10-26-2010, 10:45 PM
Doc wrote:
1. The ESG, when they started, looked pretty 'farby' and it is largely they who originated 'Roman re-enactment', at least in the anglo-saxon world.
2 Southern Europeans, such as the Spanish and Italians, have a long tradition of clubs and groups dressing up in 'historical' costumes for 'festas' and the like, parading in them and so on. This is a strong cultural tradition, and the emphasis is to produce the best show, and look 'cool'. The costumes are never entirely authentic, but nobody cares because that isn't the point - it's to look better than, and compete with, the other groups. Hardly surprising then, with this cultural background, the emphasis for those ' Roman re-enactors' should be on the 'show' aspects rather than any concerns about accuracy.
(and by the way, dressing up for a village pageant type event was exactly how the ESG started !
D )
I hasten to add that of course in Italy and particularly in Spain, there are dedicated and superb re-enactors and groups whose accuracy standards are second to none. 8)
Quote:That is actually the problem in Italy, the Romans were a fanciful past. Period.Indeed, and while we, with our largely northern European/Anglo-Saxon outlook on the subject of 're-enactment', as eloquently espoused by Matt Amt rail against such 'abominations', we might want to consider a couple of things.....
1. The ESG, when they started, looked pretty 'farby' and it is largely they who originated 'Roman re-enactment', at least in the anglo-saxon world.
2 Southern Europeans, such as the Spanish and Italians, have a long tradition of clubs and groups dressing up in 'historical' costumes for 'festas' and the like, parading in them and so on. This is a strong cultural tradition, and the emphasis is to produce the best show, and look 'cool'. The costumes are never entirely authentic, but nobody cares because that isn't the point - it's to look better than, and compete with, the other groups. Hardly surprising then, with this cultural background, the emphasis for those ' Roman re-enactors' should be on the 'show' aspects rather than any concerns about accuracy.
(and by the way, dressing up for a village pageant type event was exactly how the ESG started !
D )I hasten to add that of course in Italy and particularly in Spain, there are dedicated and superb re-enactors and groups whose accuracy standards are second to none. 8)
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
