Recent Binges: HBO's JOHN ADAMS
I've written about pretty much all the topics I said I'd focus on except one: the stuff I'm watching, both in terms of TV and Movies. So, allow me to mitigate that here.
You can probably surmise a good deal about my personality from my writings here. All writing, like all art, is essentially a partial reflection of the creator's mind. One thing, however, that I don't think comes across about me that you should definitely be aware of is this:
I don't like being told what to do or what to think.
I blame this wholly on George Carlin's influence on me. When you spend your adolescence incessantly listening to a man who advocated freedom of thought, expression, and speech his whole career, intentionally or unintentionally, you grow into an adult with a streak of anarchy in you.
However, I'm not a demonstrative person. If prompted, I'll tell you what I think, but otherwise, I'm the quiet type. That's one of the reasons I write. To quote John Updike, "You write because you don't talk so well."
Consequently, I'm in awe of people who are so verbally articulate. It's for this reason, likely, that I was drawn to the subject of this wonderful show, HBO's JOHN ADAMS.
Now, for those of you who have no idea who or what this show is about, let me give you a little
JOHN ADAMS is a seven-part mini-series that was produced by HBO 10 years ago, and it recounts the story of America's beginnings and first 50 years of existence through the life and experience of one of the United State's most underappreciated, misunderstood, yet fascinating founding fathers, the eponymous John Adams, the first Vice-President of the US and the second President. The series itself is based on a biography (also titled John Adams), by America's most popular historian, David McCullough (who will one day be the subject of an essay of mine). It stars, most notably Paul Giamatti in the title role and Laura Linney as Adams' vivacious and astute wife, Abigail Adams.
I didn't grow up with cable, so when this series first aired, I knew nothing about it. Ten years later, however, I just so happened to sign up for Amazon Prime, which, in addition to getting most of my packages to me in two days or less, also gave me access to an excellent television library Among the first shows I watched was this one.
While I had a half-decent grasp on the history of the American Revolution before seeing this show--enough to know the outcome and most of the major players--I really knew nothing about John Adams. Like most people who were educated (and I use that term loosely) in American History in Public School, my understanding of John Adams was that he was basically the guy who came between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in the Presidential line-up. That was all.
This series (and the book I subsequently read that it was based on), served as a genuine eye-opener.
Adams was the epitome of the word pugnacious. He was the man of firm opinions, which he could verbally articulate with ease. He was a staunch patriot who believed in freedom of the people to make their own choices without the sword of Damocles of monarchy hanging over them. He also believed that a strong central government was paramount for the protection and safety of a country formerly comprised of smaller colonies, but one that was also subservient to the cries of the people, not its own whims. It was Adams who pushed for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, who convinced Jefferson to write the now hallowed document, who steered America through a near-disastrous war with France, all at the cost of his popularity. (Oh, and he was also the only founding father, unlike Jefferson, Washington, and even Franklin, who never owned a slave).
He was a free-thinking, independently minded man who believed that laws and a citizen-based government were all that was needed to have a country, and who wasn't afraid to tell you what he thought or how he felt. (So you can see probably why I like him so much).
The HBO series does a lot to not only do its subject justice but a lot to evoke the period Adams lived in.
The sets--and yes, they are sets for the most part--along with the lighting, the costuming, and the makeup jobs truly make you believe you're watching time pass as the series progresses (it does comprise about fifty years in total, with some skips).
The opening titles are also incredible. I have a tendency, especially if I'm bingeing a show to just skip over them after an episode or two, but I never did with these titles. They literally are like having a shot of espresso pumped into you intravenously through your ears. They get you that excited for what's to come (or at least they did for me).
Easily, the heart of this series are the performances given by our two leads, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. The relationship they portray as the Adams couple serves as the heart of the story.
Giamatti (starring now in Billions) and Linney (now starring in Ozark) are two of my favorite actors. Neither--and this is not a remark on their looks--are big leading figures in Hollywood (one of the reasons I like them), like Tom Cruise or that chick who plays Black Widow. They're more in the class of actors like the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, or Cloris Leachman. ("Character Actors," I think is the term, which has never made sense to me because...well...don't all actors play characters?) They're the sort of actors who you'll recognize when you see them, but their names might be hard to remember. Once you figure out who they are though, you'll always be happy to see them on screen because they're always good (they have to be because they're not Tom Cruise, who can coast on a name). In this series, they give easily one of the best sets of performances of each of their careers.
