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Dec. 24th, 2012 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo recently innerbrat and I have been using our spare time to watch a very serious kdrama in which everyone is clearly going to turn evil and/or die, but I'm not going to talk about that just yet, instead I'm going to talk about what we just took a break to watch instead: The Bletchley Circle.
So The Bletchley Circle is a three-part British series about four former Bletchley Park codebreakers during the war, and a serial killer, and a LOT OF FABULOUS COATS.
The basic idea of the plot is to examine the lives of these women who were doing important, skilled, life-saving work during the war - work that they could never talk about, because of the Official Secrets Act - and then were spit back out into a deeply sexist 1950s culture to become housewives and spinsters and waitresses, and had to cope with it.
In this case, the way in which they cope is by figuring out that they can use their super code-breaking skills to FIGHT CRIME, which obviously I am all in favor of.
The one in the reddish-purple coat - which is also clearly the best coat, so you know that she's the leader - is Susan. She's a calm, quiet housewife who is extremely good with patterns, and rather bad at explaining things to people. When she triangulates the location of a murder victim from a bunch of radio broadcasts, she firsts attempts to go to the police; they are dismissive. Next step: round up the old gang to stop a killer!
The other three ladies are Lucy, the young one with an eidetic memory; Jean, the no-nonsense one with valuable librarian skills; and Millie, the unconventional one (you can tell because she's wearing trousers.)
The show is far from perfect; it does that unfortunate serial killer thing with the camera and dead women, it's super white, and it's also somewhat prone to gestures of dramatic symbolism that do not necessarily make a ton of sense. (My favorite: when Susan asks Millie to use her lipstick to trace out potential train routes that the killer might have taken. Guys, wasn't lipstick . . . rationed? And expensive? Couldn't you use a pen . . .?)
But it does do a really good job of portraying a bunch of awesome, intelligent ladies doing their thing, and of focusing on issues of gender and class. We've also been watching Elementary around here, and at one point, as we were watching this, Debi said to me, "You know, if Sherlock was female, she couldn't get away with being Sherlock. No one would listen to her." And: yeah. There's that.
It's also chock full of completely stunning cinematography that feels like it could have come out of the 1950s, and, as I have probably made clear, does an amazing job with costumes, especially coats. As much as I respect Susan, would I mug her in an alley for her outerwear? IT'S POSSIBLE.
innerbrat and I have been using our spare time to watch a very serious kdrama in which everyone is clearly going to turn evil and/or die, but I'm not going to talk about that just yet, instead I'm going to talk about what we just took a break to watch instead: The Bletchley Circle.So The Bletchley Circle is a three-part British series about four former Bletchley Park codebreakers during the war, and a serial killer, and a LOT OF FABULOUS COATS.
The basic idea of the plot is to examine the lives of these women who were doing important, skilled, life-saving work during the war - work that they could never talk about, because of the Official Secrets Act - and then were spit back out into a deeply sexist 1950s culture to become housewives and spinsters and waitresses, and had to cope with it.
In this case, the way in which they cope is by figuring out that they can use their super code-breaking skills to FIGHT CRIME, which obviously I am all in favor of.
The one in the reddish-purple coat - which is also clearly the best coat, so you know that she's the leader - is Susan. She's a calm, quiet housewife who is extremely good with patterns, and rather bad at explaining things to people. When she triangulates the location of a murder victim from a bunch of radio broadcasts, she firsts attempts to go to the police; they are dismissive. Next step: round up the old gang to stop a killer!
The other three ladies are Lucy, the young one with an eidetic memory; Jean, the no-nonsense one with valuable librarian skills; and Millie, the unconventional one (you can tell because she's wearing trousers.)
The show is far from perfect; it does that unfortunate serial killer thing with the camera and dead women, it's super white, and it's also somewhat prone to gestures of dramatic symbolism that do not necessarily make a ton of sense. (My favorite: when Susan asks Millie to use her lipstick to trace out potential train routes that the killer might have taken. Guys, wasn't lipstick . . . rationed? And expensive? Couldn't you use a pen . . .?)
But it does do a really good job of portraying a bunch of awesome, intelligent ladies doing their thing, and of focusing on issues of gender and class. We've also been watching Elementary around here, and at one point, as we were watching this, Debi said to me, "You know, if Sherlock was female, she couldn't get away with being Sherlock. No one would listen to her." And: yeah. There's that.
It's also chock full of completely stunning cinematography that feels like it could have come out of the 1950s, and, as I have probably made clear, does an amazing job with costumes, especially coats. As much as I respect Susan, would I mug her in an alley for her outerwear? IT'S POSSIBLE.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 06:08 pm (UTC)I just read a book about the real codebreakers, and it's fascinating in ways that probably would make for terrible TV but also for great biography.
Though the one story of Bletchley Park that fascinates (and offends) me the most is how Alan Turing invented the computer, but even that could not save him from the bigotry and hatred of his day.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 06:11 pm (UTC)And yeah, Alan Turing's story is incredibly depressing and tragic.
Historical commentary!
Date: 2012-12-24 06:53 pm (UTC)Re: Historical commentary!
Date: 2012-12-24 07:00 pm (UTC)(Although I still say it's a silly waste of lipstick, especially for someone who canonically doesn't have much money. But indeed very dramatic!)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 07:21 pm (UTC)I just think it would be rather messy to draw with lipstick. Smudge hell, y'know, aha.
Saw this show mentioned on someone else's blog too. Hmmmm. Now, how white is super white? Anyone at all to latch onto?
no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 07:35 pm (UTC)(But I just found out the BBC is going to be airing a 1930s miniseries about a black jazz band starring Chiwetel Ejiofor! *___*)
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Date: 2012-12-24 08:32 pm (UTC)*faints*
Do you have a title?
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Date: 2012-12-24 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-24 09:42 pm (UTC)Also yr Susan was an extremely lovely Elinor Dashwood in the most recent S&S miniseries! Do recommend!
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Date: 2012-12-24 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-25 01:55 pm (UTC)Also, because I am a pessimist, I was quite surprised that the police made any attempt to listen to them AT ALL even if it didn't last. >_>
no subject
Date: 2012-12-26 09:03 pm (UTC)Yes, even Dubious Police Chief was, like, the MOST respectful dude in the series! (I mean, I guess Serial Killer also respected Susan for her mind in a way, but er.)
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Date: 2012-12-26 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-26 09:04 pm (UTC)