The White Queen (TV Series): Review

Links to stuff mentioned:

* My review of Game of Thrones: https://youtu.be/xTl5DKPSmPU

* My review of This Sceptred Isle Radio Show: https://youtu.be/9v3CkrEhEbY

* My review of Monarchy From the Middle Ages to Modernity by David Starkey: https://youtu.be/6Qe8C8LP1mM

* My review of Richard III by William Shakespeare: https://youtu.be/8xiudFz601s

* The AVclub review of this series: https://www.avclub.com/the-white-queen-1798177622

This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

https://youtu.be/HgneyXvRI04  

and HERE: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2018/12/vlog-scripted-book-reviews-i-ramble-on.html

In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2013/11/television-addiction-part-4.html

This is also part of my Television Addiction series.  For my explanation of what the Television Addiction series is and why I'm doing it, see: https://youtu.be/T5CEQ9-35xA and http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2021/04/television-addiction-article-on.html

The original 2013 post reads: 

The White Queen

          Back in January, I did a post listing all the historical events I would like to see get serialized into a television series.  I said now that Game of Thrones had proven that television audiences have the patience to keep track of the history of several fictional aristocratic families fighting for the throne, then why not just do the real thing and produce a television series based on the War of the Roses.  

            …And then low behold, I’m walking around the DVD shop, and I see that they actually have gone ahead and made a TV series based on the War of the Roses.  (All I had to do was ask for it apparently.)

            This series only covers the tail end of the War of the Roses, so I guess I’m still waiting for the epic series that would trace the entirety of the conflict from the beginning to the end.  But it was still good history for what I got.

            Now, I know this series got pretty terrible reviews [See Wikipedia.  Also the avclub article].  And yes, a lot of the acting could have been better.  And yes, the pacing also should have been better.  (Some events that really should have received more dramatic importance—like the death of King Henry VI—just got muddled through very quickly).

            But, for all its flaws, I still found this series fascinating to watch. 

            If you don’t like history, you should probably stay away from this series.  But if you’re a history geek like I am, then you’ll be willing to forgive a lot of bad acting for a good historical story, and inspite of everything I found the underlying story fascinating.

            It’s a complicated part of British history, and they did a very good job of trying to provide some sort of narrative to it.  It is also interesting to compare their portrayal of Richard III with Shakespeare’s play.  Roughly the same events happen, but they put a very different interpretation on the motivations of the characters.

Related Playlists:

Scripted Reviews Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BKcEIufNKlS58JHU_glyL&si=Pje0KQqIqOgWGGUI

Television Addiction: Oh, the TV Shows I've Seen: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5dG-fZus5AmF1kQSDBfSDJ

Television Addiction Part 4: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7tGOeUw5E7xQBVO_DQ3xcn&si=lM1iMgfWSgaA3Bzf

TV Review Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6YpO1G45qHp2EEa5bGZLns

History Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x52uI39vSXVrJvUFjdN9QkL&si=dICJTZngZlwi8WIT

Historical Fiction Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6aPjnfogXT4vyaZ6934DkU&si=thpc_WSscVPUaJWr

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Check out this series on Amazon: https://amzn.to/45di16c           (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)