Comments on Mary Stuart\'s movies PDF

Preview

Summary

Rédaction sur les films de Mary Stuart, comparé au livre bibliographique. Il s'agit d'une comparaison et d'introduction d'avis personnel...

Description

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, is a well-known Queen, who marked the history of the British monarchy. She was the daughter of Mary de Guise and James Stuart of Scotland. She officially ruled Scotland from 1542 to 1567 after her mother’s death. As the only legitimate surviving child of James Stuart, Mary spent most of her childhood in France with Mary de Guise’s family to stay safe. In order to keep the diplomatic alliance between Scotland and France, also known as the ‘auld alliance’, Mary de Guise signed an agreement with the French court: Mary Stuart will wed the dauphin Francis, heir of King Henry II of France. After her wedding in 1558 with Francis II, Mary Stuart, who was only 15, became Queen of Scotland and France. Later on, she will claim the English throne, but her religious tolerance in Scotland will lead her to the end of her reign. She got married three times during her life: she first wed Francis II (1548), then Lord Darnley (1565) with whom she had a son called James, and finally the 4th Earl of Bothwell (1567). None of her marriage will be a happy one. Actually, her story has been celebrated through centuries, because Mary Stuart spent the end of her life in captivity. John Guy, an historian, wrote in 2004, a detailed biography of Mary Stuart that relates the entire story of the Queen and her backgrounds, from birth to death. I never read a book with so much detailed based on the story of a Queen, and I was pleased to learn more about her and unfortunately, her tragic life...Guy’s book became so famous that the 2018 movie called “Mary, Queen of Scots” was entirely based on his research. For our final exam of Civilization UK, we are asked to compare the book of John Guy, which relates the true story of the Queen, to movies and series inspired by her life. I chose to discuss the series Reign, available on Netflix, the 2018 movie Mary, Queen of Scots and the 2004 series Gunpowder, Treason and Plot. Reign starts with the arrival of Mary at the French court, before her wedding with Francis in 1548, while Mary, Queen of Scots and Gunpowder, Treason and Plot start after Francis’ death, when Mary Stuart returns to Scotland in 1561. I liked to discover different movies inspired by the life of Mary Stuart, as I really loved to read J.Guy’s book. Moreover, I plan to read more works of Guy during holidays, as I consider him to be a real good historian and writer. I want to discover more of his works as I have been pleased to read Mary Stuart’s story. As Gabrielle Candeira De Oliveira explained you by e-mail, my internet access at home is very limited and got worse during the quarantine. I live in a village where the internet connection is very low, and my chances to watch a full movie online are barely possible. Indeed, I finally succeeded watching the 2 movies I previously mentioned, and I watched with a friend two years ago the two first season of Reign. I hope that I will soon be able to watch the whole of Reign, now that I know the true story of Queen Mary. We soon realize that the major events of the Queen are approached differently and sometimes even skipped, depending on which films you watch. Nevertheless, every movie produced is, in a way, mirroring each other approaching the same type of subjects that had to face Mary Stuart during her life, such as gender, national identity or religion. Moreover, her life always has been hard, as it never implied only one country, but three or more ! Until the end of her life, Mary was a brave Queen, following her heart and showing tolerance for her citizens. This feature of her personality is well represented in the 2 movies and in Reign: she shows empathy for everyone’s believe and mistakes. At first, everyone believe that they can take advantage of her kindness, but soon, Mary shows authority as a real Queen who deserves respect and subjection. She seems unattainable in the 2 movies, and faces Knox with pride, defying his authority and suggestions. In Mary, Queen of Scots, Knox convinces his followers that it is not normal to follow the order of a Queen, because a woman can’t rule alone and think properly. As Guy explains, Knox actually really led a campaign against idolatry and female rules after Mary’s return in Scotland in 1561. In Reign, Mary defies a few times the authority of Catherine de Medici, who is still Queen of France, justifying herself to act and talk for her country. In Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, Mary looks even stronger and stricter, maybe screaming a bit more than in reality. It shows that even if the movies

