Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 16:39:52 -0500 From: Alan Baragona Subject: Re: RE>Very TAN--Giving Finger At 10:00 AM 1/14/98 -0500, Grant Barrett wrote: >Are we sure Roger Ebert isn't poking a little fun at us for saying it's "unlikely" that a young lady would have given someone the finger in 1912? > Actually I said that, not Ebert, though in his review he implies he thought it might be unbelievable because it was unseemly as well as anachronistic. As for the assumptions you go on to mention, you're quite right, but I haven't seen the movie and don't know about Kate's adventures in steerage. I think we can agree that it would've been shocking for a well-bred young lady (if that describes her role) to flip the bird in 1912. That wouldn't make one incapable of it. Alan >Bundled up in that "unlikely" are a lot of assumptions about behavior of young ladies of that period and the validity of the official and personal historical records. > >Also, if we buy the storyline, by the time Kate Winslet's character flips the bird, she's been fraternizing with low-class passengers for some time and could have acquired the gesture. > >Grant Barrett >gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dfjp.com > >-------------------------------------- >FROM: Roger Ebert, REBERT > In "The Wings of the Dove," a film based on a Henry >James novel, two of the characters make love outdoors while braced up >against a pillar in Venice. The novel is set earlier, but the film moves >the action up to about 1910. In what year, according to the society's best >thinking, did young ladies of the sort Henry James writes about begin to >participate in such practices? > Alan Baragona baragonasa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]vax.vmi.edu You know, years ago, my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be . . ."--she always called me 'Elwood'--"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me. Elwood P. Dowd