I came away with it with some anger because of all the hecklers who went past and shouted things. I overheard some guy shouting “Protesting doesn’t work!” obviously trying to pick a fight, some lads outside the crowd clapping sarcastically, and some absolute asshole walking past screaming “TRANS WOMEN CAN’T HAVE CHILDREN,” and continuing to scream it even as he was roughly turned away. Wtf?!
I heard a bottle was thrown at one point, I didn’t see it but holy fuck. I hope it was a plastic bottle and not a glass one?!
Many of the speeches were also drowned out by a guy down the road preaching religion with a very loud sound system. I have no idea if he was doing it on purpose, he did stop eventually, but it did rather feel like he was doing it on purpose.
As usual, it’s absolutely absurd and obscene that trans people have to put up with this. The actual memorial is beautiful but it should never have had to exist.
I’m ill :( I got the seasonal cold I managed to avoid for three years. But in lighter news I discovered my phone’s slow-mo feature and took this video in Leicester town center (which is probably where I got the cold from.)
A film I was very excited to see, because I live in Leicester and saw snippets of both the car park dig and the King Richard III funeral! The man himself is interred in the Leicester Cathedral which I walk past all the time on the way to therapy.
Opposite the cathedral is the Richard III museum, which is fascinating and walks you through many of the same issues which were discussed in the movie.
Everyone around here seemingly knows someone who was involved with the discovery/dig story, I went to see the movie with someone who’s met the person Amanda Abbington played. So maybe I’m biased because I know the story so well, but-
Well, the good stuff first. As someone whose life has been touched by M.E. I appreciate that The Lost King portrays it as an actual disability (which it is), and that it shows that Phillippa Langley was drawn to Richard III because he too had a disability. And I like that this film shows fandom in a positive light. It’s the fiercely enthusiastic Richard III fan club who end up getting a lot of important things done. And also I can relate to Langley as, well, a fangirl, what with her developing a hyperfixation on something that was helping her navigate her own life.
Oh and Sally Hawkins was great, she’s great in everything.
But now I’ve learned about what all the controversy surrounding this film entailed, and seen exactly what was causing it… yeah. It casts Langley as the hero at the expense of everyone around her. Really, no professional historians thought to impose one map over another until she came along?
I can’t really see many folks in Leicester – a much more diverse place than portrayed here, by the way – being pleased about this movie, no matter the quality of the production and the acting, and I don’t blame Richard Taylor in the slightest for suing. If they wanted someone to represent sexist institutions in the film, why not make up a character instead of using a real person?! How terribly ironic that a film about how cruel it was to villainize one Richard ended up villanizing another.
Unfortunately it’s already courting controversy in university circles but… as a proud Leicesterian I’m looking so forward to seeing it. And as a fan of Sally Hawkins AND Steve Coogan AND Harry Lloyd I’m looking even more forward to seeing it!
When I looked closely at the trailer, I saw my own alma mater does actually make a cameo!
So that Richard III movie is starting to happen now! I wonder if there’s a way I could get to town while they’re filming and watch a few scenes. Probably not, I dunno how they schedule these things.
But I am SO HAPPY to hear Sally Hawkins will be in it, playing Phillipa Langley! I’ve loved her ever since the Paddington movies.
I ventured out to Leicester town center via the bus. Not the most cheerful place to be, unfortunately. Most shops I used to casually just hang out, all gone. Empty unit after empty unit. And there are memorial signs for Prince Philip EVERYWHERE?!
It wouldn’t have felt so dystopian if not for all the shops that had signs up saying, “At 3pm we’ll be holding a one minute silence for Prince Philip” as if people couldn’t possibly have better things to do.
The St Margaret’s bus station has gone now, and it was pretty rubbish but it’s still weird it not being there.
It was at least sunny, and I got to hang out in Abbey Park for a bit.
