Today’s newsletter is niche and slightly different than my normal fare. Below are my reflections of Borgen Seasons 1-4. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been watching Borgen for the past few months and become somewhat obsessed with it. For those that don’t know,
What ever happened to old fashioned movie reviews, looking at a film for its cultural, moral and political pespectives?
I gues they died with Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert.
I came to my OC addiction with watching Borgen through reading last quarter's Claremont Review of Books.
Borgen is the tragedy of Lady Macbeth without King Macbeth's blody bodies and weak-kneedness. It's Faust's bargain without the Devil. It's soap operaific like West Wing, but without its venality and grand illusions of importance. It's Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, the incomparably talented woman who achieves her life's dream but ends up sleeping alone and waking up with her job. It's the biography of the liberated modern American female.
You are right about thinking too much about Borgen. On reflection, but not at the time of my Borgen binge, I now see it as dramatically shallow, devoid of compelling dialogue and human insight, and not nearly as enthralling, well written or well acted as excellent political fiction which has made its way into film, like, say, All the Kings Men, Advise and Consent, A Man for all Seasons or even, on a lesser scale, Being There or the Seduction of Joe Tynan, and most recently, Hilary Mantel's incomparable Wolf Hall.
Yet, as I say, I became OC addicted to Borgen, even while I disdained its Scandanvian-left politics, scorned its love of the welfare state (as a moral/political achievment!), disliked all of its leading characters and most of its secondary roles, mustered grudging affection for only two of its myriad characters, appreciated the accuracy of its portrayal of the jackals of the press, marvelled at how such Danes would never be media talking heads in the US (because, while sufficiently vacuous, they are not at all beautiful to look at,) and was fascinated by Borgen's enlightening inside view of a parliamentary system of government.
For me Borgen was an enigma. Glad I watched it but wish I had not.
Wonderful comment. Yes, I think you're right that it leaves so much to be desired - now that I've finished writing about it, I can move on :)
To your point about old fashion reviews, it was interesting writing this piece since I think TV is much harder to review than film - the sheer length and volume of content makes it hard to parse and think through coherently without getting lost in plot points. I have a much easier time analyzing a book or a movie. There's also something about the cliff-hanger nature of episodic TV which hijacks the mind. Like fried food and sweets, you end up consuming much more without the lasting satisfaction...
Your comment is a good reminder to go get some heartier foods.
I hope you review the TV series Lonesome Dove to address some of your points about TV vs film reviews. It may be easier to review excellent TV series based on excellent novels, such as LD and Wolf Hall, because reading a good novel eliminates the "comfort foods" quality of TV screen-writing. So little of fine serilaized TV comes from fine fiction (I Claudius, All Creatures Great and Small, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy; Smiley's People, and Parade's End also come to mind,) that it's hard to know if my speculation has merit.
Ausgezeichnet!
What ever happened to old fashioned movie reviews, looking at a film for its cultural, moral and political pespectives?
I gues they died with Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert.
I came to my OC addiction with watching Borgen through reading last quarter's Claremont Review of Books.
Borgen is the tragedy of Lady Macbeth without King Macbeth's blody bodies and weak-kneedness. It's Faust's bargain without the Devil. It's soap operaific like West Wing, but without its venality and grand illusions of importance. It's Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, the incomparably talented woman who achieves her life's dream but ends up sleeping alone and waking up with her job. It's the biography of the liberated modern American female.
You are right about thinking too much about Borgen. On reflection, but not at the time of my Borgen binge, I now see it as dramatically shallow, devoid of compelling dialogue and human insight, and not nearly as enthralling, well written or well acted as excellent political fiction which has made its way into film, like, say, All the Kings Men, Advise and Consent, A Man for all Seasons or even, on a lesser scale, Being There or the Seduction of Joe Tynan, and most recently, Hilary Mantel's incomparable Wolf Hall.
Yet, as I say, I became OC addicted to Borgen, even while I disdained its Scandanvian-left politics, scorned its love of the welfare state (as a moral/political achievment!), disliked all of its leading characters and most of its secondary roles, mustered grudging affection for only two of its myriad characters, appreciated the accuracy of its portrayal of the jackals of the press, marvelled at how such Danes would never be media talking heads in the US (because, while sufficiently vacuous, they are not at all beautiful to look at,) and was fascinated by Borgen's enlightening inside view of a parliamentary system of government.
For me Borgen was an enigma. Glad I watched it but wish I had not.
Wonderful comment. Yes, I think you're right that it leaves so much to be desired - now that I've finished writing about it, I can move on :)
To your point about old fashion reviews, it was interesting writing this piece since I think TV is much harder to review than film - the sheer length and volume of content makes it hard to parse and think through coherently without getting lost in plot points. I have a much easier time analyzing a book or a movie. There's also something about the cliff-hanger nature of episodic TV which hijacks the mind. Like fried food and sweets, you end up consuming much more without the lasting satisfaction...
Your comment is a good reminder to go get some heartier foods.
I hope you review the TV series Lonesome Dove to address some of your points about TV vs film reviews. It may be easier to review excellent TV series based on excellent novels, such as LD and Wolf Hall, because reading a good novel eliminates the "comfort foods" quality of TV screen-writing. So little of fine serilaized TV comes from fine fiction (I Claudius, All Creatures Great and Small, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy; Smiley's People, and Parade's End also come to mind,) that it's hard to know if my speculation has merit.
I am new to your Substack. Your fine Borgen review was my 1st reading. I will read along, for sure.