Showing posts with label Franziska Kholt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Franziska Kholt. Show all posts

Sunday, 17 October 2021

The new ARTE documentary about Carroll might be the best documentary ever made about this author



Unlike other things in the past, ARTE TV very much did their research here, featuring in the documentary prominantly is Oxford based Alice scholar Franziska Kholt and World expert on Lewis Carroll Edward Wakeling. The documentary is mainly about the path from Dodgson telling what would become Alice's adventures in Wonderland to the Liddell sisters and friends to the publishing of the expanded story, and the original draft manuscript eventually being given to Alice Liddell. In particular the documentary elaborates on what this meant for culture. Also features some very beautiful views of Oxford and surrounding places. 

The documentary also dismantles what Leach termed "the carroll myth" and explains why Carroll's reputation soured in the 20th century, a fault that lies with badly informed extremely early psychology hack writers and misunderstandings between the societal treatment of children in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Unfortunately this documentary hasn't quite had an English language release yet (although according to this page, it is coming) but I will update if/when this happens. For now, English language readers will have to autotranslate the youtube subtitles. Not perfect, but hopefully offers some glimpses into how good this piece is. 

Please enjoy :) 

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Friday, 22 November 2019

New documentary featuring Carroll out in 2020 (by ARTE)


Franziska Kohlt's blog and twitter informs us that there is a new documentary on the way, featuring herself as well as Edward Wakeling. This will air in France and Germany. 
A new series of TV documentaries on famous books and their origins, manuscripts and authors will be hitting the screens in early 2020 – and last week we started filming for the first episode in Oxford, which is about the origins of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – and some, perhaps unexpected, links and sources (including what the University of Oxford’s crest has to do with Alice’s dream)! I am extremely honoured to appear on it as expert alongside collector and Carroll scholar extraordinaire Edward Wakeling.
The documentary will be available on French and German Television, and online after it’s aired, for those elsewhere!
I welcome the idea of a thoroughly researched documentary with world experts and scholars.

However considering the disaster in 2015 with the BBC documentary, I am also extremely nervous. 

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As to date there has been no progressive and considerate documentary. I hope ARTE do their research and can present us with a nuanced look at Carroll, his life, and the era he lived in. 

Please. Please.

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Saturday, 2 March 2019

Franziska Kohlt on the pitfalls of Carroll in "biopic realism" theatre


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(Image from tintinghistory, tint of a self portrait by Charles Dodgson)

Franziska Kholt recently linked me to a fantastic essay she did about the faux biographical play "Peter and Alice"

The essay, entitled "The Dangers of Biopic Realism" is an excellent piece on why some playwrights tend to ignore the new research and seek sensationalism when writing about Carroll's life.

It is by no means an easy read but it is an essential one for anyone interested in how fiction about Dodgson sometimes perpetuates the myths surrounding the man.