The Concept of Post Heritage - Essay Example

THE CONCEPT OF POST HERITAGE By Location Introduction The films “The Queen” and “The Duchess” helps in the discussion of the post heritage as common in the United Kingdom. “The Queen” is a British film produced in 2006 that depicts the royal family of the United Kingdom. The historical drama film is about how the Royal family reacted to the death of the Princess of Wales, Diana, in August 1997. The director of the film was Stephen Frears and the writer Peter Morgan. The other film, “The Duchess” is a 2008 film directed by Saul Dibb and written by Jeffrey Hatcher. The movie is a chronicle of aristocrat Georgina, who lived in the 18th century. The Duchess of Devonshire had an extravagant personal life and her political life. These films become the new significance of the heritage of the United Kingdom. The films contain contemporary political and social events that are not normal for the royal families in Europe. Body The Queen There were massive social and political implications of Princess Diana’s death and funeral. There was public hysteria during her funeral service that did not sit well with the public. The royal family did not want the death of Princess Diana to be a public affair, but the media could not listen to the family. The views of the royal family were a contrast to that of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair and Diana’s husband Prince Charles. The two believe the funeral of Princess Diana should be made a public affair since she was a public figure. The media naturally complicate the issues surrounding Princess Diana’s death and her funeral (Frears 2006). No one knows the official status of Diana as she had a divorce from her husband during the time of her death. The society loves controversies and spectacles. The drama is surrounding Diana’s death fit right in the popular culture of the people. The heritage film made the people challenge the knowledge they had of the past royal family to the present royal family surrounded by controversy. The experience of the movie is very significant to the present day United Kingdom regarding protocols during the death of a royal family member. Tony Blair’s fortune takes for the worst after the funeral of Princess Diana the release of the film “The Queen” coincides with his downfall and resignation afterwards. Queen Elizabeth in the film is worried about how Tony Blair is going to modernize Britain as the new Labor Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, however, promises Queen Elizabeth of respecting British’s heritage and the Royal Family order of doing things. Blair, however, goes against the Queen’s wishes by making a speech about Princess Diana a people’s princess (Frears 2006). The utterances do not sit well with the Queen of England, and it is a lack of respect for their wishes as a Royal Family. We see this concept how Queen Elizabeth was trying her best to preserve the heritage of British and not associate it with any controversies. Princess Diana, however brought about much controversy to the Royal Family, who believed in having their privacy. The two regimes of power in the United Kingdom must come together and work together for the people. Their difference in opinion regarding the funeral of Princess Diana should not be obvious for the public to get into it. The royal media had received much celebrity media coverage fifty years prior to the death of Princess Diana. Malcolm Muggeridge had warned the royal family against being viewed as celebrities as it would eventually end in tears. The celebrity coverage of the Royal Family started when Princess Margarets was having a romantic relationship with Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend (Merck 2013). The celebrity status continues to grow from that time until the time of Princess Diana and Prince Charles marriage. Many of the people speculated that the marriage was a forced marriage hence the problems the couples were facing. The argument is that if the royal family had kept Prince Charles’ and Princess Diana’s relationship on the low, then there would not be any death. The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in a media frenzy following Diana in her car with her then boyfriend. The recent culture in Britain has made the Royal family vulnerable as they get to expose themselves a lot in the media. The film “The Queen” however enhanced the British popularity of Queen Elizabeth II and the British Monarchy as a whole. The film is like a public relations boost of the monarchy as people had different opinions about it prior to the release of the film. The conception put in the media about the Royal Family is entirely different from what we see in the film “The Queen”. Soon after the death of Princess Diana there are many melodramas. There is an appeal for moral recognition in the whole frenzy. The whole world was in shock and wanted answers to what led to the death of Princess Diana. The Royal Family that is led by Queen Elizabeth II was still contemplating on what to say in the press conference regarding Princess Diana’s death. Queen Elizabeth II is a worldly queen, the queen of a nation. Her utterances regarding the death of Princess Diana should, therefore, be clear because many people would take her word for it. Princess Diana’s death came after she had a divorce from her husband Prince Charles, and the palace were not sure what kind of statement to release (Edelstein 2006). The riff in the royal family gets the media attention and thus Queen Elizabeth II must think of some ways to make the people have faith in the monarchy again. The royal family did not come up with a public statement, and the British media were furious. There is a big tension between tension and modernity in the film “The Queen”. It is one of the major themes of the play that gives us the concept of post heritage in Britain. The director himself is saying how the film tells a story about the division between tradition