Actually, if it wasn't stupid characters doing stupid things in most movies(and TV shoes), that would eliminate the plots of most of our entertainment from those mediums! And that would lead to the loss of a lot of fun watching them.
I kind of wondered at the trailer for Marie Antoinette which started this thread. My theory is that since the movie isn't due out until the fall at the earliest, post-production work and a final musical score might not yet exist yet. I've seen other movie trailers where the music in the first teaser trailer doesn't match that in the final film. The score for "Little Women"(the version with Winona Ryder), I've heard in "teaser trailers" for other movies. For anyone on the list who hasn't read "Hollywood and History" by Edward Maeder, I recommend this book as an excellent guide to the history of historical accuracy/inaccuracy in costuming. Maeder also covers what happened to a lot of accuracy between the designers' concepts and what ended up on-screen. Not only did most stars demand to look attractive at the cost of accuracy, the dear old Hayes Code also had a lot to say for decades. Rule one must have been no breast exposure for women and no codpieces for men. So women wore bodices appropriate to the year the movie was made and men had to wear tights with costumes redesigned so the films wouldn't be banned by Mr. Hayes, any other Puritains, and any city in the U.S. that might take offense. Maeder recounts that Bette Davis had to fight her agent and the studio when she shaved her head to play Elizabeth I the second time as her research discovered the real Elizabeth was nearly bald in her old age. In Maeder's opinion, the Italian-Anglo film, "The Leopard" was the most historically accurately designed and costumed film up the year he wrote the book. After reading this book years ago, I love to play a kind of game when watching a "historical costume" film or TV show I call: Find all the things in the costumes that give away the year the film was made. Hairstyles and makeup of the leading actors is a dead giveaway. If you want to see a costume designer's original intent: check out some background extra. Start watching those old films and have fun! Cindy Abel _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