I say sets because, while they're playing the same characters all the way through, they have to play the characters at different points in their characters lives. They may as well be playing different characters in each episode--changing, aging, with greater experience behind them and informing what they do as the series progresses. While they age, with Adams growing more cantankerous and Abigail having to grow more understanding, one thing never changes. You always get the feeling that they deeply love each other. They compliment and complete each other, with Abigail serving as the balancing force and conscience for John and the John serving as the public voice and progressive-force for Abigail.
Giamatti's portrayal of Adams in particular, however, is the epicenter of the story, and it is a fantastic one. He depicts Adams as a man who wishes to make an impact on the world. Partly, it is for his own ego, as it is with most people, but also because he believes that what he is pursuing is best for his fellow countrymen. All the way through, one thing that remains constant in Adams' character, besides his love for his wife, is his individualistic perspective. No matter who is with him, be it the majority or the minority, no matter the office the position he holds publicly, he always remains his own person. In the very first episode, he successfully defends a group of English soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre even though the city is against him. He successfully argues for independence even though most of the citizenry and the Continental Congress don't want it in the following episode. And
, he sacrifices a second term as president to ensure the country does not go to war with France in the penultimate episode.
Of course, like all film portrayals of historical events, there are some inaccuracies. However, such things don't get me bent out of shape because I understand why they're done: to improve the dramatic effect and appeal of the story. Besides, the series also takes care to get certain facts correct, such as the fact that the scene depicted in the Turnball painting of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence never happened.
In spite of such hiccups, the series does two things that are important for drama. The first is that it depicts the events with a fair enough degree of accuracy that it brings the time period alive. This, along with the settings, the costumes, and the make-up bring you, the viewer, into the story with ease. The second is that it does not try to sanctify the people or sentimentalize the past. It shows that the events their characters go through are just like the events of our everyday lives--uncertain--and the characters the actors portray are real people with complex personalities, not the saints we sometimes make them out to be.
David McCullough himself said it best when he said that the best way to teach history is to tell stories, and this mini-series tells a brilliant but often overlooked story that just so happened to take place in, what in hindsight turned out to be, an important and significant era. Its story hooks you and does not let you go from episode one to the end.
*No copyright infringement intended. All images are the property of their creators and owners.*
You can probably surmise a good deal about my personality from my writings here. All writing, like all art, is essentially a partial reflection of the creator's mind. One thing, however, that I don't think comes across about me that you should definitely be aware of is this:
I don't like being told what to do or what to think.
I blame this wholly on George Carlin's influence on me. When you spend your adolescence incessantly listening to a man who advocated freedom of thought, expression, and speech his whole career, intentionally or unintentionally, you grow into an adult with a streak of anarchy in you.
However, I'm not a demonstrative person. If prompted, I'll tell you what I think, but otherwise, I'm the quiet type. That's one of the reasons I write. To quote John Updike, "You write because you don't talk so well."
Consequently, I'm in awe of people who are so verbally articulate. It's for this reason, likely, that I was drawn to the subject of this wonderful show, HBO's JOHN ADAMS.
Now, for those of you who have no idea who or what this show is about, let me give you a littleJOHN ADAMS is a seven-part mini-series that was produced by HBO 10 years ago, and it recounts the story of America's beginnings and first 50 years of existence through the life and experience of one of the United State's most underappreciated, misunderstood, yet fascinating founding fathers, the eponymous John Adams, the first Vice-President of the US and the second President. The series itself is based on a biography (also titled John Adams), by America's most popular historian, David McCullough (who will one day be the subject of an essay of mine). It stars, most notably Paul Giamatti in the title role and Laura Linney as Adams' vivacious and astute wife, Abigail Adams.
I didn't grow up with cable, so when this series first aired, I knew nothing about it. Ten years later, however, I just so happened to sign up for Amazon Prime, which, in addition to getting most of my packages to me in two days or less, also gave me access to an excellent television library Among the first shows I watched was this one.
While I had a half-decent grasp on the history of the American Revolution before seeing this show--enough to know the outcome and most of the major players--I really knew nothing about John Adams. Like most people who were educated (and I use that term loosely) in American History in Public School, my understanding of John Adams was that he was basically the guy who came between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in the Presidential line-up. That was all.
This series (and the book I subsequently read that it was based on), served as a genuine eye-opener.
