Cabbagetown

[lizmc]

I enjoyed this article: www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/10/dear-neighbour-heres-to-authenticity-in-cabbagetown-keenan.html  .  We do tend to gentrify history and forget about what the original inhabitants of a place lived like.

[Fallenbelle]

Apr 11, 2015 2:19:33 GMT lizmc said:

I enjoyed this article: www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/10/dear-neighbour-heres-to-authenticity-in-cabbagetown-keenan.html  .  We do tend to gentrify history and forget about what the original inhabitants of a place lived like.

Love this-it raises some excellent points!  We do gentrify history and have an odd nostalgia for it that may have never truly existed-a romanticized version as it were.

A few weeks ago, I tried watching the BBC America series "Copper", about an Irish American detective in NYC's notorious Five Points neighborhood set during the American Civil War.  I would probably have to give it high marks for historical accuracy- it was very dark, and gritty.  The poor were visibly struggling, the cops made minimal effort to disguise their corrupt dealings, child prostitution was out in force-and some of the city's finest and wealthiest were partaking of their services.  The first episode featured a pedophile who also happened to be into necrophilia, and a shootout that could have belonged in the most graphic of R rated movies.  Certainly not your average crime drama.

It was well-written, well-produced and well made.  But, it was just too dark for me-I find that I can't enjoy other people's suffering as entertainment.

For all of the high marks I'd give MM for its historical accuracy, it undoubtedly is a gentrified version of history, and I'm okay with that.  I think as long as one knows that one is viewing a romanticized version of a time, and that the reality looked very different is okay.

That said, I am one who longs for some of the genteel manner of yesterday, of beauty that was lost in the name of progress and given our society's love for things retro and period dramas and such, I don't think I'm alone.  The fact that Steampunk exists as a fairly popular movement is testament that people would like to see a combination of yesterday's beauty with the admittedly wonderful progress of our own current society.  I think it would be lovely if we could actually combine the two somehow.

Okay, I hope this rant/ramble made some sort of sense...  

[snacky]

I agree about MM being gentrified - but also I agree that's an essential part of its charm. I'm definitely watching for escapism: I want the grit and noir for ambiance, not for "reality tv". 

I love the costumes, the inventions, and whatever steampunk elements they can get away with! I was just thinking last night that MM needs more big sets like the midnight train or the steamship. These sets are also decoration and ambiance - escapist immersion. One reason we need more female producers is the men will just heap on gore and gross stuff and call it being authentic.

[lizmc]

When people ask if I'd like to go back in time, my answer is yes, if a) it would be as someone wealthy, and b) I could still get modern health care (and have a daily shower in my time capsule).....it is human nature to take a romantic view on the past and forget about the horrible conditions the poor lived in, the huge gap between the poor and the middle class, and how an infected cut could kill you, not to mention the routine occurrence of diseases like typhus, cholera, rickets, etc....the past is a lovely place to visit via television, but I really wouldn't want to live there.....

One of my grandmothers was born in Cabbagetown, when it was a working class neighbourhood of Northern Irish immigrants.....as the original residents and their families became more affluent, they moved out and the place gradually became a slum....then members of the gay community started buying up the old Victorian townhouses and restoring them, so it is now one of the more affluent and desirable neighbourhoods, with some dodgy bits still clinging on......it is an interesting place to see.....