Wednesday 8th October 2025
Blog Page 361

C’est La Vie: the importance of multilingual representations in art and literature

Emily Rosindell
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C’est La Vie: the importance of multilingual representations in art and literature

Some hidden gems of the artistic world lay in works that employ multiple languages in a purposeful manner. Algerian singer-songwriter Khaled intertwines both Arabic and French into his hit song, ‘C’est la vie’. The song begins with a French intro, leading us through a journey of subsequent Arabic verses and back to a French chorus. He brings energy, excitement, and pure joy to this 2012 pop-dance anthem. 

The title, translating into English as “this is life”, perfectly demonstrates what Khaled is attempting to create. His art is a direct reflection of his worldview: multilingual in nature. The song exists in both French-speaking and Arabic-speaking spaces, as does its author. Art that holds a cross-cultural value, such as Khaled’s, is becoming increasingly pertinent in our rapidly evolving world, where inter-continental exchange is an essential part of daily life for many. The vast majority of the world operates in a multitude of spaces; over half of humans proficiently speak at least two languages. 

Inspired by Khaled, up and coming singer-songwriter Bahjat performs in Arabic, English, and Swedish. Born in Libya but now based in Sweden for music school, Bahjat adapts his writing to reside within his multiple identities. His song ‘Istanbul’ in particular uses both English and Arabic to convey the overall message that no matter where he is geographically located, his heart remains in the same position. 

What is special about these artists is not their ability to utilise multiple languages, but their boldness to employ them in the same piece of art. Both ‘C’est la vie’ and ‘Istanbul’ integrate the seemingly separate worlds into one in a way that allows for an expression of multilingualism as a facet of everyday life. A person who speaks multiple languages does not exist in multiple worlds, they exist in one; art and literature deserve to exist in this same multifaceted world as well. 

Some artworks have been modified after their initial release to become multilingual. João Gilberto’s ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ – or ‘Garota de Ipanema’ in Portuguese – was originally written in Gilberto’s native Portuguese by Vinícius de Moraes in 1964. The English version was written later by Norman Gimbel, an American whose love of Portuguese drew him to Brazilian bossa nova composers. Artists like Gimbel utilise language in a way that is perhaps different to artists who sing in their native tongues, as he fell in love with Portuguese later in life. It was not his mother tongue, but he was able to appreciate its beauty anyways. Art and literature are often a point of access for linguistic and cultural appreciation for foreign language learners.

‘Girl from Ipanema’ also makes an important point in its use as a trope for background or ‘elevator’ music in the world of cinema. This highlights the relegation of multilingual music to the background of the artistic world. While arguably a more creative use of language, multilingual music is very rarely given the forefront. 

An important facet of multilingual approach is the ‘macaronic verse’ – a primarily poetic device that utilises multilingual puns or sayings that work in multiple languages. Hybrid words are commonly used, and single sentences can switch between two or more languages – a common facet of decolonised communities that use their native language and the language of an ex-colonising power. The lack of support multilingual art receives speaks to the Western-centric nature of much of the artistic world, as English-speaking countries – mainly the United Kingdom and the United States – have a significantly lower percent of the population that consider themselves multilingual. 

Early examples of the macaronic verse within the scholar and clergy incorporate both Latin, the conventional language of the learned, and newly arising vernacular languages, such as in the Gospel book of Munsterbilzen, which mixes Latin and Old Dutch. Rumi, a widely known 13th century Persian poet and Islamic theologian, utilises Arabic and Persian blends as well as occasional Greek and Turkish languages to represent the varying experiences in his view of the world through the lenses of these different languages. A more modern example of macaronic verse is employed in the Beatles’ ‘Michelle’ from their Rubber Soul album. The song employs both French and English, inspired by a French teacher that McCartney knew well; he was fascinated by her deliberate use of French phrases that she felt did not translate well into English. The macaronic verse holds power in the journey to understand that languages do not exist in separate spheres for the majority of the world; some expressions don’t have the ability to be translated from a mother tongue to the same effect. 

Children’s books rarely use a multilingual approach to provide authenticity to the storylines set in the non-English speaking world. A prominent example of this approach includes the Chalet Girls series, set partially in Austria and Switzerland, which utilises German throughout the series. Encouraging children to see and read about people switching between various languages as a facet of everyday life allows for their development as learners, ready to partake in a world where linguistic ability is increasingly valued and necessary.

