Ross and Demelza (Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees) trying to mislead prevention men looking for smugglers
Jim Carter (Stuart Doughty) dying of an unjust system, Jinny (Gillian Bailey) grieving (1975 Poldark)
Dear friends and readers,
Though I wrote most of my earlier blogs on the 1970s Poldark mini-series and quite a number of my more recent blog here on Jim and Ellen have a blog, Two, I switched to Austen Reveries last year when I began to teach the novels as historical fiction set in the 18th century, with my accent on the content as about the 18th century. Consequently, the list of the new blogs is on Austen Reveries, as well a summary of the paper I wrote comparing the two mini-series for a recent ASECS (American 18th century society conference), the panel: the 18th century on film. I put Marriot’s book, The World of Poldark here, but linked the paper into Austen reveries.
But since I know a sizable number of readers here used to be interested in this series, I offer this short blog announcing that a beautifully formatted abbreviated version of the paper (complete with stills) has been published by ABOPublic: an interactive forum for women in the arts, 1640-1830. I also took the liberty of publishing the full paper on my page on academia.edu
Morwenna Chynoweth (Jane Wymark) falling in love with Drake Carne (Kevin McNally) — her coerced marriage shown to be a form of nightly rapes (1977 Poldark)
I demonstrated a plethora of 1960-70s films have been re-made within this time-frame and that with a couple of exceptions, the new films are using real or fantasy history to create a past with different emphases from the one realized earlier in order to project and/or construct an imposed or perceived group identity intended to allay insecurities of our era. I used the Poldark pair as a particularly lucid example of typical changes: the 1970s mini-series series dramatizes exploitative inexorable conflicts along class, political and gender and generation lines. Far from from presenting a strong community identity as way for individuals to solve their lives’ problems, the older mini-series centers on characters presented as individuals escaping – or failing to escape from – invisible coercive and sometimes unjust norms (prisons). The 1970s films identify with the radical, the rebel, and take a strongly feminist (sometimes anachronistically so) stance. The 2015 series reveals a single script-writer using film technologies to make mythic matter for an idealized perceived indwelling heroic community identity as a solution to individual problems. The women are now subordinated to, work for their families and working businesses, and their children, wherein they find their meaning and safety. The mine has become a central site with which almost each episode begins. Horfield adds incantatory speeches like Jud’s:
Jud: ‘Tis in the blood your father‘d say mining tis in the blood … the vein of copper ‘tis the bread of life . . . eat sleep live and breathe it, she’s your salvation and your downfall, make you bold, many a friend did break and many more will follow … Tis a fool’s game … twill end in tears … your father died before his time … So his mining did for him… Well he won’t be the last neither, if he were here today he’d tell you not to make the same mistake …
The parallel for the first series is The Onedin Line, where there is much trust in existence itself, high scepticism towards religionm trust in technology; the parallel for the second Outlander where characters live in a spiritualized landscape, what happens in life mysterious, often monstrous, and the future something to be guarded against, potentially dark and grim. The actuating idea is people need to hold together, stay in a single imaginary space, and yet experience is centrifugal, now and again the strength of community as powerful when united against single or small groups of much more powerful individuals is shown to be a delusion.
Robin Ellis as the Rev Halse and Aidan Turner as Ross (2015 Poldark)
“Halse: “No doubt the common people you mix with have blunted your faculties as to what may or may not be said in polite society.”
Ross: “No I agree they alter one’s perspective, sir … have you ever been in a jail sir it’s surprising the stench thirty or forty of God’s creatures can give off when confined to a squalid pit without drains, water, physicians care.”
Halse: “The matter of your performance at Bodmin jail has not gone unnoticed, sir. There will be shortly be a meeting of the justices of whom I should say I am one … You offensive young drunkard. You’ll be hearing from us presently.”
Ross and Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) seen across a spiritualized landscape
Ellen
Ellen And Jim Have A Blog, Two 
Two of my favorite stills from the two mini-series:
Curtains drawn
Verity knows joy (Ruby Bentall))
Congratulations, Ellen. Any recognition is good recognition and it might inspire people to look for your blog and read more.
I assume season 2 of Poldark will air on PBS later this summer.
What happened to Wolf Hall – it was on this time last year – I thought
there would be a second season of that also?
Thank you, Tyler. I came across an article where Horsfield was interviewed by a BBC person. She was assuring the public (in effect) that yes Poldark season 2 will appear. The delay has been worrying.
Coded (in effect) into what she said was the problem still that BBC1 is “for the family.” And still there are issues of censorship, of decorum, of what’s allowed and you can see this shaping other popular series for BBC1 (and thus PBS). She put it that the BBC people did not like the nude meadow cutting and that she was irritated by all the attention to 20 seconds of a series. She went on to say the presentation of “nudity” in the coming season “would be subtle.” It will now appear in autumn and she said people had to dressed because it was cold in Cornwall. Ha! She repeated “not to expect nudity.” “It’ll all be subtle” — or some such words.
I suggest the problem is the notorious central incident to Warleggan (Poldark book 4) and all 12 books: Ross rapes Elizabeth. As the book was written in 1945 for a middle class audience, and Graham would want it to appear in W.H. Smith, the scene is not detailed, but it’s obvious from the dialogue and last lines he forces himself on Elizabeth and he stays the night. Elizabeth calls it rape but suggesting he stayed the night allows fans of the series to exonerate him with the usual “she really wanted it.” In 1975 the rape scene was muted but it was clearly rape. I worried they cut the rape scene because fans hate it and want to say Elizabeth wanted this, it was no rape &c&c; blacken her, but the reality Is (I’m not giving away the deep content of what are the results) Elizabeth gets pregnant by Ross. So you cannot omit it. I think it’s ambiguous in the way of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Elizabeth is not the pious character of Heidi Reed, but an ambitious woman who is sexually attracted to Rossk, even loving him, and is glad to take his money but wanting to marry Warleggan who she thinks will take her to London. She is ambitious. From Horsfield’s other work I would have thought she would make Elizabeth ambitious, but she didn’t; she also echewed witty dialogue (as in her other series). Anyway there may have been cutting done in order to get the series out of the can past censors and people worried about a vocal fan base online. The Internet has changed commercial productions too — and not always to the better at all.
Wolf Hall, part 2 has to wait for Mantel to write her book. She is genuine and will not write something worked up to sell. She is said to be working on it. The previous two were such runaway successes with all audiences and on every level (academics argue with it), I imagine she might be intimidated and is working hard.
Ellen