#Paul Scott

[cantsayidont]

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN (1984): Frequently interesting, never really satisfying 14-part Granada TV series, adapted by Ken Taylor from four novels by Paul Scott, about the final years of British rule of India (from about 1942 to 1947), set in a fictional province called Mayapore.

The first episode, which is two hours, adapts the title novel, about a young white Englishwoman named Daphne Manners (Susan Wooldridge) whose relationship with an Indian man called Hari Kumar (Art Malik), recently returned to India after attending an English public school, has disastrous consequences for them both, with Hari persecuted and eventually imprisoned at the behest of particularly racist and sadistic local police superintendent Ronald Merrick (Tim Pigott-Smith), a lower-middle-class functionary whose hatred and envy make him determined to put Hari in his place. This is by far the most cohesive portion of the story (although it's not very pleasant and needs CWs for rape and police brutality), and the only one whose main characters are particularly sympathetic, but it ends with Daphne dead, Hari in prison, their daughter Pavarti in the custody of Daphne's great aunt, and Merrick ascendant.

The remaining episodes shift focus to the upper-class Layton family, whose elder daughter Sarah (Geraldine James) joins the WACs after her father (Frederick Treves) a British Army colonel, becomes a German POW. The central figure, though only occasionally the POV, remains the monstrous Merrick, who parlays his avocation for torture into a high-ranking military intelligence role and eventually tries to ingratiate himself with the Laytons, particularly after he loses an arm and is badly burned in a failed attempt to rescue Sarah's brother-in-law following a roadside attack. In the last few episodes, the POV shifts to Guy Perron (Charles Dance, in a rare non-villainous role), another public schoolboy and a former classmate of Hari Kumar's, who becomes Merrick's reluctant aide and has a fleeting romance with Sarah before returning to witness independence as an academic observer.

There is much of interest throughout, but in discarding the novels' epistolary format and placing events in chronological order, the dramatization leaves the story feeling lumpy and occasionally threadbare: Important characters simply disappear and are later casually mentioned to have died, and important plot threads only occasionally have dramatic resolution within the narrative. More vexingly, after the first episode, the story's interest in presenting Indian characters as anything other than minor background figures (often depicted in a demeaning light) basically evaporates; even Hari Kumar is mentioned more than he's seen, serving more as a symbolic figure rather than a character, and the official subtitles never bother to translate dialogue in Urdu, even when spoken by the white leads. The story's ideological foundation is similarly uneasy, particularly as to class — Merrick is a thoroughly vile figure, but while Sarah and Guy both detest him, their contempt for him is based not in his racist brutality, but in his not being of their class and resenting it, and the finale then attributes his sadism to being a closeted gay man. The story's final episodes also strongly suggest that British rule has provided an important civilizing and stabilizing influence that will promptly collapse with independence.

Although the actual plot can't be accused of being especially nostalgic, it's hard not to see THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN as a colonialist apologia, and it's one of those stories that insists on framing other countries and cultures as something that happens to the white protagonists rather than having any independent existence, politically or otherwise. CONTAINS LESBIANS? There is an extremely depressing subplot about an elderly gay missionary named Barbara Batchelor (Peggy Ashcroft), the companion of Sarah's aunt Mabel, whom the family hastens to shut out after Mabel's death. VERDICT: Superbly acted but dramatically uneven and frequently unpleasant, and its politics leave a bad taste.

#teevee #the jewel in the crown #paul scott #susan wooldridge #art malik #tim pigott smith #geraldine james #colonialism #peggy ashcroft #i guess it's *less* racist than the rains came #but this is setting a low bar

[guy60660]

Paul Scott | The Guardian

#the guardian #design #artsy #Paul scott

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Birds of Paradise: A Novel

By Paul Scott.

#The Birds of Paradise #Paul Scott #animals #books #book covers #birds

[sarahgibsonart]

Ceramics and Print by Paul Scott.

A great book for understanding printing into clay. I've been reading at this trying to figure out ways that I can print my collagraphs into clay. At the moment I don't quite have the resources but hopefully in the future I can combine my printmaking into ceramics to a bigger extent.

