Description
Book Synopsis Both in life and death, Queen Victoria is among the most popular monarchs to be committed to film. Her reign was characterized by an explosion in media coverage that began to rely on images rather than words to tell her story. Even though Victoria has been labeled the first media monarch, the sheer magnitude of her screen presence has been neither chronicled nor fully appreciated until now.
This book examines the growth and evolution of Queen Victoria''s on-screen image. From the satirical cartoons and silent films of the 19th century to the television shows, video games, and webcomics of the 21st, it demonstrates how the protean Victoria character has evolved, ultimately meaning many different things to many different people in many different ways. Each chapter looks at a facet of her character and includes analysis of how these media present Queen Victoria as a real person and shape her as a character acting within a narrative. The book includes a comprehensive and in
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments—vi
- Preface—1
- Introduction: The Real and the Reel Victoria—3
- 1. Queen Victoria on the Silent Screen—11
- 2. Of War and Empire—36
- 3. Of Love and Obsession—62
- 4. Victoria Is Amused—91
- 5. Victoria Rules the Small Screen—103
- 6. Transformations of Victoria Into the 21st Century—137
- Appendix: Select Filmography—149
- Chapter Notes—195
- Works Cited 215
- Index—225
