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Debate No. 3
Revisions and Comments
Finally! After doing
all this from memory (this is where you realise that the work did really
impress you!) and after many years, I can now watch or read Berubara any
time (or nearly...). These are a few points I just noticed, after
seeing it for the first time after so any years:
The manga
It is truly a work of exquisite
art, with beautiful artwork and drawings and flowing inspiring dialogues
and monologues worth remembering. What I forgot most, and the
most striking difference between the Manga and the series is how Oscar
seems more "human", i.e. a lot less serious and severe. She seems
a lot more "girlie" (in her looks and demeanour), she has fits of bad temper,
but she shows also her softer side to Andre a lot more often... She can
be very sweet and tender with him, which is something she wouldn't allow
herself to do in the series!
There is also a more gradual
presence and emphasis on the relationship between Oscar and Andre:
From the moment Andre kisses her (after the fight in the Tavern), which
doesn't appear in the series, it all takes a more romantic and desperate
turn (Andre deciding to poison Oscar out of despair, also not in the series),
Oscar a lot more tender, sitting next to him her head on his shoulder,
Andre more determined (when Girodelle reminds him -again- that his rank
prevents him of even entertaining such thoughts about Oscar, Andre throws
the glass he is carrying to his face), etc...
The series
All those details I had forgotten!
And, despite what anybody can say, I still think that the French dubbing
was of a great quality and the voices ARE the characters. It was
a success.
One thing I had mostly forgotten
about was the constant determination which characterizes Oscar in anything
she does, her loyalty and dedication to Justice and the Queen. I
had not forgotten about that, I had forgotten how much this is reinforced
throughout the series.
Andre is also shown at any given
point very dedicated to his "master": always perceptive, sensitive,
but sensible and down to earth, he is the one infusing a serious dose of
common sense into Oscar when she gets into fits of rage. However,
I have always been wondering: How exactly does he know about all
those facts or gossip going on in the corridors of Versailles?
A few points
The art and drawing (in the
Manga in particular) is very precious and precise, and obviously a lot
more glamourous than the reality of Versailles would have been!
I will talk, later, about the
historical figures Riyoko Ikeda used and how she portrayed them, but, for
now, I will concentrate on... fashion.
The Ladies:
How would they, according to
Ikeda, wear at the same time the dreaded tight corset and top of dress
(the ones who made them so prone to fainting so often) and yet also backless
dresses (as Mrs DuBarry or Polignac are so often portrayed wearing)? Except these details, the dress
sense and details are mostly accurate (sleeves, undergarments, hoops etc...),
yet over-done in opulence.
There is also the matter of
Marie-Antoinette appearing in bright pink in the series... At the
time, only bright and vibrant colours like Red or Purple would be made
from tints, darker Blue and Green being also favourites. The only
Pink , either available or fashionable during this period, was Pastel -even
a bit "Salmony"- used mostly in undergarments, hats, "top-parts" of dresses.
But obviously, Pink is a favourite in Japan and this is after all an adaptation.
Influence of other fashions:
The return to Antique Greek fashion is also accurate (Ikeda uses metaphors
spawning from mythology, but this is quite adequate for fashion at the
time!). E.g. Marie Antoinette when she pleads for the lives of Andre, Oscar
and Fersen after the "Riding Incident". Influence of British Fashion
where "Less is more" and practicality is the key. After 1780, the
followers of fashion were abandoning the heavy traditional French Dress
of the Court -too heavy and constrictive- for the more flowing and liberating
English Dress. Marie Antoinette herself shocked traditional "Courtiers"
by donning herself dresses which would free the body from the rigid corset,
part of the traditional French Costume, sporting lighter and shorter skirts,
closer to the body. This, obviously, was not to everybody's taste,
and many complained that <<As a Queen, it is her duty to embrace
French Fashion, with the luxury due to her rank, she has to be the example
of wealth, using only the finest and most expensive materials>>.
This is also the reason Marie Antoinette has been associated with the costume
of a "Shepherdess" (an image today still present in our minds), which is
how Traditional French Courtiers described her outfits.
The Gentlemen:
Well, we all know that the
uniforms are from Napoleonian times, and that Riyoko Ikeda realised it
too late...
The costumes are very accurate,
especially concerning the "Culotte", ties, and socks... At the end
of the reign of Louis XVI, the traditional jacket -generally common looking
for areas like the back, but highly accessorised and rich looking for areas
like the front, extremities like the sleeve ends (very accurate in the
Manga), crops up, and the "culotte" is then worn higher, later having to
be held up higher than the waist. However, Ikeda was right in portraying
the "Redingote" (another English influence, older this one, from about
1725) or "Riding Coat".
Personally, I think the way
the characters are dressed in 70s Clothes (trousers!) -especially when seen
relaxing, i.e. not in uniform, at home- in the Manga, is very endearing.
There are obvious differences
between costumes in the Manga and the Anime: Certainly, because the
Anime has the difficult task to incorporate colours, they do have to leave
out some details. The Manga is obviously a lot more precise in the
drawing and the costumes are a lot more precious, but the Anime plays on
Austerity and therefore the costumes could not be as "frilly"!
Finally, there is a point
which has been bothering me: Especially in the animated series,
where this is made obvious, when Oscar decides to keep Rosalie home, she
is amazed that the young girl behaves so well, is so bright and curious,
and that, with those qualities, she should have been a noble, and indeed,
it just so happens that she is, and Oscar does believe this very easily.
Are we to understand that people actually able to learn quickly, vivacious
and spirited are all noble, and that commoners are therefore unable to
demonstrate such qualities (what, then, should we make of Andre, whom is
referred to by Oscar as "a noble heart" some time later)?
However, the only explanation
I have found so far, is the fact that Oscar, at this point, has been echoing
the ideas of the Nobility of the period (this is very early on in the series,
as a matter of fact), and that then, afterwards, when she starts to grow
and learn about freedom and equality, she then changes her views and this,
therefore, shows how much distance she has come from, from the beginning
of the series, where she would have had such an opinion, to her heroic
death.
Berusaiyu no Bara; Lady Oscar: All Rights Reserved Ikeda Productions 1972-1973, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co. 1979-1980.
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