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pollyfossil t1_j6h7znj wrote

Reply to comment by LukeKellysLoveChild in The Banshees of Inisherin’s Writer-Director Has Made a Career of “Irishness.” It’s All a Load of Blarney by HanSoloHeadBeg

When you say life may have been "like that" what do you mean? People in picturesque tweeds strolling around spectacular landscapes accompanied by "miniature donkeys" and spending their disposable income in a cute "Irish pub"? Plenty of people know what life was like in the 1920s in remote parts of the west of Ireland - my father, for one. McDonagh would never claim to be offering an accurate depiction so it's pretty pointless to "defend" the film on that score. The author of the article refers to John Hinde postcards, and that is a pretty good visual reference for the film, which is not in any sense realistic.

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LukeKellysLoveChild t1_j6hoiau wrote

Yeah, they likely did wear tweed and spend a lot of time in the pub, try to remember it's a film. Something being a period piece simply means it's set in a certain time period. The help in Downtown Abbey probably wouldn't have been as well treated as they were in the series but it's a period piece all the same.

So your main gripes here are the 'picturesque' tweed and the fact they spent a lot of time in the pub. Okay.

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LukeKellysLoveChild t1_j6hp02e wrote

I'd be interested in knowing if there's any films set in Ireland you consider to be a good period piece. Have you ever watched the field? I'd also be interested in knowing if you're at all familiar with rural Ireland today.

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pollyfossil t1_j6huezb wrote

Yes, I've seen The Field. It's grand but not one of my favourite films. I think that the John B Keane play on which it's based is very good. I don't think there are lots of great examples of "period" films set in Ireland, but I haven't seen Black 47 and I heard that it's very good so I must check it out. (I still think that thinking of TBOI as primarily (?) a period film is fundamentally misguided by the way). I live in Ireland but not rural Ireland so I'm as familiar with rural Ireland as anyone else who lives in Ireland but not rural Ireland is. Answered all your questions now?

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