I liked the miniseries, but even with all the scenes of trench warfare, I felt the attitudes of people at home in their comfy estates was a bit far-fetched, even for stuffy class-obsessed British aristocracy. I mean, that war was devastating to most of Europe, including Britain.
shareParade's End is based on a book, so it is both fictional and drawn from the Ford Madox Ford's experiences. Also, didn't you listen to the music during those home front scenes? It's pointing to the absurdity of everyone having fancy dinners and wearing elegant clothing in the midst of Zeppelin attacks, long casualty lists, and rationing.
But anyways, life during WWI wasn't at all like life on the home from during WWII. A book I've read called The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War shows how many aristocrats kept at the glamorous life they'd lived before the war. http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Beast-Power-Passion/dp/075246597X
Oh, thanks, Duchess. I will look for the book you've mentioned. I already have the book by Ford Maddox Ford on Audible.com, but haven't finished it.
shareIt absolutely does not do... I read the books and Ford Maddox Ford was most respectful of WWI. He wrote war propaganda for the war.office.
You should read their books before you criticize an author for a film.
Great white sharks are attracted to death metal music.
.
I disagree. I think this miniseries, in its own way and in its own style, pointed up the sheer hypocrisy and mismanagement of the war. And I think the blithe ignorance of the ruling class and the aristocracy and the powers that be is very spot on. You might watch the film Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) for another take on the war -- not the same, but not dissimilar.
You have to remember that this miniseries is viewing all events through the story of one's man's life, and that his life is both a viewpoint and a metaphor. The whole concept of "parade" (facade, false front, show) can also easily refer to the fake "All Is Well", "We're Doing Great" facade that the powers that be pasted over the gross mismanagement and entirely unnecessary carnage that the war consisted of. As Christopher becomes increasingly disillusioned by the ridiculous mismanagement of the war, he also becomes disillusioned with his own pretenses of living a "happy" and "proper" marriage. Both are lies, and Christopher finally sheds the lies.
.