The Perfect Mix of Comedy and History: Blackadder

2 Sep

Black Adder
This is the show I wish I wrote, but Richard Curtis and Ben Elton beat me to it. It combines comedy and history, the two greatest loves of my life, and it does it so perfectly. Most people will know Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean, but to me he’ll always be Edmund Blackadder. Besides Atkinson (and Tony Robinson, who plays Blackadder’s erstwhile sidekick Baldrick, who always has “a cunning plan”), the cast is a who’s who of British comedy in the 1980s, including already-living legend Peter Cook (sadly departed in 1995 – you might know him as the priest in The Princess Bride), renowned double act Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, esteemed comedian and actress Miranda Richardson, and film and stage actor Tim McInnerny (who might be better known to American audiences from his appearance in Notting Hill or for his season 6 appearance in Game of Thrones). That’s not even counting the numerous guest stars and cameos – the two episodes that feature the character Flashheart are my favorites, mostly because Flashheart himself is played by Rik Mayall, who blows everyone else out of the water.

My obsession with British comedy aside, what I’ve always appreciated about Blackadder is that it makes history accessible and funny, even as it takes liberties now and again for the sake of comedy or the plot. A lot of people think my field is quite boring – a bunch of names and dates and nothing much more. Blackadder is proof that you can take historical material and make it mind-blowingly hilarious, and I deeply admire the writing on the show for that. I also won’t spoil it, but it has one of the most beautiful endings to anything I’ve ever seen. If you even remotely enjoy history – or even if you don’t – I cannot recommend the series enough.  Stay tuned for our upcoming September 16 post for more staff favorite TV shows!

Written by:
Steph Diorio
Local History Librarian

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Not Just a Classic Murder Mystery: The Outsider

26 Aug

The Outsider, by Stephen King, opens up as a classic murder mystery. Except the stakes are so much higher. The victim is an 11-year-old boy, Frank Peterson, who has been raped, killed and partially cannibalized. Based on eyewitness testimony, all signs point to his straight-as-an-arrow Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the killer.

Maitland denies his involvement, attorneys up, and puts forth his verifiable alibi, also involving some rock-solid witnesses. Well, a person can’t be in two places at the same time, can they?

Detective Ralph Anderson has doubts about Maitland, since he knows him personally. Maitland coached Anderson’s son, and previous to this accusal has proved to be an upstanding and honorable member of the community.

The reader doesn’t know what to believe, this being a Stephen King novel where supernatural occurrences are a bit of a given. There are inconsistencies in the eyewitness testimony that are problematic, but not deal killers.

Trouble ensues. (no spoilers!) Further “double” homicides occur that may have a connection to the Frank Peterson incident. The authorities begin looking beyond their own backyard, so to speak.

The supernatural element gets more pronounced. A young woman, Holly Gibney, becomes involved in the investigation. Holly, a character in King’s Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finder’s Keepers, and End of Watch) takes over the second half of the book as she tries to unravel what happened.

As with all the Stephen King books I’ve read, King manages to engage the reader. Maybe you’ve dismissed Stephen King by labelling him as a genre writer, maybe too “pop culture” for your tastes. It’s true King likes to add elements of popular culture that will resonate with readers – Little League, Pop Warner football, Jitterbug phones, and more. He almost uses those as a kind of shorthand to say he’s hip to American life. Part of the appeal of King is that he does resonate. And he does make you turn the pages at a clip.

I admit some of the supernatural elements in this particular book are a bit much. The considerable appeal of Stephen King is that he can make you suspend your natural aversion to the inexplicable and construct a fictional world that is believable within the confines of its own universe.

If you are ready to escape into a fictional world that can take your mind to a scary place that you know ultimately is not real, I recommend you give Stephen King a try. You can read another post about King’s work, The Gunslinger, here.

Written by:
Victoria Turk
Information and Digital Services Librarian

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