17 June 2008

The Other Boleyn Girl

The girls and I just watched this movie. It is such an awesome way to pique interest in history.

After the movie, we looked up some of the history on the internet and found that most of it was quite true to what is commonly believed. I have always gotten very confused on the kings and queens of England. Could those people not have been named something other than Mary, George, Catherine, Henry, Ann?? That makes it hard to wrap your brain around sometimes.
This particular story is aligned with the life of Henry VIII in the mid 1500s.. If have yet to see the movie, you may want to read no further. Henry was married to a Spaniard named Catherine of Aragon - who did not give him a living male heir, although she did give him several children, all but one was still born. He took mistresses, and was taken with one of the Boleyn sisters. This part is likely fictional although I am sure there are historical artifacts that tell parts of the story such as letters, diaries, etc. but in the movie the King summons Mary and her family to court separating her from her husband so he can have her. And have her he does - and their union produces his only male heir, a son named James. While she is pregnant he loses interest in Mary, and takes an interest in her sister Ann. Oh there is so much to tell. We enjoyed the movie so much and got us looking up things in the Story of the World books we have and on the internet. Here was a great link about the history of the Boleyn family which is said 'could be likened to a Greek tragedy'.
Kaitlyn said she'd love to be a historian. I didn't love history until I was an adult, mainly because of dull, dry textbooks that faded colorful stories such as this to black and white. This is the way we want to learn - every day, all the time, in all sorts of ways.

5 comments:

  1. If only Henry was as good looking in real life as he was in the movie!

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  2. Kathleen>>My girls were way more taken with George Boleyn! I guess we're just old!

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  3. Ditto Kathleen! Seriously, the thought of having to be with some of these people is gross. But let's just imagine them all to be attractive with nice teeth and breath! Oh and perhaps a recent bath. Nope, that makes me think of an old fat king taking a bath.

    Let's talk about something else instead. Hey, I love history too! I had one really great teacher in high school that I really respected (sadly, she was only 1 of 2 teachers in my whole high school that I did have respect for). Anyhow, she spoke about history with such passion that I ended up majoring in history in college. I love it now much more than I did then! And much of it has to do with homeschooling my boys and learning all kinds of new things right along with them.

    Oh and once I took this History of England class. I'm telling you, the professor makes all the difference. He was so funny, did great accents and really cared about the subject. I hope to impart at least a small part of that kind of enthusiasm, not just for history but for learning as a whole, to my kids. But I do terrible accents. Unless it's a hick accent. That comes a little more naturally (unfortunately). hehe

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  4. Gabriel loves history and is considering making it his major in college. Thanks for sharing. We'll have to check it out.

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♥ Juls ♥