#contemporaryartist #tree #abstract art #art #northern irish artist #printmaker #treebark #collagraph #ceramics #paul scott

[insidecroydon]

Muslim charity founder to stand in Woodside for the LibDems

The Liberal Democrats’ hopes of doubling their number of councillors in Croydon rest on the shoulders of Jahir Hussain, who has been named as their party’s candidate for the Woodside by-election being held on May 2. Woodside candidate: Jahir Hussain is standing for the LibDems Hussain is the chief executive of a digital transformation consultancy working with academic, healthcare, and educational…

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#Croydon #Croydon Council #Jahir Hussain #Labour #Liberal Democrats #London Borough of Croydon #Paul Scott #Tony Newman #Woodside

[winter-seance]

BAFTA 2024

#dtedit #tennantedit #davidtennantedit #david tennant #my gifs #mygifs:dt #andrew scott #paul mescal #baftas 2024 #baftas #bafta 2024

[kitc0nn0r]

#paul mescal #andrew scott #all of us strangers #i… uh!!!!

[muatyland]

La divisione delle spoglie | Paul Scott

Nella sua prima traduzione italiana, La divisione delle spoglie è l’ultimo capitolo del quartetto del Raj di Paul Scott, opera monumentale e saga appassionante definita il Guerra e pace anglo-indiano.Hitler è morto e in Europa regna nuovamente la pace: anche il Raj britannico è giunto alla sua conclusione. La caduta dell’Impero segna la fine di un’era; ma per ogni era che finisce, ne comincia una…

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#fazi editori #paul scott

[tylerposey]

All of Us Strangers (2023)

#all of us strangers #aousedit #filmedit #paul mescal #andrew scott #lgbtedit #pmescaledit #ascottedit #holesrus #homoinitiative #film #gif #mine #*

[thealogie]

another big win for girls who are me

#and if we get the slightest hint of a DT/Ayo interaction I will be going to the hospital #ayo edebiri #andrew scott #paul mescal

[blairpfaff]

ALL OF US STRANGERS (2023) dir. Andrew Haigh

How about I kiss you?

#he literally forgets to breathe....... #the most charming first kiss put to screen and i stand by that!!! #all of us strangers #andrew scott #paul mescal #edits

[k-wame]

ANDREW SCOTT as Adam & PAUL MESCAL as Harry All of Us Strangers (2023) dir. Andrew Haigh

#the tenderness in this is going to take me tf out ngl #andrew scott #paul mescal #all of us strangers #filmedit #lgbtedit #andrew haigh #couple #affection #intimacy #longing #queer #gay #queer media

[proverbialschoolmarm]

#the jewel in the crown #bbc #art malik #susan woolridge #jim obrien #christopher morahan #paul scott #the raj quartet #summer break 23

[lousolversons]

Andrew Scott as Adam & Paul Mescal as Harry ALL OF US STRANGERS (2023), Dir. Andrew Haigh

#all of us strangers #andrew scott #paul mescal #filmedit #film #andrew haigh #flashing gif #epilepsy warning #god... GOD #the colours in this film mwah #but i am also devastated #1k

[insidecroydon]

£68m: final cost of Brick by Brick, as agreed by Mayor Perry

£68m This is what a “solvent liquidation” looks like, according to Croydon’s elected Mayor Jason Perry. That’s the latest final estimate of the exit costs of winding down and closing Brick by Brick, the failed housing company set up by “regeneration practitioner” Jo “Negreedy” Negrini, and councillors Tony Newman and his Labour mates Simon Hall, Alison Butler and Paul Scott. To date, no recovery…

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#Alison Butler #Brick by Brick #Colm Lacey #Conservative #Coulsdon #Council Tax #Croydon #Croydon Council #Jo Negrini #Labour #London Borough of Croydon #Mayor Jason Perry #Paul Scott #Tony Newman #Tory

[shesnake]

All of Us Strangers (2023) dir. Andrew Haigh

#filmtag #lgbtcinema #all of us strangers #andrew haigh #andrew scott #paul mescal #film #fm #* #q #subtitles #dsg #lgbt directors