f13.net

New on Showtime.

Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia / Pope Alexander VI

I'm hoping this is better than that sad excuse for Catholic propaganda that was The Tudors.

lol?

:uhrr:

Don't tell me ya'll didn't pick up on that.

Nope. I mean, the king DID split from the church, And to be honest, those in the church were some of the most Despicable people in the series.

I'm with BW; the people in the church were all assholes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRjWDW3JSg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

I dunno, did you all watch the same series I did? Granted, I have not finished it yet, I'm only up to Jane Seymore, so it may have changed since then, but the characterization of the reformation, the saintliness of Catherine of Aragon, the rural Yorkshire peasantry so upset by the assault on the monasteries, etc, seemed very one-sided to me. Its also about how Henry is portrayed as an idiot throughout. The scheming evil is of course Thomas Cromwell, working behind the scenes. This all may be technically accurate in the factual events, but the characterization seems rather facile to me. It portrays the establishment of the Church of England as an entirely selfish act on the part of Henry, rather than a significant problem with the conduct of the Catholic Church. Sure, the show does have a few 'bad' Catholics here and there, especially at the top, but for the most part, the portrayal of 'true' Catholics, such as Thomas More and Catherine of Aragon seems a bit of a fairytale for current Irish Catholics. It just doesn't have the ring of truth to it for me.

Err.. wasn't the formation of the Church of England, in fact, an entirely selfish act by Henry?

"I want a divorce"  "No." "Fuck you, here's the Church of England."

That's pretty much how it's been presented to me in all my non-Catholic upbringing.

Allow me to quote myself.

The English schism of Henry VIII is not the same as the English Reformation of Edward VI.  The series was actually rather impressive in not confusing the two, and doing a pretty good job of illustrating the factions and tensions among the reformers and the establishmentarians (for lack of a better word) in Henry's court.

I was too busy writing my essay on the inherent anti-semitism of the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale.  A crafty gnomish figure that "spins straw into gold" in order to steal a woman's firstborn, who would be king?

It's an obvious metaphor for the Jewish banking families behind the scenes manipulation of the European monarchies through finance and banking ("spinning straw into gold") during the 19th century.