When depicting the past in film and television, writers and directors often showcase it as a violent, lawless, hellscape. They’re not necessarily wrong to do so, with violence and oppression against marginalized groups marring much of human history. But the past wasn’t just filled with brutality and savagery, it was also utterlystupid.While it may seem unfair to judge history from such a modern, enlightened standpoint, one cannot deny how clueless and nonsensical their attitudes were, especially towards women.The Greatis perhaps the only current period piece on television to understand and embrace this fact.
A biting, satirical take on Catherine the Great’s ascension to the Russian throne,The Greatexamines gender differences in the 18th century and tears them to absolute shreds. It doesn’t just say that misogyny against women is bad, it ridicules and punishes those who promote it. As a very loose adaptation of Catherine the Great’s rule, the show’s true premise lies in the battle of the sexes between Catherine (Elle Fanning) and Peter III, Emperor of Russia (Nicholas Hoult). Through this contentious relationship,The Greatexamines the subservient role of women and delights in pointing out the irrationality behind it.Tony McNamara(The Favourite), imbues his former co-writerYorgos Lanthimos’s signature style of absurdism to create a unique, comedic approach to the past that both criticizes and embellishes history.
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The Greatleaves no room for interpretation as it explicitly labels itself as “anti-historical.” The Season 1 title card reads, “The Great: An Occasionally True Story,” which is then taken a step further in the Season 2 title card: “The Great: An Almost Entirely Untrue Story.” In doing so, the show frees itself from the typical limitations of historical fiction, instead leaning into the inherent ridiculousness of the past. While the show typically fictionalizes the majority of the details, characters, and relationships, its base premise is correct.The Greatdepicts the marriage of Catherine, a clever and ambitious German princess, to the lazy, alcoholic Russian emperor. Throughout the show, she schemes to claim power for herself due to both selfish and altruistic reasons, while the developing relationship with her husband becomes more complex and heartfelt. While Catherine’s marriage and eventual coup against her husband took decades rather than mere months in real life, it is still a ludicrous moment in history regardless.
With no blood ties to the Russian throne, Catherine should have never become the Empress, and yet she is considered the greatest and most important ruler in the country’s history. The show’s creators recognize this and rather than wasting time depicting the intricate details of the coup, they instead focus on the character’s personalities as the foundation for the shift in regime. While Peter spends much of the first season mocking women and enforcing their second-class status, Catherine forms key relationships with his advisors by promoting her vision of a modernized Russia. Peter as a crass, alcoholic with an inability to wage war, contrasts deeply with the intellectual, composed Catherine. Peter, despite his assertions that women are stupid with little value apart from their bodies, is outsmarted by his wife at every turn.The Greatpunishes Peter for archaic attitudes, for his violence, and for his lack of real interest in ruling Russia as if seeking to punish the past for its nonsensical power structures and rulings. If history suffers due to its stupidity, then the most logical step is to reward intelligence, especially to the sex that has long been denied such characteristics.
AsThe Greatshifts from being an “occasionally true story” to an “almost entirely untrue one,” it steadily becomes more fictionalized. Arguably the show’s best decision was in keeping Peter alive, as Hoult is utterly brilliant in the role as he takes in stride every moment of buffoonery and humiliation. Whereas the real-life Peter died during Catherine’s coup, Hoult’s character sticks around in Season 2, allowing for Catherine to initially enact her revenge on him for the abuse she suffered at his hands. However,The Greatcreates a much more nuanced interpretation of the character by allowing his relationship with Catherine to deepen while still refusing to redeem him due to his abhorrent personality. One of the show’s best moments of black comedy has him engage in sexual intercourse with Catherine’s mother (Gillian Anderson), only to accidentallymurderher by dropping her out of a window. The absurdity of this moment cannot be understated and while there’s no historic basis for it, it is referencing the Russian court’s publicized fascination with sex which has reached an almost legendary status. Catherine did take numerous lovers, and strangely enough, her one true love is the basis for Count Orlo (Sacha Dhawan). The decision to depict Orlo’s relationship with Catherine as entirely platonic is a rare moment of restraint for the show, and it elevates the relationship by focusing on their shared vision for Russia rather than the mere sexual attraction between the two.
The Greatis careful with its inclusion of the occasional historic truth, drawing on bizarre beliefs and characters to instill its signature sense of absurdity. A running gag sees Catherine being forced to repeatedly urinate on wheat as a pregnancy test, a method that’s been used since ancient times, which is made better by the fact that it actuallyworks. Later, Aunt Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow)places frogs on Catherine’s pregnant belly as an antiquated version of an ultrasound, referring to the strange historic practice of using frogs as a fertility indicator. Gossip is rife in the Russian court, and Catherine often faces gendered criticisms, especially those revolving around her sexuality. The ridiculous rumor that she was intimate with a horse haunted the real-life Catherine, another gag that pays off as the nobility genuinely bets on whether her child will come out ashalf-horse.
The real Aunt Elizabeth was indeed a very strange woman with a keen interest in sex and pleasure. While her very specific edicts concerning fashion and beauty (once making all the court ladies cut out patches of their hair) aren’t included, Bromilow channels her persona through her sexual fascination with court guards, her preoccupation with live entertainment, and her almost uncanny way of speaking. Archie (Adam Godley) seems to have taken direct inspiration from Rasputin, the most infamous and strangest Russian of all. The two share a penchant for self-flagellation (often sexual in nature), self-professed visions from God, and the most unlikely ascension to power in the Russian church. This specific blend of truth and falsehoods conveys and ridicules the zeitgeist of the era, where sexual pleasure, power, and religious ecstasy were of the utmost importance despite the much more pressing matters at hand (including warfare, famine, and slavery, among other things).
History is stupid, andThe Greatrelishes in showcasing the most bizarre elements of the past. Condemnation of the past is important, but a sharp-witted criticism is a refreshing take on an otherwise grimdark genre. It’s often depressing to think of the marginalized place of women in the past (and the present), so perhaps the best thing to do is to poke fun at it and all the stupid people who enforce it.