and the series were not released the same years, they all prove that Mary always remained authoritative, she was a real sovereign. I guess that being involved into the French, Scottish and British Courts was hard for Mary to manage, even if she always argued in the movies and series being the right Queen for each thrones. As Guy explains in his book, Mary Stuart was born in a crucial time of history, where countries were tormented by religious matters, and identity issues. During her rule, the biggest division Mary had to face was the endless fight between Catholics and Protestants in France, Scotland and England, threatening her own life. This issue is well represented in both movies and in Reign, showing scenes of cruel torture and assassination of Protestants by Catholics and vice versa. Mary Stuart never were able to pick a side, because she knew that it would lead to more atrocities anyway. Even if this religious division directly appears as a matter in Mary, Queen of Scots and Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, it comes only later in Reign. More precisely, it is first mentioned in season 2, when a French Catholic Lord pressures King Francis to sign a law that would make France an official Catholic country, also implying the coming persecution of those who are Protestant. In Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, Mary is presented as a devout Catholic, and is soon attacked at the Catholic mass. By reading the book and watching the movies, I felt like the only one at that time who showed tolerance was Queen Mary, and if others couldn’t change their mind, she couldn’t help much more. Every time she tried to show the right way to her citizens, she was highly criticized, because she was an independent woman. When you are a Queen or a King, it is hard sometimes to make the right choice, and mostly for Francis and Mary in Reign, who constantly struggle to know which country (France or Scotland) should be considered a priority. When you are the King of France, ruling a Catholic country, and your wife is the Queen of Scotland, a country mainly Protestant, which nationality and which faith do you put first ? This question will remain unsolved during all season two, even if Francis tends to put France first. The national identity is a subject used in the 2 movies. It implies one’s identification to a country. Technically, your national identity matches with the country of your birth, but in this context, it is more about the country you believe in, or feel related to. For instance, Mary Stuart is Scottish, but spent most of her life in France. She lived at the French court, and early learned French. Guy argues that the real Mary Stuart could speak English, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin, which sounds amazing for her young age ! In the two movies, she demonstrates her skills and expresses herself a few times in French rather than in English. In Mary, Queen of Scots, she even acknowledges that she was born in Scotland, but is French. Actually, this is a true fact about Mary, and I love they use it for both movies. As Guy’s shows us in his book, Mary loved writing poems in French and until the end of her life, she never forgot France. I personally think that this is because she never forgot Francis’ death, and even if Guy explains that she was more moved by the death of her mother Mary de Guise (June 11th, 1560) rather than Francis’ one (December 5th, 1560), she probably understood that she missed her chance to live peacefully in France with him. As Catherine de Medici explains to Mary in Reign, season 2, a Queen sometimes needs to lie to protect themselves. If you show any weakness, people would know you are a victim rather than a ruler. So, it sounds highly probable that Mary could have been faking her real emotions. What probably tormented her was the fact that she couldn’t have an heir with her first husband, and needed one soon otherwise her royal descendants would be compromised and her throne threatened. She soon got seduced by Lord Darnley, and wed him in 1565. Darnley looks more attractive in Mary, Queen of Scots, than in Gunpowder, Treason and Plot. I was particularly disappointed by the difference of clothes and colors between the 2004 and 2018 movie. In Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, the dresses look brighter, which brings more joy to the entire story, whereas in Mary, Queen of Scots, everything looks so dark and sad, Mary Stuart never wears a colorful dress. After I finished watching the 2018 movie, I felt a bit depressive. If we take a step back and think about that movie, I believe that producers wanted to highlight the tragic life of Mary and make people sad about her story, which worked on me !

The inequalities between the rich people and the citizens from the working-class is an issue too. As usual, the poor people pay for the richest, and they are persecuted. Sometimes it feels like, a citizen’s life worth nothing, as Lords or in general, rich people, have no empathy to murder them for no reason. Moreover, as working-class inhabitants cruelly need money to feed their families, Lords buy them to commit crimes. The safest people are those working for the Court, but again, this is not enough to save them from death. Moreover, unlike in the two movies, homosexuality is not a big theme in Reign: there is only one mention of homosexuality in season one, and season two is focused on the religion faith, which divides France and Scotland. Darnley was suspected of having slept one night with Rizzio, Mary’s closest friend. I was shocked to see in Mary, Queen of Scots, how desperate was the Queen to force Darnley, to beat him and force him to bed with her against his will. It shows how Mary Stuart was obsessed with the idea of having an heir. By the way, I also noticed that between the 2004 series, 2018 movie and Reign, there is only Black men at the Court in Mary, Queen of Scots, which is quite interesting. It means that every movie directors wanted to talk about gender and colors differently. In Mary, Queen of Scots, we directly notice that the goal was to highlight the two biggest female characters implied in British monarchy: Elizabeth and Mary. During all the film, they are almost never with other women characters. Elizabeth is always surrounded by men advisors and Lords. She even admits to Cecil that she feels like a man too, and it might explain why she never wanted to get married. She clearly asserts her power and authority by ruling like a man. Her only weakness is that she craves having a child, but knows she’s too old to have one. Mary is always surrounded by male figures too, except from her ladies. I believe this is closely related to the common belief of that time saying that women are not rulers and can’t take decisions like a men would, which would explain they needed men’s suggestions. Mary Stuart is smarter than expected, and Cecil hates it. As Guy explains, he would have done anything possible to destitute her from her throne, which unfortunately works in 1586 when Mary is declared guilty for her attempt to assassinate Elizabeth. Women are more common in Reign, and the actresses are very glamorous and elegant. They wear beautiful dresses and jewelries, and have sophisticated hair looks. In my opinion, there are two categories of type of women in the series: women who are the target of laughter and are disrespected; women who are authoritative and don’t let men put them down. In Reign, women need either to get married or become the mistress of a rich man. It was the real custom of that time: women always were under pressure, obsessed with the idea of being married, or dishonored by their family. This is exactly what happens to Lola, one of Mary’s lady: she gets dishonored by her family in season two, because she has an illegitimate child with Francis. In the two movies and in Reign, Mary feels very close to her ladies, with whom she spends a lot of time. In Reign, Mary shares her deepest secret with her ladies, even that she has been raped during an attempt of assassination of Francis by Protestants (season two). In Mary, Queen of Scots, she admits to her ladies that she is still a virgin and actually never bed with Francis. In Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, the Queen gossips a lot about men and Lords with her ladies, laughing secretly like teenagers. I believe that Mary in real life were close to her ladies too, as they were the only women she could have fun with and rest from her royal requirements. She’s devastated when she loses Rizzio in March 9th, 1566, he was the only man she ever felt close to after Francis’ death. Her despair is resumed in the two movies, and I felt bad to attend the violent scenes of his assassination. It shows again, how cruel could be the Lords: they would kill anybody if they feel threatened. To conclude, we can see that even if the movies sometimes differ from the original life of Mary Stuart, they still mirror each other. In fact, each movie directors tried to show their own vision of Mary’s story, staying focused on a few topics that faced the Queen. This is fruitful to see and compare how we can express our own vision of events and feelings, by choosing a plot and their actors. This is the first time in my life that I studied a Queen’s life so precisely and I really loved it. I even think that this is too bad that we never did it before, in L2 for instance....