Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the first part of season six of The Crown.
- CrownThe portrayal of Princess Diana’s death places more emphasis on shock than on her life, with scenes inserted to make her death more tragic, which is manipulative and disrespectful.
- Unlike Crownmovie Queen depicts Diana’s death in more detail, focusing on the British people’s relationship with her and the political consequences of her death.
- CrownThe portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II’s public grief over Diana’s death appears less credible than Queenwhich shows her difficulty in talking about Diana as a private person, and her possible public display of grief.
When Crown First debuting on Netflix in 2016, it immediately stood out from other films and TV shows about the royal family. Rather than viewing the history of the British monarchy as a series of facts, figures and historical recreations, Peter MorganThe innovative drama series attempted to reveal the psychology of the world’s most overrated family. The series focuses on intimate, human moments that show how the Commonwealth’s relationship with the Crown itself has changed over the course of history.
Unfortunately, this distinguishing factor is something that Crown will lose along the way. The show became more reliant on recreating iconic moments in an overly dramatic manner that felt less sincere and insightful. Unfortunately, CrownThe sixth and final season unsuccessfully portrays the death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki). What’s odd is that it’s a topic Morgan had already explored in much greater detail in his screenplay for the 2006 Academy Award-winning biopic. Queen.
Crown
Tells the story of the political rivalries and romance of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, and the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.
The sixth season of The Crown focuses on the scandal surrounding Diana’s death.
After CrownThe main cast was dumped in season five, and it was only a matter of time before the series got into the tense dynamic between the future King Charles (Dominic West) and his ex-wife Diana Spencer (Debicki). Although the fifth season Crown effectively balanced the perspectives of Charles and Diana, the show focused on the tension between the late princess and Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton). It became clear that Diana had broken with the traditions of the royal family and that this had violated the control that the queen believed she had over the family. Morgan seemed interested in escalating the tension between the two characters, which made him Diana’s death in the show’s final season seems even more shocking.
To depict such an event means to dramatize it in one way or another, and Crown has often been criticized for its lack of historical continuity. However, the problem with the way Diana’s death is portrayed is one of execution; Crown he is more interested in showing Diana’s death than showing her life. The first half of season six begins with an outsider watching the progress of a car accident, and the final episode, “Aftermath,” focuses entirely on the royal family learning of the news. Since viewers of the series already know that the series will depict these tragic events, this foreshadowing is lazy at best and disrespectful at worst.
The few scenes Diana has in the first few episodes seem to have been inserted to make her death more tragic. Crown focuses on his relationship with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdullah), and how the “scandalous” nature of their affair affects her children William (Rufus Campa) and Harry (Fflin Edwards). While it is important to show how Diana’s life was changing to highlight how shocking her death was when the news broke, Morgan seems less interested in portraying any of Diana’s charitable activities than in demonizing the press. While there are some nice moments where Diana, William and Harry act like a real family, inserting them right before Diana’s death feels like a manipulative way to build sympathy for the characters. Crown became more interested in recreating scandalous moments such as “Tampongate” than in actually providing any historical insight into the history of the royal family.
‘The Queen’ shows Diana’s relationship with the British people
What’s surprising about the poor portrayal of Diana’s death in Crown is that Morgan had already told the same story, but in much more detail, with Queen. Although Diana’s death is also a major theme Queenthe car accident that ended her life is not mentioned as explicitly as in Crown. Queen shows the reaction of the royal family and the British government to Diana’s death. from the point of view of the new Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen). The film focuses on Blair’s attempts to heal a wounded country reacting to the death of a beloved national figure; Although Diana always put duty before love, she had a relationship with the British people that the rest of the royal family never understood. Voltage in Queen revolves around Blair trying to convince Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) and Prince Philip (James Cromwell) to give Diana the send-off she deserves.
Bye Crown seemed more interested in showing the scandals that rocked Diana’s life before her death, Queen was able to delve into the political minutiae of such an impressive event. Diana is never depicted on screen. Queen, which leaves the film to only discuss how she was watched by the royal family and the people. This turns Diana into more than a tragic figure. Blair notes how Diana’s kindness and efforts to connect with “ordinary” people made her a national hero; The film also shows how people outside the royal family mourned her death. Celebrating what Diana did in life, Queen offers a more respectful tribute.
The Crown changes the image of Queen Elizabeth II
Although both Crown And Queen show how Elizabeth reacted to Diana’s death, the former seemed less credible. Elizabeth’s unwillingness to sacrifice personal duty for the sake of domestic happiness is one of her defining characteristics in life. Crown. Seeing her publicly admit her grief so soon after was strange, especially after the show spent so much time showing how scandalous Diana’s divorce was. Relatively, Queen shows how difficult it was for Elizabeth to talk about Diana in public, as she always considered her a “private citizen”. Seeing Blair convince Elizabeth that the British people need to see their leader grieve Queen more powerful image.
Although CrownThe first seasons humanized the royal family, the series became dependent on melodrama. Let’s hope the series can redeem itself with a series of final episodes that treat the royal family as real people and not just members of an ongoing public circus.
First four episodes Crown Season six is streaming on Netflix.
Watch on Netflix
Source: Collider
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