and modernity for his country. The film is symbolic of this fact. There is tension created at the beginning of the film when Blair and his wife are unaware on how to act when they meet the Queen (Dolan 2012). He is supposed to bow as the wife curtsey. Blair is embarrassed by his behavior, but the Queen takes the action with amusement. It shows the maturity of the bridge between tradition and modernity as the Queen lets Blair know that she is aware he is her 10th Prime Minister. The scene that shows the controversial relationship between Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed further proves the tension between tradition and modernity. Princess Diana has a celebrity status that is not supposed to be from anybody in the Royal family. Her celebrity status is what leads to her death as a swarm of paparazzi chase her car to have a view of her and the boyfriend. Diana did not follow the royal protocol in conducting her actions. There is a bring difference between the ageing Queen of England and the youthful Princess of Wales as we see the film (Manzoor 2007). The Queen is a person that has stagnation in the past and its traditions and does not want to give room to modernity. On the other hand, Princess Diana, decides to abandon her tradition and live in the modern culture that the Royal Family disapproves. The public relations machine of the palace is different from the one from the Prime Minister’s office. The PR team of Tony Blair is a modern organization that is called the savvy spin doctors. The team establishes a youthful kind of modernity that is different from the Queen’s traditional public relations machinery. The two different regimes were however forced to work together during the funeral of Princess Diana. There was a dominant public opinion during Princess Diana’s death that the Queen did not know. Queen Elizabeth II’s monarchy was very outdated and did not keep tabs with the modern society. It was worse when the place lost Princess Diana through the divorce from Prince Charles and then through her death. The palace had therefore lost any chance of reforms from Princess Diana and her modern way of life. The film “The Queen” gives the viewers the monarchy’s loss of popular acclaim from the people of Britain. Blair informs the Queen of the poll that was carried out in British that suggests she is the reason her kingdom has failed (Gibson 2002). Blair continues to torture the Queen with information about how twenty-five percent of the British people would like to abolish the British monarchy because of its adverse ruling. The Queen later on in the film accepts the public’s demand for reforms in her monarchy. There becomes a fusion between modernity and tradition due to the Queen’s actions. The Duchess The Duchess of Devonshire gets adoration from her people. She does not like to sit pretty and do nothing about her monarchy as a lovely figurehead. The Duchess of Devonshire is determined to be a significant part of the affairs regarding the state. Her attitude and determination help her rise to the top of the Whig Party that assures reforms in the late eighteenth century England. The Duchess goes against the traditional rules of the monarchy at her time. Women were not supposed to participate in any political activity, let alone have a political party. She was defiant and did not follow the traditions to become a political figure. Her social status was also very vibrant, and she was the people’s Duchess (Bromley 2000). The Duchess of Devonshire participated in many social activities of England at the time England was the richest country in Europe. The country had different colonies around the world that was part of what made the country prosperous. The fact that the Duchess ignored the protocol that the royal families follow made her an extraordinary woman. Duchess of Devonshire was a social person who was part of the gossip of the state. She later gets to pay the price of being social and not following protocol when conducting her activities. Duchess Georgina was the original It girl. It was from her time that socialites became popular among the people. Georgina was in every gossip column of Britain for her daily activities. The princess gets to pay the price for her popularity that is not the British’s tradition. The princess was ravishing and glamorous and was not afraid to show the world. It was against the traditional norm of the monarchy to be that kind of girl. Despite her social status and her glamour, the Duchess was determined to be part of the wider world affairs. In her quest for leadership, she proved that she could outwit her male opponents due to her personality. She was part of significant changes in England. Despite her power, the Duchess was not able to convince her husband, the only man she loved to appreciate her. The Duchess thus tries to find her way by following her heart and staying loyal to her duties (Ebert 2008). All her attempts failed to please her husband and resulted in massive controversies at the monarchy. The life of the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgina resembles that of her descendent Princess Diana. There are similar as they both caused social controversies that did not meet the palace approval. Their actions might be harmless, but the media did not view them in that light. The actions of the two duchesses always left London talking. They were “socialites” who got involved in nearly all social activities in London. The media were following them everywhere they went to see what kind of activity they would be doing next. The actions of the two duchesses did not sit well with the Royal Family. The royal family felt the women were being a disgrace to royalty and did not bother to follow any traditions. The character of Georgina in the film is trying to break the traditional norm of duchesses which is to sit pretty and not participate in any life changing activities. Both of the women; Duchess Georgina and Princess Diana got to marry