Tipping the Velvet
Sep. 8th, 2013 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI got Tipping the Velvet confused with Fingersmith, which probably rather spoiled my enjoyment of the former miniseries. I went in expecting thieves, double-crossing, a plot, and, you know, a romance, and was distinctly cranky at the lack of any of that.
Okay, actually, Tipping the Velvet has quite a lot of romances, or at least a lot of sex. The story follows Nan Astley’s picaresque romantic adventures through lesbian Victorian London, as she falls in love, suffers a catastrophic break-up, falls into prostitution, and finally converts to socialism, which incidentally lands her a super awesome socialist girlfriend, Flo.
I was in favor of them in the sense that Flo was clearly better for Nan than any of Nan’s other girlfriends, but nonetheless they seemed rather poorly matched. Flo is serious, hard-working, concerned about others: the kind of person who sits up late discussing social theory with her brother.
Nan, on the other hand, has not hitherto shown any interest in anyone but herself and has no apparent talents as a thinker or a conversationalist. Despite the fact that she’s our protagonist and provides the voiceover, I never felt that I got a good handle on her as a character. What are her dreams and goals; what’s the point of her picaresque quest?
However, I think part of the problem is that I’m just not fond of picaresque stories, particularly ones like Tipping the Velvet which follow a single character rather than a duo or a merry band. A lone picaresque protagonist needs to be awfully interesting to carry the narrative without strong relationships with secondary characters, and Nan was at once too self-centered and too empty to fit the bill.
Okay, actually, Tipping the Velvet has quite a lot of romances, or at least a lot of sex. The story follows Nan Astley’s picaresque romantic adventures through lesbian Victorian London, as she falls in love, suffers a catastrophic break-up, falls into prostitution, and finally converts to socialism, which incidentally lands her a super awesome socialist girlfriend, Flo.
I was in favor of them in the sense that Flo was clearly better for Nan than any of Nan’s other girlfriends, but nonetheless they seemed rather poorly matched. Flo is serious, hard-working, concerned about others: the kind of person who sits up late discussing social theory with her brother.
Nan, on the other hand, has not hitherto shown any interest in anyone but herself and has no apparent talents as a thinker or a conversationalist. Despite the fact that she’s our protagonist and provides the voiceover, I never felt that I got a good handle on her as a character. What are her dreams and goals; what’s the point of her picaresque quest?
However, I think part of the problem is that I’m just not fond of picaresque stories, particularly ones like Tipping the Velvet which follow a single character rather than a duo or a merry band. A lone picaresque protagonist needs to be awfully interesting to carry the narrative without strong relationships with secondary characters, and Nan was at once too self-centered and too empty to fit the bill.
