The Main Event: King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn in The Tudors Image courtesy of Showtime
Erin and I finished watching the second season of the Showtime drama The Tudors. So far, I’ve loved it. The story, the actors, the costumes, the sets, and the cinematography are nothing short of magnificent.
As someone who appreciates history, I’ve wondered how accurately The Tudors interprets Henry VIII and his time. The series is absolutely soaked in sex and violence, which naturally increases The Tudors appeal in a culture like ours. Though historians have debated how many affairs Henry VIII really had, the show’s producers decided that he was a full-blown sex addict. And I never knew there were so many ways to torture and kill people. The Tower of London may be a cool place to visit today, but you didn’t want to be anywhere near it in 16th-century England.
Because of its focus on entertainment, it doesn’t surprise me that the great cultural and societal changes that happened during King Henry’s reign are of secondary importance in the show. The Tudors portrays Henry as supremely self-absorbed, dragging literally everyone in England through unimaginable convolutions and misery to satisfy his own whims.
I have a friend who says this kind of history is dangerous – namely, history repackaged as entertainment. I disagree. Whether accurate or not, The Tudors has piqued my interest in the time of Henry, Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth. I’ve had great fun dabbling around in various resources to learn more about these historic figures and how they affected (and continue to do so) not just English and European culture, but American as well.
Shakespeare wrote his own histories for much the same reason as the makers of The Tudors. Shakespeare has survived and thrived because of his immense literary contribution, but his histories are often not valued for their accuracy. But they reflect the agendas and values of his own time, which therefore makes them important historic documents. The Tudors is significant for this same reason.
