At dailymail.co.uk, Arts Correspondent Chris Hastings reports on a BBC1 adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace, and there is something of interest to this blog.
Gillian Anderson is to star in a controversial new BBC1 adaptation of War And Peace which will feature an incestuous relationship and sex scenes not included in Leo Tolstoy’s original novel.And later...
Davies has been criticised in the past for ‘sexing up’ the books he adapts for television, and the writer believes War And Peace is likely to cause a stir for the same reasons. He said: ‘I included entirely new scenes that were not in the novel.
‘These inevitably deal with the sexual side of things. Tolstoy is sometimes only able to hint at things which we can expand on.’ He added: ‘The surprising this is how modern and relevant these characters will appear to an audience.’
Davies also said his adaptation would also expand on what he believed was an incestuous relationship at the heart of the novel. He said: ‘Tolstoy does hint at this relationship in the novel but we are going to be quiteclear about it.
‘There will be a scene where a brother and sister show their real feelings for each other, and I don’t think viewers will be in any doubt about their attraction.’
So what do you think? Does this sound like a good thing? Or will this be more demonizing of consanguinamory?
Meanwhile, if you want novels that don't just hint, I recommend Love's Forbidden Flower and Time's Forbidden Flower by Diane Rinella.
I believe that we need more shows and movies that show incest in a positive light. It's not always abuse!
ReplyDelete-Liz Smith
I agree, but sometimes with stuff like this it feels kind of exploitative, for titillation, and whether or not it's a positive representation is a crap shoot. The problem is that consanguinamorous people are still just curiosities at best to most writers.
DeleteI agree that it can be exploitive. What we need to see are positive, full portrayals of relationships, where it isn't just about the sex, but they are together as partners in every sense, and they aren't villains.
DeleteYes, exactly. People in happy relationships who just happen to be related to each other.
Delete-Liz Smith