Colonial House

[JoshuaRed]

Hawkyns, just curious - how long have you been reenacting/studying/immersing yourself in the 17th century? Your knowledge and expertise always impresses me, and I aspire to one day reach the level of 100% immersion for days on end.

[Hawkyns]

Been re-enacting about 28 years, now. Started 17th c about 19 years ago, went hard core about 16 years ago.

Hawkyns

[Zorg]

Watched the next two dismal installments of this thing last night. The "regime change" episode consisted of about 2 minutes of the 17th century and 40 minutes of soap opera. It wasnt until the company guy showed up and actually began DOING something like digging clams that the show had any content beyond that of "survivor"

I kept puzzling with meself about what was wrong. Why wasn't this working?

The it occurred to me:

Those of us who do reenactment create personas, characters who could logically have lived in the era, with backgrounds, personalities, and a history to match the histories we're living. Then we step outside those characters to discuss problems with adapting our skills, issues of history and interpersonal relationships, and how the characters get along.

But these guys are blatantly 21st century yuppies trying to live in the 17th century. They CANT fit in, and most of the show is soap opera bout how badly they feel about that, and one another. They CAN'T step aside from the reenactment. To them, its a real-life situation, happening in the 21st century, despite the mud and flies. It's something happening TO them, not something they're recreating, and while it may tell us something about how spoiled we are, it tells us little about living in 1628.

My tuppence, anyway......

[PirateQueen]

They all really do seem like fish out of water, though!

Couple of things grate on me most:

1. how most of them seem to keep wanting to apply their 21st century ideas to living in the 17th century, e.g., the woman who doesn't believe in God who refuses to go to the Sunday meetings. She should go anyway, because if she really were in the 17th century, she'd be punished quite severely or worse.

2. The woman who is the preacher's wife (and now with the regime change, the governor's wife), seems to have no clue how to dress! She looks gawdawful! The servants are dressed better than she. She goes around in a loose bodice with the straps always falling down, her shift falling off her shoulders (sometimes one shoulder, sometimes both), and the coif she wears looks like she justs lays it on her head without a thought. Plus, all of her clothes look dirty. Again, the servants look nicer!

I'm enjoying Colonial House, although I think I enjoyed Frontier House more. (Maybe because some of those participants tried to play the game.)

[Zorg]

Yno , I really wonder how this would have run if the participants would've gotten their "characters" (lay preacher, indentured servant, etc) ahead of time and had time to research how that character mightv reacted to the situation, and if they'd created a 21st century space whre they could have communicated out of character on how to operate. :)

[Rumba Rue]

Notice how on all these shows true re-enacters are never asked to do them? That's because we all know how!

Rumba Rue

**Life is what you make it so make it happy!**

[piratelassie]

good point there People who know what they're doing often aren't very much fun to laugh at

[silverhearted maggie]

I wonder if the producers had been serious about "banishing" the ones that didn't adhere to the mores o' the era they were suppose to be in would have kicked up a fuss about their 21st century ideals?

I bet they would've kept their yaps shut if they knew they'd been kicked off the show.

I mean, the gay guy coming out was the equivalent of somebody pulling out a playstation or a hair dryer. It kills me how whiney these folks get on these shows and how individualistic they want to be.

TV.....yeesh!

A pirate reality show? Long days of drunken boredom on the seas followed by some quick, frantic, violent activity, a spending spree at the nearest port then back to long drunken boredom for days, weeks on end.............................I am so there.

[piratelassie]

A pirate reality show? Long days of drunken boredom on the seas followed by some quick, frantic, violent activity, a spending spree at the nearest port then back to long drunken boredom for days, weeks on end.............................I am so there.

I'm in

[Capt. Flint]

I enjoyed the colonial house series very much. There were a lot of things given to them up fron and it also was apparent that there seem to be a intentional tension set for the group. Despite that, I enjoyed the series a lot. I have a particular passion for this time period on through the war of 1812. So even when a show isn't done to the standards many of us would like to have seen, I still enjoyed it.

As far as who gets picked. We also applied for the show. We happen to know a GREAT deal of people who applied for the show. We did not get picked. Neither did any of our friends. Oh well, there is always the next show........ will have to finish this later.. Matthew is starting to fuss and Karen needs a little help..... Flint

[JoshuaRed]

Oh tell me about it - (regarding the annoying cast of Colonial House.) Sheesh! I wish they would quit their whining. Gay guys comin' out, getting all sensitive? Women speaking out of turn? Skipping church? And a defiant feminist as the new governor's wife? Its very disappointing how PBS chose to focus on the 21st century personas questioning their roles, rather than focusing on 17th century LIFE.

