Now is the Time to Rethink our ‘Glorious’ Past

After a recent spate of lavish historical dramas, it seems the public is lapping up the good old days. Delphie Bond and Alex Bray argue that our romanticised relationship with bygone eras hides a darker truth.

Image Credit: PBS

From The Crown to Downtown Abbey, we appear to be looking for a dreamy, nostalgic view of the past for our on-screen down time. This would all be well and good if our idyllic ideas of yesteryear were as dramas such as ‘Victoria’ suggest. Instead, sumptuous period pieces invite a nostalgia, or even a mourning for a world that never was. With the rise of nationalism tinged with far right ideology in the UK at present, surely we need to educate ourselves on what really happened under our glorious empire? It may not appease a Sunday night audience, but surely the dark side of colonial rule, the invisible victims that the empire was built upon, finally need some recognition?

Britain has many things to take pride in, but colonialism is not one of them. It is time we stop thinking about imperialism as an economic mission, and start seeing it as a dark light which drained colonies of their resources, culture and livelihood. It is hard to imagine Jenna Coleman (the title character of ITV’s Victoria) as the monarch behind The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre where British soldiers killed over 1,000 indigenous civilians or the Indian famines. Arguably, television has a duty to debunk our Sunday night fantasies because our country is still rife with inequalities and prejudices that the Empire was built on.

However, perhaps it isn‘t just on screen where our morally bankrupt history has been glossed over with ideals of jewels and crowns; maybe it is closer to home. On Woodhouse Moor in Hyde Park Leeds, Queen Victoria reigns over the park in all her colonial grandeur. The monument, made of bronze and stone and boasting several symbols of the former British empire, is said to celebrate a time in which Britain was quite literally on top of the world, having colonised a quarter of the entire surface of the globe. In actuality, the statue neglects to inform us of the ex-colonised people who were abused by the British government, and who laid the foundations for, and continued to be the facilitators of, the success of the British empire - similar to how period dramas simply overlook any bloodshed.

This whitewashing of Britain’s imperial past, and Britain’s failure to accept responsibility for violence caused by its hawkish and neglectful foreign policy as shown through statues such as this one, has led to calls for the demolition of such monuments. The counter argument to this is strong - if we demolish them are we then completely destroying memory? I’d say no, we are not. And I’d say, let’s not demolish, instead educate our society on the atrocities Queen Victoria ruled over. We should look at the statue of Queen Victoria as a way of confronting our brutal imperial past and look at period dramas to expose the myths that our society is founded upon.

In our world, where Windrush immigrants are being sent back to ‘homes’ they have never been too, and legitimate political parties are campaigning for a ‘white Britain again’, it signals that we urgently need to face our history more head on. Sumptuous costume dramas are perhaps not the space for the brutal awakening that we need, and perhaps the demolition of Queen Victoria is not the answer. However, surely there are enough soporific Sunday night dramas that we could cut just one and learn about what really happened under Queen Victoria’s rule and what is happening today. And perhaps, just teach what really happened? Delphie Bond & Alex Bray

Unbelievable: An All Too Real Depiction of Failed Justice

Image Credit: Netflix

‘Unbelievable’ is a critically acclaimed drama series that portrays a true story of the system failing women. The gritty scenescape, understated acting and methodical pacing give the series a documentary feel. This is fitting as the drama is based on the true story of Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever), a young woman who was incorrectly charged for false rape reporting, and the series of rapes that followed. Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) and Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) join forces as equally vigilant detectives from separate departments. They meet only by chance: a meeting that is the crucial catalyst in solving the crimes.

Duvall and Rasmussen are only introduced in the second episode of the series. The first episode focuses on 18 year old Marie, who has been raped in her new apartment after leaving the foster care system. The bleak colours of the scenes don’t exactly make for spectacular cinematography but do add to the harrowing content of the series. Marie quickly undergoes invasive medical tests that are administered in a cold and clinical environment. She repeatedly recants her story but the detectives find inconsistencies within her tellings. Along with the clean crime scene and doubts expressed by Marie’s former foster mother, this leads the detectives to assume she is lying so they pressure her into telling the ‘truth’. In the interrogation the camera stifles Marie in close ups of her face and trembling knees. There is a clunky transition between Marie’s story and the perspectives of the female officers years later, however the contrast between their approaches as detectives and that of Marie’s detective are apparent from the outset. Duvall is patient and empathetic when speaking to Amber, another one of the rapist’s victims, and, as a result, Amber is cooperative and open in her recanting of the assault. Wever’s understated acting means a glance or a sigh becomes immediately weighted.

Collette once more proves her versatility as an actor; donned in a leather jacket, she plays an experienced detective who Duvall has idolised from afar. Together, they are vigilant to the point of being unhealthily obsessed with the case, meaning their other obligations and relationships fall to the wayside.

The series does not need to rely on cliff hangers or other dramatic effects that are often abundant in crime dramas; instead, It unfolds in a methodical manner that works surprisingly well. Initially, it seems that the series might be a mystery regarding whether Marie has told the truth but it becomes evident through flashbacks of the rape that she is being entirely honest. It depicts how by mistakenly charging Marie with false rape reporting they allowed a rapist to rape other women, with this unfortunately occuring in the real life story also. The detectives who charge Marie are not painted as unjust characters and at times it is easy for the viewer to see why they would believe Marie is lying. Rather, the blame is on the system’s propensity to victim blaming and skepticism towards believing women. This is particularly evident in the scene where Marie’s former foster mother states that Marie’s history of being abused “makes for a very complicated young woman” with the implication being that this is partly why she has doubts about Marie’s statement.

Ultimately, the series highlights the need for detectives to deal sensitively with rape victims and understand the nuances of their experiences.

Anya Loudon