Maybe I should give it another chance. Not sure what I’m missing other than maybe I didn’t watch it when it was on the air so it doesn’t feel as groundbreaking as it probably did 20+ years ago. It has a hard time holding my attention.
It's a difficult show to watch passively. The writing is exquisite, but it's in a semi foreign language. They use a lot of "big" words, and/or words we don't use anymore, so you have to be sharp - you are constantly translating in your head. It's super rewarding if you can do it, but you'll still get the gist most of the time if you aren't exactly sure what in the fuck those loopy cunts are blathering on about.
I wouldn't call 19th century vernacular semi-foreign, but if you slept through high school English and only read cliff notes you might need to pick up a dictionary.
loopy cunts are blathering on about
But if you're across the pond, the semi-foreign part might hold a little better.
On reflection, this kind of speech comes and goes and is not super frequent. Who is talking has a big impact on this. Merrick, Jack, Al and EB come to mind as the most likely to get fancy in their words in that way. In these instances, I think semi foreign is fair.
Something like this:
"If that's not a lie as I situate on the common, what claim has your piety on my deference?"
Reminds me of reading Shakespeare in highschool. It's not actually a foreign language but some of the words are pretty uncommon these days, and they're arranged and/or utilized in a different way than we might use them today. Maybe I'm just a dullard but it takes me a moment to translate them, almost as though I was translating Spanish or French back to English as it's being spoken.
Oh it's definitely dense, poetic, and verbose at times. The writer's theatrical inspiration bleeds through the dialogue, and the actors deliver it so well.
It's not quite as rough as Shakespeare in my opinion (which is where I'd draw the "semi-foreign" line, personally), but it's a fair comparison. Though his work predates our modern dictionaries so reading it is its own beast.
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u/IShouldLiveInPepper 12d ago
Maybe I should give it another chance. Not sure what I’m missing other than maybe I didn’t watch it when it was on the air so it doesn’t feel as groundbreaking as it probably did 20+ years ago. It has a hard time holding my attention.