Julia Quinn, author of
over 40 historical romance novels including the recently released Netflix
adaptation of Bridgerton, spoke at a Fordham-run zoom discussion on
March 24. This event was attended by over 100 students and faculty, proving to
be a big hit. As an Art History undergraduate herself, Quinn’s zoom was
advertised to Fordham Art History majors, as well as English and Creative
Writing students. Unsurprisingly, the participants were mostly girls, which is
probably indicative of the fanbase of the Netflix adaptation as well. The
format was a Q and A, where pre-selected questions were asked by student volunteers.
These questions ranged from topics such as book to show adaptation, writing
process and inspiration, to hopes for spoilers for the second season. Quinn
talked at length about the adaptation process, how working with a huge company
like Netflix changed things for her. While the Netflix show is based on her
books, Quinn gave up creative control over the series and was happy to let
producer Shonda Rhimes take control. Quinn praised the writing team for
expanding the books into a larger overall story, as well as bringing different
perspectives to the story. Quinn said that she is only one person, and only has
one experience, whereas a team of writers with different backgrounds can add so
much for different types of viewers as well.
While the books in the Bridgerton series were
wildly successful in their own right, the series was hugely successful. It was
renewed for a second season in January 2021 after being released on December 25th,
2020. It also became the most watched series on Netflix with viewership of 82
million households. I have to believe that this is at least in part due to the
Covid-19 pandemic. With the majority of people still self-quarantining and spending
a substantial amount of time at home, its no wonder people are excited about a
new show to binge. The whole world seemed to be calibrated to Netflix’s 2020
releases, which included most-watched shows such as The Queen’s Gambit, Outer
Banks, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, Emily in Paris,
and more. While those shows were slightly more mainstream than a regency-era
drama, they all have one thing in common: no pandemic. Viewers were able to
escape the reality of the world and instead focus on more exciting things. It
took them out of their day-to-day routine and almost made them forget the state
of the world.
This
experience is similar to watching an immersive movie such as Apocalypse Now.
Directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, this 1979 war film worked off of
Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, and notably changed the setting
to the Vietnam war. This film is intriguing, graphic, sad, thought-provoking,
and intense. I can’t say that I enjoyed watching this film, but it did make me
forget all about myself for almost three hours. Conrad’s novel, Heart of
Darkness is likewise pretty intense, but its format as a book is often less
emotionally engaging than a movie. Coppola’s version really makes you feel
uneasy and almost tired, mirroring the emotions of the main character Captain
Willard on his mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz. In speaking about the
romance genre in general, Quinn said how important emotion and making people
feel something are essential. I think shows like Bridgerton are so
successful during this weird period because they take you out of your life and
put you somewhere else, somewhere the coronavirus does not exist. Apocalypse
Now was able to do the same thing because of how different and intense it
is. These examples let you live vicariously through characters and experience
their emotions, all while staying at home.
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