wealthy men who had mistresses. Georgina’s husband did not love her as well as Prince Charles did not love Princess Diana. It is amazing because the two women are related as the Duchess was Princess Diana’s great-great aunt. Her mother married off Duchess Georgina when she was only sixteen years to a man that did not love her (Dibb 2008). The man loves his dogs more than he loves Georgina in the movie. Princess Diana is also believed to have been married off to Prince Charles at a tender age. Georgina was very outspoken in her political views and supported the American and French revolution. She was the lead campaigner for the Whig Prime Minister Charles Fox. Her lover was also part of the Whig party. She went against all the rules and had a daughter by Charles Grey, her lover. Duchess Georgina was a feminist who accepted that women were not able to vote but still spoke publicly about her views. “The Duchess” historical film brings out Georgina’s character in full. In the story, we see how Georgina and her husband gets dressed for hours before diner only to come to the dinner table and argue about the mutton (Daily Telegraph 2008). The Duchess is suffering in her marriage as her husband never has a conversation with her. The only time her husband addresses The Duchess is when there is a pressing issue or instructions she needs to follow. The man is obsessed with getting a male heir to his throne. Georgina was an extraordinary woman who managed to juggle between controls her massive estate, gets involved in politics, becomes the people’s social favorite and also go seek better sexual satisfaction from another man (Vidal 2012). Georgina’s husband was not able to satisfy her sexually and under such circumstances, the protocol suggests she stays put and not question her husband. The rebellious duchess, however, does not follow the protocol of staying faithful to her husband no matter the circumstances. She goes ahead and bores a daughter for her lover. The man had plans of the heir inheriting all the riches and properties her possessed. Her husband took the only friend Georgina was able to make away from her. The Duchess was outrageous that she lost the only friend she had who kept her company, as the husband was a philanderer. Georgina however, later accepted her husband’s ways and even invited Bess and her three sons into the palace. She referred to William as “our husband” when she was addressing Bess. Bess betrayed Georgina because her husband had taken her kids away from her and William’s power was able to reunite her to her sons. William then betrays Georgina as he is prepared to ban Georgina from seeing her four children ever again. Women in England during the eighteenth century had no right even to their offspring (Hill 1989). Georgina felt the Whig party was the one that will bring a revolution to England and women will finally have rights. Georgina is not granted the privacy she requires and deserves and her mother tells her of how women of their status are supposed to behave. The royal family women are not supposed to have an opinion regarding a lot of matters that affect them either directly or indirectly. Lady Spenser expresses her disappointment in Georgina as the affair is the talk of London. Georgina could not even explain her reasons for having an affair with another man to her mother. William is a cruel monster who tells Georgina the only way to make love to the fifth Duchess of Devonshire is to picture the sixth Duchess of Devonshire. William tortured Georgina physically and mentally throughout the film. Duchess Georgina had a prosperous life outside her marriage as she was one of the people that helped end the slave trade. She had significant achievements politically as she was part of the Whig party that brought a revolution in England. Her marriage was far from perfect, and she was not supposed to say anything about it to the world (Bradley 2008). She concealed her pain and suffering from the world and instead compensated it by being extraordinary to the world. Conclusion The movies “The Queen” and “The Duchess” are movies that talk about powerful women in England. The main character in “The Queen”, Queen Elizabeth II is very different from the leading actress, in the “The Duchess”, Duchess Georgina. The two women have different ideologies on the monarchies ruling. The difference in personality of the two characters helps bring out the concept of post heritage from the films. Duchess Georgina lived in a hard realist, stiffened society with no women rights while Queen Elizabeth II lives in an environment where women have rights. References Bradley, P 2008, The Duchess, Available from http://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/05/periodandhistorical.drama [April 14, 2015]. Bromley, R 2000, The Theme That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Class and Recent British Film, in Sally R.Munt ed Cultural Studies and the Working Class. Dibb, S 2008, The Duchess, Paramount Pictures, London. Dolan, J 2012, The Queen: aging femininity and the recuperation of the monarchy, Ageing Studies in Europe, 2 (1), pp. 39-52 Ebert, R 2008, The Duchess, Available from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-duchess- 2008 [April 14, 2015] Edelstein, D 2006, All Hail “The Queen”, New York Times. Gibson, PC 2002, From Dancing Queen to Plaster Virgin: Elizabeth and the end of English Heritage, Journal of Popular British Cinema, 5, pp. 133-141. Hill, J 1989, Failure and Utopianism: Representations of the Working Class in ‘British Cinema of the 1990s’, in Murphy Jim Lewis and Alan Townsend eds, ‘The North-South Divide: Regional Change in Britain in the 1980s. Manzoor, S 2007, The power behind the throne, The Guardian, London. Merck, M 2013, Melodrama, Celebrity, “The Queen”, Women: A Cultural Review, 24(2-3), pp. 149-166. The Daily Telegraph, 2008, On-set report: The Duchess. Vidal, B 2012, Heritage Film: Nation, Genre and Representation, Wallflower, London. Read More