Wednesday, December 19, 2012

DR Boot Lickers Stoned on Cough Medecine: A Year In the Life of the Royal House 2012

 Royal welfare babies


Welcome to Dysfunction Junction! Filtered through rose-coloured lenses, decorated in lovely camera angles, supplemented by sycophantic narrative that would make the old Soviet regime blush, herewith DR presents to you three-quarters of an hour of saccharine drivel, designed to clear away any doubts you may have that the Danish royal family is anything but a loving, sychronised, well-oiled machine that works hard for its money and is filled with perfect people.

Acksherly, despite all the sugar and heavy editing, it is very difficult with moving images to not get more nuanced and realistic view of the stars of this odd show. Mary comes off as fake in photos, and that impression is exaggerated in film and her self-consciousness is more obvious. Derf comes off more natural and engaging, especially when Mary isn't around. Joachim is regal and Marie is slightly self-conscious in formal events, but mostly relaxed. Daisy is a joy to watch when Henrik is around or she's doing some of her artsy, crafty stuff and Henrik himself is just a big, fat, happy bear, enjoying whatever moment he finds himself in.

Enjoy a trip down memory lane with the footage of the family at the Olympics (with an uptight Mary "cheering" on Princess Nathalie), at Daisy's 40th Jubilee celebrations, lille Athena's birth and christening and various other smaller events, including a segment with the Derfsons and the two oldest boganettes at the National Art Gallery's art school and then the Derfies spending time with some of the immigrant children who are being attended to by one of the winners of this year's Crown Prince Couple Social Prize. Honestly, this is where Derf becomes the closest to what anyone would think a Crown Prince should be: he is compassionate and easy around children, patient and more involved and caring than the blues he struggles with seem to indicate in still photos. He doesn't work in long spurts, and quite on his own terms, it seems, but there is potential in there. Why no one in the court or family is able to grow, encourage and exploit that potential is beyond anyone's understanding, but it's a tiny spark of humanity that hasn't been completely extinguished by his strange, narcissistic wife. Let's hope for better in 2013.

Video: DR: Året i Kongehuset

2 comments:

  1. Hello Cece,

    The video you post here is in Danish so unfortunately out of reach for non Danish speaking people like me.

    What do you or anybody here think about the potentials of the two Princes? If we leave their wives apart for a moment (I know it's unreal simulation because the life partner could add or subtract a lot of one's personality) who, Frederik or Joachim could serve better as a king when the day comes?

    I'll appreciate all insights on the subject.

    Merry Christmas to everybody!

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  2. Mary is not uptight, she is camera conscious,,haha!

    ReplyDelete