The Botanical Garden Diaries: October 2022

It's Halloween! The streets flood with children in bright costumes pleading for candy at someone's doorstep, some adults dress in scary costumes to jumpscare trick-or-treaters, and today is an invitation to spooky phenomenons. Luckily, I won't be talking about any of that because I'll be researching the sub-genre of Period Dramas to lighten the mood.

The definition of drama is referred to as "an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances." It's the kind of genre that can keep you watching on your toes because they're heavily plot-driven and the narrative world seems to almost immerse you into it. This feeling is at its maximum strength in the sub-genre of Period/Historical Dramas. With a relatable or likable main character personality and a narrative world in an era we've never personally experienced, these kinds of dramas are bound to keep you on your comfy couch binge-watching for hours in hopes that the main character prevails. Writers say that perhaps America's love for these period dramas is rooted in nostalgia for our past and wanting to romanticize history. These films are most often released during the winter or summer season when there's a warm feeling that "love is in the air". What's more, is that these productions are inherently expensive to generate, so what's the big idea?

Content:

Romance is the most commonplace characteristic of any period drama. When an audience watches a period drama, it's usually because there's a particular relationship between two characters that they want to see unravel. Truly brilliant romance in period dramas will make you travel through a rollercoaster of emotions -- you're happy for the character, but then you're angry with one of the characters for not making a move, and that leads to a feeling of sadness because one of the characters starts to lose interest, but eventually, fate reunites them. This constant theme of romance throughout most period drama acts as a driving factor for the plot. Furthermore, the protagonist is usually at odds with their love interest which is more informally called the "enemies to lovers" trope. This specific trope is seen in several period dramas because it is the kind of romance that keeps you on edge and it's completely unpredictable at first. However, most relationships in period dramas continue to be a heterosexual portrayal of a romantic relationship; a woman seeking marriage from a man of wealth. The concept of a woman being the one to need money from her significant other was a misogynistic outlook on a women's role in a relationship in the early 19th-20th century. Most often than not, period dramas make the female lead subvert this power-hungry desire in a romantic relationship.

EX: Anne displaying disdain for the wealthy man in the Netflix adaption "Persuasion" of Jane Austen's novel.

Within any romantic relationship, any sign of sexuality is often repressed in the narrative world of period dramas. Considering that most of these films and series take place anywhere from the 18th century to the 20th century, women were strongly advised to wear modest gowns and outfits that covered their feminine body features: the chest area, shoulders, sometimes the neck, and legs. Today, we celebrate these feminine parts of ourselves and society encourages us to actually show them off more overtly than it was 200 years ago. Moreover, women were not allowed to be in a room alone with an unmarried/married man because it would force the man to marry the woman since it was a "sin" on religious and social grounds. The stereotypical romantic relationship in period dramas, where the women could only engage in sexual activities once married, usually prevented filmmakers from displaying these graphic moments as well. A great deal of this romantic aspects of relationships used to be left up to the viewer to imagine. Shortly after the LGBTQ movements in the 60s and acceptance of it around the 80s, period dramas began incorporating subtly graphic scenes to adhere to the newfound thrill of sexuality/sexual identity.

EX: The lovers in Atonement share their first kiss in the library alone.

Most of these character relationships, not just romantic ones, are usually represented in an escapist English society standard. The majority, if not all, of period dramas, manage to create their storyline surrounding an aristocracy, royal family, or wealthy British landowners. Thus, the theme of rich families organizing marriages and forcing certain mannerisms on their children comes from the fact that it's a "fairytale" representation of how women were expected to act in an aristocratic or high social class society. Female leads were meant to be these figures of grace, innocence, and sexual desire in the context of a male gaze and usually became stay-at-home mothers that raised the children. Male leads had to live up to the standard of being rich, finding a woman to have a family with, using children as "heirs" to wealth, and suppressing their emotions in order to be more desirable to women. Together, both leads would create an ideal image of a "perfect" family in a high social class society where the members of the family were physically attractive and had the means to become respected members of society.

EX: (Top) A male supporting lead from the series Harlots & (bottom) the female lead in the movie Sanditon.

Production Techniques:

Meticulous costume design is the most visible pattern within Period Dramas and is carefully crafted to capture the ambiance of a particular time period. Every detail in a costume from the large puffy skirts in a dress to the top hats men wear while promenading is built to attract the viewer's attention to the fashion of that time period and sometimes, can reflect a character's personality. This costume design tends to attract female audiences not only because of the narrative content but by the costume's bold appearance.

EX: The Marie Antoinette film portrays the former Queen of France in a completely gold costume with a wide dress skirt, which indicates her position of prestige, power, and affluence.

Classical or dramatic music is necessary to enhance the storytelling in period dramas. Almost every scene has a layer of dramatic or triumphant music in order to match the emotions of the situation at hand. If you watched a scene in a period drama that is particularly upsetting, relieving, or uplifting, good sound design will always amplify the desire to laugh, cry, or let out a sigh of relief. Especially a character that the writers have intentionally made the audience feel attached to. The protagonist of these period dramas is usually at odds with the emotion conveyed through the music or reflects an accomplishment accompanied by music. The most heart-wrenching and memorable scenes are usually the sad ones because as humans, we're conditioned to pay attention to the negative emotions and experiences we have.

