Tuesday, November 09, 2004

What do Tony Soprano and Henry VIII have in common?

They're both macho, really nuts, enjoy a good meal and have way too many women hanging around.

I've been Tivoing Masterpiece Theatre's Henry VIII partially for Keidra and admittedly for me. She's converted me over to the Sean Bean side (but he's still not as cute as David Wenham. I still think between Australia and England, Australian men win -- but that's a fight for another day) and he's in the series, so I had to watch.

Anyways -- now that I've alienated most of the men...

It's a damn fine piece of work. Ray Winstone is a marvel as Henry VIII. Instead of this historical figure that's remote and distant, it's kind of neat seeing something like that being brought to life. This Henry is fucked-up in the head -- regret, sadness and a deep-seated pressure to have a boy is constantly hounding him. It's an impressive piece of work and a lot of fun to watch.

Admittedly tho, the first thing I thought of when I saw the first part of the series is that Henry reminds me of Tony Soprano.

Both men have huge appetites for women, needs for love, have self-destructive streaks that were borne out of their parents and are surrounded by people that aren't exactly giving them the best advice out there. Very strange to realize that. Or as I told Christy, "I'm off to watch Tony Soprano in the medieval times."

Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Anne Boleyn reminded me of well, one of Tony's crazy mistress (whose name escapes me). Originally she captures Henry's attention because she's lively, well-spoken, intelligent and also fiery -- which to me, describes some of Tony's more well known mistresses.

Katherine of Aragorn could easily have been Carmela -- willing to put up with anything and kind of loving to her husband.

In the end (and admittedly, I'm forecasting with the Sopranos), their appetites got the best of them. While Henry did die of natural causes (undoubtedly stress and a rich diet contributed to it), Tony's probably going to meet his end with a bullet or something more gruesome.

Wow. Who would've thought British royalty was like the mob?

3 comments:

Amanda said...

Was it Gloria that reminded you of Anne Boylen? The one that threw the steak at Tony?

And how big of a deal did they make of Anne's sixth finger? This is the kind of random shit I want to know.

Viv said...

Gloria totally reminded me of Boleyn. I think it's because both women had enough fire to jab at people that technically they shouldn't have.

They really didn't talk about Anne's sixth finger, but they tossed around accusations that she slept with her brother.

K. said...

I remember reading something about this production of Henry VII that said the mob allusions are intentional. Ray Winstone can play a damn good thug, so I am not surprised he was cast. I can't wait to see this!

And David Wenham may cuter than The Bean, but cuteness is not what Sean is about. He's about Teh Sexy... ;)