I've been doing some research on Victorian society for Scuba's upcoming _A/State_ game as well as for a _Vampire_ character I plan to play in X's WoD crossover game. I've come to the conclusion that it probably wasn't all that nice a place to visit and I definitely wouldn't want to live there, but there are certain aspects of the culture which hold a certain nostalgic appeal. It's kind of like being in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Nobody joins up so that they can play a serf, get scurvy / lice / tapeworms / tortured by the Inquisition, and sleep in a grubby hut with six other people and a whole mess of rats. People join up so they can play a knight, dress up, get ratted on homebrewed mead, whallop the bejeezus out of each other with duct-taped weapons, and have an excuse to fool around with a relative stranger after handing them an orange with cloves all over it on the dancefloor.
Similarly, I'm guessing that most Victoriana aficionados aren't really interested in how the vast majority of the English populace lived, which was under horrific conditions of grinding Dickensian poverty, only without the drippy sentimental happy ending Dickens tended to tack on at the end of a lot of his works. (_A Christmas Carol_, anyone?) We like the elaborate clothes, the high tea, the genteel conversation, but I doubt many people, especially women, really want to go back to the weird position that women ("ladies") held in Victorian society.
Personally, I always thought the primary charm of the Goth subculture at its high point (roughly the late 1980s) was the emulation of the nicer aspects of Victorian society, particularly in matters of dress and manners. I'm especially enamoured with the detailed symbology surrounding the use of flowers in courtship (the "language of flowers") and to a lesser extent the use of fans as semaphore in flirting. It's all very complicated and strategic and charming, which is how I like it. I'm a huge fan of subtext, and it's always nice to get the impression that the other party is also aware of and appreciates the subtext under a good conversation about something completely innocuous. Beats the hell out of some nitwit sending you a picture of his dick on MSN by way of a social introduction.
2 comments:
Still Victorian LARP in its way, I love the spectrum of REALITY<>FANTASY in the chain of US Civil War Reenactor's verismillitude respect, Know to them as 'Farb' ('barf') verses 'Hardcore' (also has the effect of making reenactors sound like the better ones also go off to Techno-breakbeat raves in hidden woods after each battle-situation) :
"Trooper Osborne's Six Degrees Of Reenacting"
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Level One: Complete Farb
Sunglasses, wristwatch, fires a BB gun, eats at nearby fast food joint, sleeps in motels.
Level Two: Farb
Holds rank of private, but sleeps on an aluminum cot in a wall tent by himself, cooks his steak on his hibachi.
Level Three: Mainstream
Sleeps in an A tent with a buddy or in a dog tent alone, in a disguised sleeping bag or bedroll, bolsters hardtack and coffee with chicken and apples.
Level Four: Semi-Hardcore
Sleeps in a dog tent with a buddy, sleeps in uniform, eats rations, sometimes breaks character to answer questions.
Level Five: Hardcore
Sleeps under stars on a blanket and ground cloth, boils chicory, repairs uniform in the field with period implements. Answers questions in first person at all times.
Level Six: Complete Hardcore
Makes his own uniform from authentic materials by regulation patterns, sleeps in the rain, kills something while walking to the event, may have masochist tendencies.
(Osborne 1999)
iow getting lice and playing a serf is more fun in terms of having a time traveller altered state of consciousness, lets you see ghosts etc
Are you playing this "A/State" rpg by any chance?
http://www.contestedground.co.uk/astint.html
Yeeees. I'm really looking forward to playing it after reading the main book and a good chunk of the posts on the forum. Scuba gives good atmosphere too.
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