‘Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat’ and a bird informed me I would receive the DVD of the 2007 BBC series, Cranford. I had passed by parts of the episodes but I had not seen the whole series so I look forward to a full showing. News of the gift prompted me to reflect on its success. There are many reasons: good adaptation, good cast and performances, good stories and interesting characters presented by the talented Mrs Gaskell. The full list is long and I suspect it includes a fascination with the different responses of Cranford’s people to change. We may be more inured to change now, some 150 years after the Cranford story, but response to change continues to be a significant challenge to all. A perspective on change, and its consequences on people’s lives, is a helpful contribution from History and, in our media soaked society, historical novels and dramas to a better positioning of ourselves in the world today and thereby the possibility of sounder judgment with decisions that will help to fashion our personal and collective futures.
Contributor: Geoff Williams. Sempringham [ehistory.org.uk] eLearning Office.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
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