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Related: Culture Forums, Support Forums“The Borgias” vs. “Borgia: Faith and Fear” (accuracy in historical fiction)
These are just two examples, but typify the two series. The Borgias toned it down: consistently throughout the series, everyone is simply less violent and corrupt than they actually historically, documentably were. Why would sex-&-violence Showtime tone things down? I think because they were afraid of alienating their audience with the sheer implausibility of what the Renaissance was actually like. Rome in 1492 was so corrupt, and so violent, that I think they dont believe the audience will believe them if they go full-on. Almost all the Cardinals are taking bribes? Lots, possibly the majority of influential clerics in Rome overtly live with mistresses? Every single one of these people has committed homicide, or had goons do it? Wait, they all have goons? Even the monks have goons? It feels exaggerated. Showtime toned it down to a level that matches what the typical modern imagination might expect.
Borgia: Faith and Fear did not tone it down. A bar brawl doesnt go from insult to heated words to slamming chairs to eventually drawing steel, it goes straight from insult to hacking off a body part. Rodrigo and Cesare dont feel guilty about killing people, they feel guilty the first time they kill someone dishonorably. Rodrigo is not being seduced by Julia Farnese and trying to hide his shocking affair; Rodrigo and Julia live in the papal palace like a married couple, and shes the head of his household and the partner of his political labors, and if the audience is squigged out that shes 18 and hes 61 then thats a fact, not something to try to SHOCK the audience with because its so SHOCKING shock shock. Even in other details, Showtime kept letting modern sensibilities leak in. Showtimes 14-year-old Lucrezia is shocked (as a modern girl would be) that her father wants her to have an arranged marriage, while B:F&Fs 14-year-old Lucrezia is constantly demanding marriage and convinced shes going to be an old maid if she doesnt marry soon, but is simultaneously obviously totally not ready for adult decisions and utterly ignorant of what marriage will really mean for her. It communicates what was terrible about the Renaissance but doesnt have anyone on-camera objecting to it, whereas Showtime seemed to feel that the modern audience needed someone to relate to who agreed with us. And, for a broad part of the modern TV-watching audience, they may well be correct. I wouldnt be surprised if many viewers find The Borgias a lot more approachable and comfortable than its more period-feeling rival.
Borgia: Faith and Fear also didnt tone down the complexity, or rather toned it down much less than The Borgias. This means that it is much harder to follow. There are many more characters, more members of every family, the complex family structures are there, the side-switching. I had to pause two or three times an episode to explain to those watching with me who Giodobaldo da Montefeltro was, or whatever. Theres so much going on that the Previously On recap gives up and just says: The College of Cardinals is controlled by the sons of Romes powerful Italian families. They all hate each other. The most feared is the Borgias. They wisely realized you couldnt possibly follow everything thats going on in Florence as well as Rome, so they just periodically have someone receive a letter summarizing wacky Florentine hijinx, as we watch adorable little Giovanni Leo de Medici (played by the actor who is Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones) get more and more overwhelmed and tired. Showtimes series oversimplifies more, but that is both good and bad, in its way. The audience needs to follow the politics, after all, and we can only take so much summary. The Tudors got away with a lot by having lectures on what it means to be Holy Roman Emperor delivered by shirtless John Rhys Meyers as he stalked back and forth screaming in front of beautiful upholstery, and hes a good enough actor that he could scream recipes for shepherds pie and wed still sit through about a minute of it. The Borgia shows have even more complicated politics for us to choke down.
http://www.exurbe.com/?p=2176
petronius
(26,598 posts)worried that I was getting second fiddle to the Showtime version, which I didn't have access to. Now that they're both on NF, I'm finding the Showtime version less impressive...
RandySF
(58,532 posts)There was no Borgia present at the Battle of Forli when Caterina Sforza allegedly lifted her skirt on the top of the fortress walls.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Jebby running into that subway closet. That'd work for the fear part. For the faith part, well, I have faith that people will find funny the time Poppy Bush blew chunks on the Japanese prime minister or the time Dimson was loaded at the 2008 Olympics.