The Gilded Age
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Anonymous
The Grand Hotel perchance? |
Anonymous
What I find interesting is what the producers didn't get right. The NYC mansions would have been much bigger and extravagant. Agnes' house is closer to an UMC brownstone (and not a good attempt at a brownstone) than the actual brownstone Caroline Astor had with the famous ballroom, and that was before she built her even bigger house. I mean, it's mostly computer generated now so might as well get it right! I thought, as did quite a few others, that Fellowes really missed the mark with Martha Levinson in Downton Abbey and his lack of true insight into the Americans comes through too often. Costumes, however, are excellent. And as for formality, changing for dinner was standard expectation for the British upper classes and the gilded age Americans were keenly aping the British upper classes. A wealthy woman would easily spend more money on her clothing allowance every year than in her lady's maid wages. We're talking about spending the modern equivalent of hundreds of thousands in couture clothing annually. And it does happen today among the very rich. Add to it that expectations were decidedly more formal across all of society. Even middle class men wore ties every day rain or shine. At work or at home, even when working in the garden. A clothing historian explained to me that men felt naked if they didn't have a jacket on. To go out in public or even your family with just a shirt and no jacket and tie was akin to parading around in underwear today. That's why all these old photos of city streets circa 1900 show everyone fully dressed up, men and women. |
Anonymous
I think you are missing the forrest for the trees. Agnes isn't based on Caroline Astor, and the whole point of that house is to show the difference between this old money family who are comfortable but don't hold a candle to the new money Russells across the street. The contrast between Agnes's house and the Russel house is a literal plot point, which is why Agnes's house is a more normal brownstone. Agnes and her family are an invented family, as are the Russells, and the point is to show the contrast between the two and exploit the drama and humor that results. This is the literal point of the show and choices about sets and costumes are made in part to tell that story, not to provide a documentary-quality account of real people. These were not real people. Caroline Astor, however, is an actual character on the show (played by Donna Murphy) and the scenes filmed in the Astor house (and their Newport home) show it to be much bigger and grander than Agnes's home (and the Astors are shown to be much higher ranked than the Van Rhynes -- before Mrs. Russell muscles her way in, Mrs. Astor is the unassailable queen of society on the show, mimicking how the Vanderbilts and other robber baron families wound up edging out the Astors and other old money families during this time). The costume designer and set designers for the show have done interviews talking about how while they extensively researched the time period and many sets, costumes, and props on the show are direct replicas of the real thing, they also had to make choices to reflect that this is a television show meant to be entertaining, and recognizing that if they honestly reproduced everything, some of it would feel so weird or distracting to modern audiences that it wouldn't work in terms of story. For instance they talked about how Gladys's wedding, clearly based on Consuelo Vanderbilt's, in some ways exactly recreates the real thing (they found a church in upstate New York designed by the same architect as the NYC church where Consuelo married, which has since burned down, so that it would look and feel as much like Consuelo's wedding as possible) but they made certain editorial choices to better serve the story. For instance, the floral displays at Consuelo's wedding were even bigger and more grande than at Gladys's but also included a lot of plants and flowers that would look bizarre to modern eyes because one of the trends at the time was to showcase wealth by incorporating lots of tropical flowers and trees into displays, because only the very wealthy could do things like import full size mature palm trees to a church for a wedding. They did some of that but toned it down so it wouldn't be too distracting on screen. The set designer has also talked about how IRL, these houses would be far more filled with art. Like wall to wall of priceless and famous art pieces, especially in the Russells house. But it's not real life and they have to actually film scenes in these rooms, with people saying words that the show would like viewers to pay attention to. So they made the creative choice to tone it down and convey opulence and wealth in other ways because it better serves the story. I'm not even a huge Julian Fellowes fan here. I watched two season of Downton Abbey and then got bored. And the Gilded Age has been really uneven in its writing and is sometimes actively bad. But as a fan of historical dramas who loves how professionals bring something like the gilded age to life on screen, I really respect and appreciate what these very skilled and educated craftspeople have done here. Writing it off as "AI generated" or getting hung up on small changes they made specifically to better serve the story is just arrogant. I guarantee there is no way the PP complaining about this could do a better job or even know the first place to start in trying to recreate gilded age NYC/Newport the way they have on this show. They've done an extraordinary job. I have nothing but admiration. |
Anonymous
| Jordan Donica (aka Dr. Kirkland) is going to be in Damn Yankees at the Arena Stage. His Lancelot was excellent, so it should be a treat. |
Anonymous
I noticed her wonky teeth/mouth when she was on Sex and the City. I've always wondered why she never fixed her teeth, she can certainly afford it. Maybe it's because she doesn't want to change her appearance in any way because it is so tied to her look/brand/career (see Jennifer Grey's nose job). |
Anonymous
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11:52, please stop writing these massively long posts. Many of us disagree with your take on this show and are going to state as much.
The Gilded Age doesn't hold a candle to Downton Abbey as far as style, sets, dialogue - everything. |
Anonymous
| 11:52 -- I like your posts. Other people can move along and skip if they don't want to read a few paragraphs. |
Anonymous
Is Mrs Astor in the house? Who are you to censor what they write? What a ridiculous statement to make. |