An estimated 60% of the world’s population speaks two or more languages – so why does the majority of the art world feel the need to comply with one language instead of representing their own multilingual view of the world? The platform for creating art and literature in several languages needs to grow; the majority of the world operates in multiple languages, and so too should the creative world. 

Image credit: Michael Gaida via Pixabay.

Meet the students running for the Green Party in Oxford

Matilda Gettins
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Meet the students running for the Green Party in Oxford
Image of Rosie Rawle infront of brick building.
Image of Rosie Rawle, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.

Rosie Rawle

Rosie Rawle is a PhD student on worker’s rights at Queen Mary University of London. Rosie is Co-Chair of the Young Green Party and is standing for election in both Donnington City ward* and St. Clement’s country division.

MG: Which political issues motivated you to run for election in Oxford whist obtaining a PhD?

RR: I think there are a number of issues that led me towards this…. The thing about Oxford is [that] it’s an amazing city, but you can’t walk down a street without recognising and noticing the scale of rough sleeping, the scale of inequality and the scale of injustice in the city.

MG: From your studies of International development and on Social Movements, you seem to be quite a big picture person. Is running for office part of the classic slogan “think global, act local?”

RR: Yes, in short. 

The interesting thing about the current political landscape is that there is so much unharnessed power and potential of local government to transform our communities and start building an alternative society; one which is much more democratic, socially just, and environmentally just. 

MG: The first point in the Green’s manifesto is #qualityhomes. What would you do to ensure affordable accommodation for students who cannot stay in university accommodation?

RR: It is shocking that, outside of London, Oxford is the most expensive city to live in. It is a disgrace quite frankly that the private rental sector is allowed to charge sky high prices for what is, basically, poor quality accommodation. 

The kind of actions that we’re hoping to push forward if elected include making sure we have a living rent, that means affordable living for all students and young people, and trying to start up a lettings agency run by the Council … stop these astronomical random fees and charges that students face. 

MG: In a speech during the Greens’ spring conference you spoke about “Students packed into campuses to protect the bottom line of increasingly privatised universities”. Do you think students on non-practical courses should not be allowed back for trinity term?

RR: I think this is a really tricky one. 

The reality is that in September, university campuses weren’t ready to manage students travelling from across the country, forced and packed into accommodation, and that did cause a load of outbreaks. But there has been nine months of learning. I think we ought to be listening to the students, the unions and the Student Union.

MG: Many people think that voting for the Green party is a lost vote – how would you respond to this? 

RR: I’d say we have won in Oxford, we can win at Oxford, and, hopefully, we will win in Oxford. The truth is that greens have had seats on the city council and on the county council for over 20 years back and forth … In the one ward where we have two greens elected, we’ve held those seats year on year on year on year. I don’t think we’ll see [that ward] go anytime soon.

Image of Kelsey Trevett, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.
Image of Kelsey Trevett, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.

Kelsey Trevett

Profile: Kelsey Trevett is a first year PPE student at Trinity College, co-chair of the young greens disability group and running as candidate for the Green Party in the coming elections. 

MG: What does Green Socialism and grassroots organising look like at a local, Oxford level? 

KT: Grassroots organising is making sure that what was actually wanted by people is achieved, and that there’s full representation, and not a disconnect that is patched up – or pretended to be patched up – every couple of years when there’s an election and people want to win votes. 

MG: How will the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill affect green grassroots activism? 

KT: It’s a really scary time. [Protesting] has been a fundamental part of how grassroots organising has taken place for so long. Historically, but also more recently, massive, massive things have relied on protest. It’s important to highlight that that bill basically criminalises Roma and traveller communities as well, which is just awful. … It’s really important that we stand up for those rights which the bill aims to squash.

MG: You talk about the importance of equality for the LGBTQIA+ on your own blog. What would you change to make Oxford more inclusive for members of the community?

KT: I think I feel like a broken record: again, it’s about representation and about listening to the communities. We have this national debate about trans rights. It’s about listening to trans people, it’s about looking at things like gender neutral toilets, and public toilets, all sorts of sorts of small things.

It’s hugely about listening to those communities, making sure that they’re safe and that they’re comfortable, and that they have exactly the same rights as everyone else,…  [and] that they aren’t spoken over by people who don’t have those lived experiences. I think that’s really important.