And how about that Tisdale guy leaving the show because he couldn't handle playing a freeman who was headed down a "slippery slope" into slave-owning? PUH-LEESE!!! Get over yourself already! No African-American out there would accuse him of treason simply because he tried to experience 17th century life. Besides, the way I saw it, he wasn't playing a "Black Freeman", rather just a Freeman who wouldn't really be black. His argument just didn't hold any water in my book. Nobody said you HAD to pretend that you might own slaves, buddy. And the indentured servants on this show are anything but subservient and obedient...so it's not like he was even put in a position to give orders and treat them harshly.

And before that gay guy came out, he was talking about how maybe he should keep quiet and not say anything because that is what a 17th century gay indentured servant would have done, and that by keeping quiet he could experience more of what it would really like. When he said this, I was excited. I thought "at last! ONE of these knuckleheads gets it. Props to you buddy." Then an hour later he turns around and comes out. In church no less.

In a nutshell the cast just weren't playing by the rules from day 1, and PBS didn't seem too concerned about cornering this behavior, lest they be seen as "insensitive" to cultural needs.

[Red Bess]

When the first "reality" shows hit the airwaves a few year ago (during the actors strike, remember?) PBS did "1900 House" and it was good, because it was one family, in one house, dealing with the logistics of 1900. It was a true reality show, because these people were themselves and it showed them being themselves in 1900 trappings. It nearly drove them mad, and it was great fun to watch. Then came "1940 House" and PBS added more challenges - a war - to daily life. That was good, too. But somewhere along the way, the PBS reality show became too much like a Fox reality show. I think the mistake was the "community" thing - once it became more about the people in the show and their personal conflicts with each other, and less about the conflict of modern people dealing with historical logistics, it went sour. At least, that's my opinion.

[Capt. Flint]

I haven't heard it said better Red Bess. A most accurate description if ever I have heard one. Bravo............... Flint

[Desert Pyrate]

Bravo? Nah, Bravo's that network with Queer Eye... and THERE'S an entertaining show. Makes me wish I still had cable!

[Hawkyns]

So, I spent yesterday at Plimoth Plantation. They've set up an exhibition on the show, and are moving two of the houses down to their education center. More background information than was on the cheesy 2 minute 'interviews' at the end of each episode. They did attempt to give the colonists more training than was apparent in the show. I'm guessing this crew was just totally clueless and couldn't grasp what they had to do.

The premise as shown in the exhibit had much more potential than came across. I son't know if that was the fault of the movie company- directing, editing, etc., or if it was the colonists. Certainly, it would appear that the production staff looked for every problem they could find and high-lighted it. Did they push the colonists to do waht they wanted? Don't know, but I'm using my contacts to try and find out.

I did spend half an hour with one of the costume staff and asked some questions. The stays question had been generating a lot of talk on some of the Living History boards. Latest research indicates that the bodice was not boned, but was worn over the stays. so- shift, stays, bodice, jacket is the correct sequence of clothing. The boned bodices so beloved of ren faires are inaccurate and are an attempt to combine two articles of clothing into one. Lower classes- servants, milkmaids, etc., might have skipped the bodice and not worn their jacket while working, but they would NOT have appeared in public in just their stays.

Side Note!! I drove down to the Mayflower and was very surprised to find 2 sets of masts and spars in the harbour. The Bounty was visiting Plymouth and was tied up for tours on the other side of the harbour. I paid my fiver and went on board. Boy was I disapointed. she really needs some work. Dacron sails and steel standing rigging? Needs a general paint job and a good spruce up. Particularly noticeable when near the Mayflower which is so well done and in particularly good shape after the latest round of sprucing up.

Hawkyns

[Capt. Flint]

One note on Colonial House.... it seemed that the cast was unable to set themselves in the time they were supposed to be in. It was supposed to be about putting yourself in the colonies under the rule of England in the 1600"s. Yet, they were constantly arguing about how they didn't do this or believe in this or act like this in modern times and couldn"t or wouldn"t do it in this senerio. The entire point was to put yourself in that time period. The lack of religious support would not have been tolerated. The coming out ..... as said by the cast member... would have been punishable by death. Yes, I am aware that even then , this did not always result in death. Sometimes it resu;ted in banishment or just having the community doing a total shun on the individual. Also, the act of being labled with a letter for a sin or small crime committed was a great deal more serious then. I realize that it was harder to take it very serious in this setting, but, I think the level of comedy it was taken with, was a bit of an extreme.

Mind you.... these are just my opinions as I am one of the individuals who liked the show and continues to watch it even now...........

and just a footnote..... for all those talking about how these shows won't pick people like us..... it is in part because they want people who unlike us, don't try to re-create or do living history with these things. They want people who this would be an entirely new situation to and would have to learn how to adapt to it..... lets not forget, it is television...... Flint

[piratelassie]

that's too bad about the Bounty The last time I saw her I was really little. About six I think. I don't remember much