Art: The Joy of Teaching Teenagers (G)

[sigune]

As Robbie Ross reminded Oscar in Wilde, there is a first time for everything, and so I made my first post at snape_rarepairs. It's Snuna, though rather innocent - rating is G and the picture is as worksafe as can be. If you haven't seen it yet, and are curious for it, here is the link:

The Joys of Teaching Teenagers...

It's one of those drawings that cause me headaches, but at least it turned out reasonably well :). And it has Luna in it!

(dA kiriban for darling-roland.)

Comments

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

As Robbie Ross reminded Oscar in Wilde...

Hey, how'd you feel about that movie? I remember enjoying it, but I know exactly ZERO about Wilde.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Well... My enthusiasm about the film has lessened as I learned more about Wilde, I have to say. I saw it for the first time when I was at the outset of my career in Wilde research (*g*) and thought it was great, but I have since found that its portrayal of Wilde himself is totally off. Fry plays Fry, not Wilde, or so it seems to me - though part of the blame no doubt goes to the script writer and to Richard Ellmann's biography of Wilde, on which the script is based. Ellmann depicts Wilde as a kind of saint and a tragic victim of fate and the Victorian age, but that is a distortion of his character and not one that Wilde would likely have approved of at that :-).

The thing that bothers me most about the film's portrayal of Wilde is that it utterly lacks vivacity and joie de vivre. Fry plays him much too subdued; Wilde was a buoyant man who would laugh out loud at his own jokes, someone who was so full of life that when he was on his deathbed his friends couldn't believe he was actually going to die. He was also very much a seducer, whereas in the film he is always being seduced by others (puppy-eyed, at that). About Robert Ross I'm not so sure, but he certainly pursued Lord Alfred Douglas with great ardour, as he did many young men before and after Douglas. He certainly had a very dominant personality and was manipulative; in the film he is much too soft and frail (don't get me started about how the costume people stress that softness by having Fry wear all those pastel yellows and pinks and greys - Wilde wore dark suits, thank you very much) and, frankly, tame. The film script also skims over his arrogance and sometime cruelty; he was a whimsical man who could be quite mean to people once he had lost interest in them, as his wife and several friends and lovers soon found out. In general it makes him out much nicer and sweeter - and less interesting - than he actually was. It took me quite some time to get that image out of my system, and doing so was necessary, because it wasn't helpful at all in reading Wilde' work.

The strong points are, I think, the film's attention to Wilde's family life, his wife and children - Jennifer Ehle does a great job as Constance, who really was a very sweet woman, and Ehle brings that across in her few appearances. It's also a plus that they don't have to be as circumspect about Wilde's sexuality as the two 1960 films had to be; and there's Jude Law who makes an excellent Bosie - it's not hard to see how someone could be besotted with him ;P. I also like its portrayal of Robbie Ross (of course I just like Michael Sheen...), and that it has the Sphinx in it. And it's rather lavishly made, of course :D.

My own favourite Wilde actor (I haven't seen Gambon, I have no idea what he made of the part) is Peter Finch. Finch, I have been told, was a ladies' man, and funny though it may sound, in my opinion he brought the right spirit to his portrayal of Wilde. He was lively, confident, flippant - and, admittedly, too handsome ;-).

It's just my opinion, though. I tend to feel strongly about subjects in which I have a great emotional investment, and Wilde is certainly one of them. Wilde's presumed effeminacy is one of my hobby horses, and once I get started... :D

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Hm, yes, I think you put your finger on why the movie didn't quite blow me away. Wilde did not sparkle with wit the way I had hoped he would. It is nice to hear the same thing from someone who actually really knows Wilde!