Sunday, July 13, 2014

Sunday Story - A Place to Call Home

I've been watching a TV show called, A Place To Call Home, which has been on in Australia. It's an Aussie period drama, set just after WWII. It has a great cast and some fabulous characters. It's dealing with some topical issues like homosexuality, adoption, acceptance, inter-racial marriages, rich vs poor hierarchy, and the changing guard from the old matriarchal days to the new order of each for themselves. I've enjoyed each episode and the developing themes.

And then it got the chop.

Which was a shock to me because I thought it had been doing okay. But apparently it hadn't - or the viewers were the older age group and not the demographic they wanted. It's been sketchy as to why it got canned.

And then on Sunday night, watching the second last episode, I had a conspiracy moment thought. The story line is very much based on independent, free-thinking women and their struggles. Much has been said in romance social media worlds lately about romance being pushed to the outer because it deals with women's issues, not the traditional kind of literary theme of male or universal issues (although, arguably, love is universal!). So maybe I'm being coloured by this discussion but it was a thought.

Mrs Bligh - is the matriarch. She's so strong and willful, and used to getting her way...but the world is changing and it's not so easy for her to manipulate any longer. Even the power of the rich dynasties is being lost to this new world.

Sarah Adams - is the nurse who discovers too many Bligh family secrets. She's been held in Europe in a concentration camp and has seen and survived worse things than any of these people can imagine.

Anna Bligh - is the grand daughter who rebels in so many ways. She falls in love with an Italian, Catholic, of a poor family. His mother is a servant of the Blighs! And she thinks she can marry him? Mrs Bligh does everything to stop this happening.

Carolyn Bligh - she's Anna's aunt, but really her mother. As an unwed mother, she gave the child to her brother and his wife to raise, but the secret is revealed to some.

Regina - she's the sister of the dead Mrs Bligh the younger (Anna's 'mother'). She's rich, cold, calculating and completely evil. She'll do anything for power and fortune, anything at all.

Olivia Bligh - marries Anna's brother, James, before she knows James is gay and really in love with her brother. She's pregnant before she learns this, and her struggles to accept James when she has fallen in love with him are so powerfully drawn. She's a fabulous actress.

George Bligh and his son, James, are also depicted, as is the local Dr, Jack. And then there's a few males in minor roles. But really, it's the women and the changing role of women which drives this story... and I wonder if that is why it's not doing too well... does society want to know about women, their feelings, fights, emotions and struggles?

2 comments:

  1. See, I never watched this. I've not watched Downton (or is it Downtown) Abbey either. Don't know why but they just don't intrigue me. Too clean cut? Too historical maybe.

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    1. Both shows appear clean cut but did have story lines that weren't so clean cut, which is intriguing. Mr E likes clean cut shows, so I enjoy it when they dig deeper, the he goes off them :)

      Cate xo

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