The Dig

[Nearly Sane]

Haven't watched the film but will

https://blog.britishmuseum.org/inside-the-dig-how-star-studded-film-squares-with-reality-of-sutton-hoo/

[Harrowby Hall]

I watched it this evening and thought it excellent.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched it this afternoon, definitely a good Sunday afternoon film. Both Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes were excellent. I thought some of it after the discovery of the ship was a bit bitty, but thoroughly recommend it.


It's always been a story that fascinated me but this has put some context around it. Basil Brown comes across  as a very interesting man, and it's good that in recent times ge's been given credit.

[Harrowby Hall]

The film does give an incorrect impression of the ages of Mrs Pretty and her son.
However, I  thought that the snobbery inherent in the pre-war British social class system was well observed.  The disdain in which the auto-didactic Basil Brown is held by his (possibly) intellectual inferiors, because of his social class and lack of formal qualification, is almost tangible.

[jeremyp]

However, I  thought that the snobbery inherent in the pre-war British social class system was well observed.  The disdain in which the auto-didactic Basil Brown is held by his (possibly) intellectual inferiors, because of his social class and lack of formal qualification, is almost tangible.

An interesting observation. How do we know that the film's depiction of snobbery is well observed or fictional? Do you call it well observed because it conforms with your preconceptions or because you've researched the topic?

I ask the question because I recently watched the film Ford versus Ferrari and was left with quite a poor impression of the Ford Motor Company, but on reading up about the history, I found that the entire story was fictionalised in significant ways. Similarly Sully: its portrayal of the NTSB was defamatory in my view.

I'm not saying that this film is necessarily wrong in its portrayal of Basil Brown and his peers, but it is a film and film makers like to introduce conflict where there was none in real life simply because it makes the story more interesting.

[Nearly Sane]

An interesting observation. How do we know that the film's depiction of snobbery is well observed or fictional? Do you call it well observed because it conforms with your preconceptions or because you've researched the topic?

I ask the question because I recently watched the film Ford versus Ferrari and was left with quite a poor impression of the Ford Motor Company, but on reading up about the history, I found that the entire story was fictionalised in significant ways. Similarly Sully: its portrayal of the NTSB was defamatory in my view.

I'm not saying that this film is necessarily wrong in its portrayal of Basil Brown and his peers, but it is a film and film makers like to introduce conflict where there was none in real life simply because it makes the story more interesting.

Some apparently relevant information here


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-55877934

[Nearly Sane]

Nice article on the possible effects  of the film


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/feb/05/out-of-the-dark-ages-netflix-film-the-dig-ignites-ballyhoo-about-sutton-hoo?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_us&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1C0N1suPDAiFtUmr69Hj1sexuRnDe6W4D3Z92dj0jL7TieOKHN8vPQmxY#Echobox=1612542542

[Anchorman]

 Archaeology was inherantly snobbish.
The classic two examples were Howard Carter, who was always treated as 'not one of us' by gentlemen archaeologists such as the inept Davies, and the French Gaston Maspero, who sent him on the most boring tasks he could find, reserving 'plum' concessions for hiss upper middle class friends; and 2) Frenchman Pierre Montet, who was sent to the Delta to dig because he didn't 'fit in' with the 'Luxor set' of the late 1930s.
They were miffed, though, when he discovered the incredible gold-filled tomb complex at San-el-Hager (Tanis) and finds which rivalled that of Tutankhamun's tomb, but were eclipsed by the sm
all matter of WWII.

[SteveH]

Apparently, the bike Ralph Fiennes rides is all wrong. From 'Vintage Bicycles UK' FB group:

Sigh. With the Superb exception of Grantchester, they always get bicycles wrong! Why don’t they just go to someone like Colin Kirsch and ask them?
Once again this looks wrong. Seems to be 590 wheels, post war Raleigh style mudguards and chaincase pressing. Cable brakes seem to have a centrepull front, with a straddle. The carrier is an overpainted 1960s-70s wire jobbie, formerly chrome.
Poor show, props people!
Revision; i think the mudguards might be bluemels celluloid, overpainted like most of the bike. The front brake is Weinmann, not the Mafac I first thought - so even later. The brake is operating a Westwood rim - unroadworthy! The headlamp is postwar Sturmey-Archer.

Well, I'm sorry, but that's ruined it for me.

[Nearly Sane]

Fascinating article about later digs


https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/story-sutton-hoo/?fbclid=IwAR05srQMcoHhWlSp1BTwfFPmBJzbwVDhdjel4_AaqfZXgj5Qu4NPRujhH0M