EX: One of the main characters of Downtown Abbey dies in a car crash with loud crescendos of a melodramatic violin orchestra in the background.

Marketing:

The target audience of these period dramas varies from 16-50-year-old individuals. More typically, women are more targeted by this genre. The young adult and teenage viewers become attached to this unpredictable theme of romance because it's spontaneous and the plot throws a lot of new twists and characters at them, which develop a sense of thrill and curiosity to keep watching. Albeit that period dramas can be enjoyed equally by males and females, or people in general, this genre more obviously targets women. Classy costume design, melodramatic plot twists, romance, and feminity are more within the realm of female interests.

Numerous period drama posters suggest a romantic connection between people or reinforce attention on a female lead. A common pattern between period drama posters is pastel colors, high key lighting, soft lighting, a female lead standing alongside a male character, which suggests a potential love interest, and nature as a foreground element. Though, some posters may only have one character within them to introduce a main character's warm or bold personality and outstanding fashion sense. The faces of these characters are always lit well to draw attention to hairstyles pertaining to that period which could also suggest a character is extroverted based on how large or tall the hair is. When the posters incorporate more than just a female and male character, it's to illustrate a familial connection between two leads. The placement of characters could also imply the significance of their role or how they see the main character. A male character is usually placed behind a female lead to indicate the sense of longing for a relationship with that character.

Samples:

The film "Emma" (2020) is an adaption from the Jane Austen novel "Emma" that takes place in a country village, Highbury, during the England Regency era. Emma Woodhouse prefers to be a spectator in a romantic setting and occupies her time by becoming a matchmaker for those around her. She's an elegant and wealthy young woman who entertains herself with her frivolous antics of meddling in the romantic lives of people closest to her. Emma lives with her father and is visited frequently by a landowner, Mr. Knightley, who is the brother of her sister's husband. She finds a way to make new friends after her best friend, Miss Taylor, gets married and becomes Mrs. Weston. She starts setting up Harriet Smith with a local tenant farmer of Mr. Knightley, Mr. Robert Martin. Although she says she won't interfere with the relationship further, she proceeds to manipulate Harriet into declining his marriage proposal because she believes there's a more qualified suitor: Mr. Elton, the local vicar. During Christmas time, she leaves dinner with the Westons early and finds herself alone in a carriage with Mr. Elton, who declares his love for her but she rejects him. He then disappears for six weeks as two new residents of Highbury appear: Jane Fairfax and the niece of Miss Bates, Frank Churchill. She unexpectedly becomes infatuated with Frank Churchill and Emma soon experiences jealousy over the attention Jane is receiving from the town. Frank's arrival prompts the Weston family to hold a ball where she dances with Mr. Knightley, which awakens another set of romantic feelings. This new collection of emotions is enhanced by the bold costume colors Emma begins to wear more often, the melodramatic music and pastel blue walls of the hallway as Emma discovers Frank is engaged with Jane, and soft triumphant music as Mr. Knightley confesses her feelings to her and they kiss.

The first season of "Bridgerton" (2020) takes place in England's regency era as well where aristocratic families dominate the social standing of society, primarily the Bridgerton family. The story follows the female lead, Daphne Bridgerton, the eldest daughter of the family, which means marriage is the end goal for her and her family. She quickly makes her debut in London's competitive marriage market where every young girl is dressed in white elegant dresses, with a flair of gold detailing to amplify their social class. Daphne is a quick-witted, self-confident, and kind-hearted woman who hopes to follow in her mother's shadow of marrying for true love rather than money. Her older brother begins to strike down several suitors for her and she doesn't object until she accidentally bumps into the Duke of Hastings while running away from one of her creepy suitors. She attempts to fake a conversation with him to deter the suitor from following her and the Duke replies annoyingly at the fact she doesn't know his name. She later discovers he's her older brother's best friend from university and a friendship begins to blossom when they agree to fake their courtship to acquire attractive suitors for Daphne and push the excess amount of women away from the Duke. As the story follows the development of their relationship the entire series defies the tradition of using classical music during certain scenes and transforming modern pop songs into classical songs. These include "bad guy" by Billie Eilish, "Wildest Dreams" by Taylor Swift, "thank u, next" by Ariana Grande, and other ubiquitous pop songs. As a matter of a fact, they defied one more convention by displaying a graphic sexual scene completely without avoiding the visibility of breasts or other genitals. Daphne's costume colors consisted of a great deal of light blues and whites to illustrate her innocence and purity before engaging in sexual activities and embracing adulthood. After she gets married, she begins wearing more pinks and purples to symbolize her marriage to her love interest, but the tones of the colors become muted when there's a conflict in her relationship.

My Period Drama Recommendations:

Pride & Prejudice (2005)