On Sunday 24 September 2006 8:58 pm, Sharon L. Krossa wrote: > At 2:06 PM -0400 9/24/06, Catherine Olanich Raymond wrote: > >On Sunday 24 September 2006 5:18 am, Sharon L. Krossa wrote: > > > Other, of course, then the general modern movie fashion for basing > > > historical film costuming on sf/fantasy costuming. (In my opinion, a > > > study of the development of historical movie/tv costuming can't be > > > done without considering and covering the developments in fantasy > > > film/tv costuming -- most modern historicals owe more to Xena Warrior > > > Princess and the like than any historical research for their > > > costuming... And by this I really do mean there is a connection, not > > > just that the costuming isn't as historically accurate as it could > > > be.) > > > >Though there's also a decent argument that it's a waste of time and money > > to devote historical costume research to a summer popcorn movie--which > > this particular "King Arthur" definitely was. So that leaves the costume > > department cribbing from the SF/Fantasy section--the other source of > > popcorn movies..... > > It isn't just "summer popcorn" historical movies that get a great > deal of their historical costuming ideas from sf/fantasy > films/programs. From what I have seen, they are *all* doing it. From > what I have observed, the two genres feed on each other across the > board with regard to costuming (and hairstyles, etc.).
>From my point of view, the most recent mainstream historical movie was "Master and Commander," and it doesn't display these problems, so far as I could tell. (Though I admit to not possessing encylopedic knowledge of naval uniforms for that period.) But if you are thinking of films like "Troy" (which I'm convinced was costumed primarily from the local Indian bazaar) and "Alexander" (Angelina Jolie in a one-shouldered spandex "chiton"--really!), I'm inclined to agree with you. > Further, it should be noted that "King Arthur" was one of those > historical films that went out of its way, both in marketing and in > how the film itself was presented, to claim historical accuracy for > itself. Which ticked me off, in retrospect, though I didn't particularly take the claim seriously because I'd seen the previews. :-) > So, while a producer could make the argument that it would be > a waste of time and money to research historical clothing, that > argument would have been more than usually hypocritical, given the > money spent elsewhere in the budget combined with the claims being > made for the movie. Since I don't know what "King Arthur's" budget was, I can't really respond to that. > Sharon -- Cathy Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity." --Robert Frost _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
