Why don’t movies/shows like 2019 The King ever present medieval European women’s completely covered as IRL?

[Anonymous]

Is it somehow offensive to modern people to see things as they were? I get that producers want their movies to appeal to current audience so they make costume design choices that are always accurate. However, in the case of European medieval (married) women, they always have seem to have hair showing. Why do you think that is?

[Anonymous]

I think actresses generally don’t want to look unattractive and those medieval looks were super unattractive including plucking eyebrows. Not many actresses want to do that. Plus people like to watch shows with people that match current beauty standards. I also sort of doubt medieval men looked ripped like they were in a gym all day. They were probably more muscly like farmers or mine workers are — no with a six pack.

I also think shows totally underplay how awful it was to be a woman. My guess is that almost every woman back then got raped. Marital rape was common and expected but also super common for conquering armies to rape any woman or girl they found, or for rich men to rape poorer girls. I would guess we are all descended from rapists at some point in our ancestral tree. People complained about the violence in shows like GOT but a lot of it was taken from actual medieval history (like the red wedding) and I think if anything it probably underplayed the violence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think actresses generally don’t want to look unattractive and those medieval looks were super unattractive including plucking eyebrows. Not many actresses want to do that. Plus people like to watch shows with people that match current beauty standards. I also sort of doubt medieval men looked ripped like they were in a gym all day. They were probably more muscly like farmers or mine workers are — no with a six pack.

I also think shows totally underplay how awful it was to be a woman. My guess is that almost every woman back then got raped. Marital rape was common and expected but also super common for conquering armies to rape any woman or girl they found, or for rich men to rape poorer girls. I would guess we are all descended from rapists at some point in our ancestral tree. People complained about the violence in shows like GOT but a lot of it was taken from actual medieval history (like the red wedding) and I think if anything it probably underplayed the violence.

You may be right about the vanity of the actresses (or the presumption of designers about what actresses want). Like I said, I understand that producers want to appeal modern audiences tastes. I just find it curious that even in the most realistic/accurate shows, the hair of European women seems to be taboo. Covering hair and veiling Muslim women in film/tv doesn’t seem to be an issue. Maybe because many still adhere to this kind of dress today?

[Anonymous]

Audiences often use differences in hair color or style to distinguish one character from another. If all the females are covering their hair, it’s much more difficult to make those distinctions.

[Anonymous]

i didnt even realize that movie had any women in it?

[Anonymous]

I just looked at a bunch of medieval illustrations.

Some hoods and wimples show hair framing the face.

Also Google AI commented that see-through veiling over braids counted as hair covering. A lot of the medieval and Tudor styles I think of do show enough hair that you can tell the person's hair color.