The Other Boleyn Girl Film Lacks History
Natalie Portman Portrays Anne Boleyn as Soap Opera Queen: She Wasn't
Aug 11, 2008
Is it fair to fictionalize history? A recent movie, based on a popular book, The Other Boleyn Girl, does just that to shocking effect. It presents, as fact, odious gossip that malingered beyond the 16th century English court well into the year 2008. There is no proof, for example, that incest between Queen Anne and her brother George occurred, although that was the crime for which they were beheaded. There is no proof that George was a homosexual and uninterested in women in general and his sister, Anne, in particular.
Scholars Parry Sensationalism
The American scholars, Retha Warnicke, Mary-Louise Bryce, David Loades, Alison Weires and Lacey-Baldwin Smith all dispute the notion that Anne and George commited incest. Rather, they claim, that Anne, in particular, was the victim of religious and political factions, who opposed her reforms for papal watchdogs of royalty. Her brother George shared her convictions. The movie curries to a National Inquirer view of history; bold tabloid intent presented as fact. The truth was complicated and subjective, and interpreting it requires critical thinking and study.
Ethics in Literature and Film
Filmmakers are mistaken assuming that historical tomes are not as interesting as the rumors of a centuries old aristocratic court. The facts are shocking enough. In the era presented in The Other Boleyn Girl dukes, queens and princesses were beheaded for perceived slights against royalty. Prepubescent girls were married off to estate holders who were decades older. Bishops, clergy and popes acted politically and ruthlessly against innocent nobles and landholders to advance their own interests. Peter De Rosa's 1988 book, Victims of Christ, claims that the church funded the Crusades, which turned "the way of the cross into the war of the cross."
Presenting historical facts at variance to established scholarly research is not the issue. Turning long-dead people who had thoughts, feelings, and personal conflicts into icons or archetypes is not the issue; after all an image can be more than one dimentional.Turning history into melodrama populated by soap opera or tabloid plots, however, is an issue. It trivializes important events and renders complicated historical eras superficial. Are we to remember Anne Boleyn as an incestous witch or as a ruthless political ingenue who waded too far into the depths of court intrigue? Which scenerio sounds more like pulp fiction and which has the depth of inspired art?
Don't look to The Other Boleyn Girl to make that distinction.
