and never having a story that highlights her sexuality as something unusual or devious. Cheeky, maybe (there are endless shots of Rita’s perfect derrière to emphasize that), but none of her overt sex appeal is ever labelled or implied as being “wrong” by the show. Indeed, Rita holds herself accountable and seems very aware of every (often bad) sexual devision she makes.

Speaking of sexuality, as another example of the type of plot “Rita” explores, in the pilot episode her youngest son, Jeppe, is grappling with an emerging realization that he is gay. Although the first episode of the series revolves around this plot point, it’s handled differently than one might expect. There is no huge coming out party (his family insist they already knew), he simply comes to that conclusion, declares it out loud, and his mom kisses him on the top of his head. There’s no big, special, tearful celebration or moment, it really just is. 

Rita is also a mother with a tenuous, but mostly loving, relationship with her kids, who are remarkably stable (or crave stability) and “normal” in the ways that Rita is not. This is another plot point explored in an early episode, “The Anarchist.” In fact, the episodes are designed loosely to explore a different aspect of her personality, and how that aspect of her personality (for instance, her firmly anarchic qualities), impact those around her.

The show has many light moments, but doesn’t shy from the dark and dirty details of life. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail, but at one point Rita must make a choice about something that no protagonist/main character on an American television show would do because it would be too controversial for primetime tv on this side of the pond.

Grab the popcorn and queue it up 

In case you couldn't tell by this ridiculously long post, I really did get so involved with this television show and it’s just so bingeworthy (as long as you can push yourself through the first few episodes at least) that you'd be missing out to not give it a chance. I don't think I'm alone in this: I read that Netflix helped fund the 3rd season (which recently aired in Denmark and is out TODAY!) because the show was so popular worldwide. Go watch it so they (hopefully) decide to go ahead with another season!

*I didn't know where to fit this comment in but I just have to stop for a second and admire how amazing it is that women who lead shows in Denmark (in both Rita and Borgen) are 40-somethings. Not 20-somethings. Not that I have anything against women in their 20s (in fact, I'm barely into my 30s so that would be hypocritical), but American television is a hostile, hostile world when it comes to representing women beyond the age of 25.

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10 things I loved about "Sassenach" (the premiere of Starz' Outlander series)

Whenever I pick up an “Outlander” book, it is, to me, like falling back into my own bed after a long trip. This 8-book-long series is familiar: the characters seem like friends, and the settings, as foreign as they may be to those of us stuck in the 21st century, oddly familiar. 

I first read the book series when I was embarking upon a really strange, busy and stressful phase of my life, and these books felt like a safe place that I could return to, day after day, page after page, chapter after chapter, one book after the next of the staggering (then)7-book series. I began reading the series sometime in 2011 and finished in the spring of 2012 (the 8th book came out this summer and I've been reading it since the day it was released). Of course, I'm a relative newbie to the Outlander world: some of the series' biggest fans date back to the early 1990s, when the 1st book came out!

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