Skip to main content

Edith Wharton’s THE BUCCANEERS

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I just watched the BBC period drama miniseries, The Buccaneers, based on Edith Wharton’s last unfinished novel.

The miniseries was very well done, I thought. Costumes were sumptuous and acting was good.

However, this is the second Wharton novel made into a film that I’ve seen, and both stories have a lack of morality that disturbs me. Adultery is seen as “true love.” Sure, the women had sucky marriages, but did the author/scriptwriter have to glorify adultery?

I’m not a prude, but I’m a pragmatist. If a young girl agrees to marry a duke, she has to understand there are certain obligations that come with being a duke, just as if she had married a President of the United States. She can’t whine about her duties or her social position—she should have thought of that before she married him.

The way the stories were presented made it seem that Nan, with her free spirited innocence, was in the right to run off with her lover, when in reality, all her problems started because her lover had refused to marry her when she was single and had first fallen in love with him. (I don’t know what part of the story was from the scriptwriter and what was Wharton’s notes, because I do know that Edith Wharton only finished about 3/5 of the book before she died and she left some notes about how she wanted the story to continue.)

I don’t know how closely the miniseries follows the book, but I was disappointed with the storyline. I don’t like reading or watching adultery, just like I don’t like movies that glorify murder and deception where the villain gets away with it and it’s portrayed as a good thing.

I guess I feel betrayed because I thought it would be a romantic miniseries in the tradition of Pride and Prejudice, when in actuality, very few of the characters in The Buccaneers have happy endings or show strength of character.

I mean, don’t you feel betrayed if you read a romance book where the hero and heroine don’t get together??? That’s kind of how I feel now, after watching this miniseries.

Comments

Unknown said…
Camy,
I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head with your analysis of The Buccaneers. I watched it about a year ago...and I can't remember but I probably posted a vague, generally positive review. I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning because I didn't want to turn the series off -- I was hooked and HAD to see how it turned out.
However, as the story has "settled" into my consciousness over time, I was bothered by the same issues you raise...especially the glorification of adultery. It's really...well, SAD. Those characters who end up "happily" did so because they abandoned their commitments / marriages, etc. And everyone, whether they ended up happy or not, showed a general lack of character / principles.
Sorry for the long comment but your post really convicted me (in a good way!) and reminded me of how easy it can be to get sucked into a story / film and forget to really look at how the characters act / behave, etc. and what worldview is promoted.
Delia said…
I hate it when a movie/book/anything promotes immorality in any form. Sure, most movies have some kind of immoral subject (even if it's lying) but they don't glorify it. It's a big let-down after looking forward to watching it, then have something like that happen.

Speaking of feeling betrayed while reading a novel...I LOVE a certain author's novels, always have, so I decided to go back and read some of her "older" (they're not old at all) stuff. I came across one of her books that I absolutely loved and then at the end, the two characters were unable to get together because of a tragedy. I felt so disappointed and, like you said, betrayed. This may sound strange but reading one of that particular author's novels now isn't quite the same.
Snoskred said…
Hi, it's Snoskred here. I've recently become a blogging chick and have set myself a challenge to comment on as many Blogging Chick blogs as I can. So that's why I'm here. ;)

I have not seen The Buccaneers but I am a major Pride and Prejudice mini-series fan - not the movie, because that was just plain poor compared to the series. Though I did watch it so I would be able to say it's poor. ;) If you haven't seen it, the one with err, what's her name, the stick thin British one in the pirate movies as well, Keira Knightley. I'd say don't bother, it's not worth it.

I'll keep an eye out for The Buccaneers, but based on what you've said the costumes and the acting are about all I will like. I can appreciate excellent acting even if I'm not a fan of the storyline. :)

I am a huge fan of Jane Austen, I have a book with all of her works in it, and it is the one book always by my bedside.

What a pretty blog you have here, love the title bar graphic, it's gorgeous!

Snoskred
http://snoskred.blogspot.com/
Mary Connealy said…
CAMY Nice cover!!!!!!!
I love it. :)
Mary
wharton is not exactly known for her happy endings, and the buccaneers is actually one of the happiest. and while edith wharton does share biting social criticism with austen, even more than austen, wharton exposes the structures of the social order for hypocrisy and as the real immorality. and also unlike austen, wharton does not write romances for whom marriage, even an ideal one, rarely provides a solution (and quite frankly, much more like austen's often cynical letters, there is hardly such a thing as a good marriage -- after all, how likely is one to find someone who is both filthy rich and loveable and decent). in short, the point in wharton is that the whole world is disordered, not the behavior of these girls in particular. and if a young woman stuck to principle she would likely end up dead (e.g., house of mirth).

best wishes,
LoA.

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

Meet the Dashing Spy on the Cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 3

If you enjoy clean historical suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of danger, you’ll love my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series! It’s a multi-volume Christian Regency serial following a group of unlikely aristocrats battling a dangerous conspiracy in 1811 London. Today, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite covers in the series— Volume 3: Aggressor. Who is that handsome gentleman? The model on the cover represents Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, one of my main characters. This clever spy with a tortured past finally gets the cover spotlight in this volume, which is one of my favorite covers because the model is so handsome. 😄 I absolutely love this cover model! His name is Anatolii and here’s the original stock photo . It was really tough to try to decide which photo to use for the cover! It was a tossup between him and the main heroine, Miss Phoebe Sauber, for the cover for book 1, but I eventually went with Phoebe. Then in book 2, he was kind of...

Free Christian Romantic Suspense Novels by Camy Tang / Camille Elliot

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...