There
is something to be said about the American anglophile and the perpetual
fascination about our former colonial lords. Recall that America only exists
because of its desire to cleave away from Britain to form its own distinct
national identity, yet we never stopped admiring our forebears from across the
pond and surely that irony isn’t lost on anyone. Why are Americans so
enthralled by British culture? The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Harry Potter,
James Bond, Monty Python, Gordon Ramsay, Simon Cowell, The Great British Baking
Show, The Office, and the list just goes on. Maybe it’s the accent. Whatever
the cause, it appears The Crown and
it’s portrayals of the British Royal family has also captured the attention of
Americans.
The
Crown is another series that seeks to dramatize the Windsors while serving
as pseudo-history for those of us who might not otherwise crack open a book on
20th century British history. Of course it shows us the scandals and the
familiar scenes that have been depicted over and over again like the Royal
Wedding, the Royal Coronation, the Kennedy meeting, and others. However The Crown has been able to accomplish an
incredible feat that was attempted with The
King’s Speech and The Queen.
Netflix has managed to make Queen Elizabeth not just a sympathetic character,
but more importantly a relatable character. You may say to yourself “what could
possibly be familiar about some incredibly wealthy European monarch?” Well
first there’s the obvious, Queen Elizabeth is familiar because she’s been with
us so long. Her majesty has been in the public eye since at least 1936 when her
father became King, and she’s been the reigning monarch since 1952 (a full year
before Elvis recorded his first demo at Star Studios). But outside of how
ubiquitous she is in movies, television, history, music, print, and currency,
there is something familiar about the struggle of a woman living under immense
pressure balancing a personal life and a professional life in an arena
dominated by men.
The
Queen is like a lot of working women, despite her obvious aristocratic status.
She has a significant other who expects too much, a job that demands all of her
free time, and she’s still expected to look and act like a lady. Now it’s
possible that we’ve always been a little too critical of Queen Elizabeth, not
understanding the pressures that young women face generally speaking that is
only exacerbated when they’re under the media microscope. How many times have
the tabloids commented on her makeup, her weight, the way she speaks, and
cataloged every gaffe or misstep? Maybe we’ve always owed her our sympathy.
Conversely, maybe Netflix has just done a damn good job of minimizing the
struggles of ordinary folk (like those who died in the Great Fog) and
dramatizing whether her Majesty wants to wear gold or platinum. The Queen had a
hard day? So did the teachers who were grossly underpaid during Conservative
and Labour governments. More importantly, the people living under oppressive
colonial rule in Africa had much harder lives than her Majesty who languished
over how her son would do in one of the best private schools in the country.
Are we meant to weep for her Majesty because the Crown has tremendous
production value?
Regardless of whether her Majesty
should be a sympathetic character, I can’t help but feel for her. The Queen
reminds me of so many other women I know, who are just doing their best. Yes,
some people have harder lives and sometimes it’s indirectly because of her
Majesty’s actions but here’s there’s something that’s worth considering. When
we observe the world and character’s through this arbitrary “whataboutism”
where no one’s struggles mean anything because someone else has it worse, then
nothing means anything and that is less than ideal. The Queen lives a different
life than the viewer, she owns castles and hosts balls. It is a life of luxury
and that’s indisputable, but does an excess of luxury make up for a deficit in
education or love? I should say not.
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