At 8:30 AM -0600 9/23/06, Sylvia Rognstad wrote:
...
costumes from movies, and not just good examples but some really bad
ones. For instance, I happened to see on tv a bit of an old movie
from the 1950s a couple weeks ago called "Princess of the Nile"
which took place in the Middle East and the costumes were so bad
they were really laughable. The women were wearing high spiked
heels for instance. So I'm wondering if you all can name some
other old movies with really anachronistic or just plain wrong
historical costumes.
Three movies that illustrate how movie costumes aren't about actual
history but rather modern ideas (whether those modern ideas are about
modern or historical fashion) are _Brigadoon_, _Rob Roy_, and
TFWNSNBU**. Taken together, there are some interesting similarities
and contrasts in the films approaches and ideas about historical
costuming. Particularly fascinating to me is what the three films
reveal about the changes in popular ideas about what historical
clothing ought to look like. (The modern fashion is for unkempt
fantasy savages, quite a change from Brigadoon.)
Interestingly, _Brigadoon_, for all its straight out of the 1950s
women's clothing, actually manages to get it's Scottish men's
clothing a lot more historically accurate than Mel "They really did
that" Gibson's flick, despite the much hyped (and publicized)
specially woven tartans and similar promotional copy efforts. Mind
you, getting Scottish clothing a lot more accurate than a Mel
Gibson's film isn't exactly saying much... ;-) And, of course, part
of that is probably because, unlike Mel's film, Brigadoon (and Rob
Roy) are actually set in a period (or at least from a period) when
historically men were dressed in a form of the well known popular
stereotypes of Scottish clothing. Another potential factor that
probably works both for and against Brigadoon is that it was made
before the latest major wave of Celtic Romanticism...
Sharon
**That Film Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered -- that is, the one with
Mel Gibson supposedly portraying William Wallace.
--
Sharon Krossa, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Need help with technology for your research or teaching? Hire me!
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Resources for Scottish history, names, clothing, language & more:
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