Adams was the epitome of the word pugnacious. He was the man of firm opinions, which he could verbally articulate with ease. He was a staunch patriot who believed in freedom of the people to make their own choices without the sword of Damocles of monarchy hanging over them. He also believed that a strong central government was paramount for the protection and safety of a country formerly comprised of smaller colonies, but one that was also subservient to the cries of the people, not its own whims. It was Adams who pushed for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, who convinced Jefferson to write the now hallowed document, who steered America through a near-disastrous war with France, all at the cost of his popularity. (Oh, and he was also the only founding father, unlike Jefferson, Washington, and even Franklin, who never owned a slave).He was a free-thinking, independently minded man who believed that laws and a citizen-based government were all that was needed to have a country, and who wasn't afraid to tell you what he thought or how he felt. (So you can see probably why I like him so much).
The HBO series does a lot to not only do its subject justice but a lot to evoke the period Adams lived in.
The sets--and yes, they are sets for the most part--along with the lighting, the costuming, and the makeup jobs truly make you believe you're watching time pass as the series progresses (it does comprise about fifty years in total, with some skips).
The opening titles are also incredible. I have a tendency, especially if I'm bingeing a show to just skip over them after an episode or two, but I never did with these titles. They literally are like having a shot of espresso pumped into you intravenously through your ears. They get you that excited for what's to come (or at least they did for me).
Easily, the heart of this series are the performances given by our two leads, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. The relationship they portray as the Adams couple serves as the heart of the story.
Giamatti (starring now in Billions) and Linney (now starring in Ozark) are two of my favorite actors. Neither--and this is not a remark on their looks--are big leading figures in Hollywood (one of the reasons I like them), like Tom Cruise or that chick who plays Black Widow. They're more in the class of actors like the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, or Cloris Leachman. ("Character Actors," I think is the term, which has never made sense to me because...well...don't all actors play characters?) They're the sort of actors who you'll recognize when you see them, but their names might be hard to remember. Once you figure out who they are though, you'll always be happy to see them on screen because they're always good (they have to be because they're not Tom Cruise, who can coast on a name). In this series, they give easily one of the best sets of performances of each of their careers.
I say sets because, while they're playing the same characters all the way through, they have to play the characters at different points in their characters lives. They may as well be playing different characters in each episode--changing, aging, with greater experience behind them and informing what they do as the series progresses. While they age, with Adams growing more cantankerous and Abigail having to grow more understanding, one thing never changes. You always get the feeling that they deeply love each other. They compliment and complete each other, with Abigail serving as the balancing force and conscience for John and the John serving as the public voice and progressive-force for Abigail.
Giamatti's portrayal of Adams in particular, however, is the epicenter of the story, and it is a fantastic one. He depicts Adams as a man who wishes to make an impact on the world. Partly, it is for his own ego, as it is with most people, but also because he believes that what he is pursuing is best for his fellow countrymen. All the way through, one thing that remains constant in Adams' character, besides his love for his wife, is his individualistic perspective. No matter who is with him, be it the majority or the minority, no matter the office the position he holds publicly, he always remains his own person. In the very first episode, he successfully defends a group of English soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre even though the city is against him. He successfully argues for independence even though most of the citizenry and the Continental Congress don't want it in the following episode. And
, he sacrifices a second term as president to ensure the country does not go to war with France in the penultimate episode.
Of course, like all film portrayals of historical events, there are some inaccuracies. However, such things don't get me bent out of shape because I understand why they're done: to improve the dramatic effect and appeal of the story. Besides, the series also takes care to get certain facts correct, such as the fact that the scene depicted in the Turnball painting of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence never happened.
In spite of such hiccups, the series does two things that are important for drama. The first is that it depicts the events with a fair enough degree of accuracy that it brings the time period alive. This, along with the settings, the costumes, and the make-up bring you, the viewer, into the story with ease. The second is that it does not try to sanctify the people or sentimentalize the past. It shows that the events their characters go through are just like the events of our everyday lives--uncertain--and the characters the actors portray are real people with complex personalities, not the saints we sometimes make them out to be.
David McCullough himself said it best when he said that the best way to teach history is to tell stories, and this mini-series tells a brilliant but often overlooked story that just so happened to take place in, what in hindsight turned out to be, an important and significant era. Its story hooks you and does not let you go from episode one to the end.
*No copyright infringement intended. All images are the property of their creators and owners.*
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