MG: You have been part of the BBC Children in Need’s Rickshaw Challenge and even advised the local council on how to work with disabled children aged 8. What measures would you implement in Oxford to make the town more open to disabled people?

KT: There’s so much discourse about some of the decarbonisation measures …  there’s a lot of concern that they might not be accessible to all disabled people. And I think, a), that’s not true, and they can be completely accessible, and they will be, but b) that really highlights the need to engage in dialogue with disabled communities and making sure that their concerns are raised and listened to. Because they are genuine concerns…. [We need] representation, but dialogue and communication over time as well.

MG: How could the measures to pedestrianise Oxford City be made more inclusive ?

KT: Speaking from my own experience – someone with no sight –  pedestrianisation removes the risk, to put it kind of extremely, of being hit by silent electric cars. That’s always a good start. 

I think it’s about making sure …  that there is space for people who are using wheelchairs, people with assistance dogs. … I think it’s [about] looking at things like that and making sure that everyone has been consulted and that concerns have been raised properly. It’s not just a tick box exercise.

MG: On your blog, you also argue that “apolitical climate movements” are counterproductive, failing to address the problem at the “root” which you identify with “capitalism”. Given the climate emergency, why shouldn’t we get support from as many groups in the political spectrum as possible? 

KT: The root of the climate crisis isn’t individuals. It’s the system under which we live, it’s capitalism. The exploitative nature of capitalist systems causes a huge part of the climate crisis. I completely agree that getting as many people on site as possible from across the political spectrum is hugely important. But if we also have to simultaneously address the fact that capitalism isn’t compatible with preserving the biosphere and preventing the climate crisis.

*a ward is a city district, used for electoral purposes

Oxford Brookes Union organises Black Students Careers Week

Matilda Gettins
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Oxford Brookes Union organises Black Students Careers Week

Oxford Brookes Student Union is currently running a Black Students Careers Week. It is part of the Brookes Student Union’s commitment to “tackling racial inequality on campus as a matter of emergency”. Black Students Careers Week offers online networking events with successful individuals in the finance, law, music and technology industry, as well as recruitment and interview coaching. The events have been curated by Brookes Union Black Officer Iman Tadu, but are open to all.

Brookes students are invited to join the talk with Amanda Mapanda about her experiences as a lawyer at Freshfields, or to register for a talk with chartered accountant Thelma Matsaira on the financial sector. They can also sign up to listen to Radha Medar share her experiences co-managing Skepta or popstar Mabel, or listen to Andrew Osamyemi outline his successful launch of the Netflix series ‘Meet the Adebanjos’. Events to improve recruitment skills include “Write Job Applications That Work”, “Ace Your Assessment Centre” and “How to level-up your LinkedIn bio in 1 hour”. 

Black Students’ Officer of Brookes Student Union, Iman Tadu, says: “My vision for the Black Students Careers Week was to bring a light to the faces of individuals that are from the backgrounds of students who are not always given a platform to share the story of their career journeys … visibility can empower someone and help them believe in themselves where they were not able to before.”  The event series is a collaboration between Brookes Union, ACS, Brookes Enterprise Support, Oxford Brookes University Careers, and Oxford Brookes University Alumni office. 

Oxford Student Union (OSU) runs a permanent Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) dedicated to “creating a more just and inclusive student experience at the University”, though the last report uploaded on the CRAE webpage is over 5 years old. OSU also supports the University-wide Race Equality Taskforce, launched November 2020. The taskforce is “in the process of establishing our own equality, diversity and inclusion action plan” which will be presented in September 2021. In the past, OSU has run BAME Leadership in Oxford conferences.

Oxford University Careers Service told Cherwell: “Our research strongly indicates that there is statistically minimal difference in the graduate level employment outcomes of our students of different ethnicities, but we are working hard to speed up the pace of change outside the University.”

On its website, it provides resources on BME recruitment schemes as well as on the Equality Act (2010). It “[offers] a number of more target activities to support Black students” including the “10000BlackInterns initiatives” and “delivering careers sessions for Black Boys Cant”. 

Image credit: Jpbowen / CC BY-SA 3.0

Risk of blood clots from COVID-19 seven times higher than from vaccines

Charlie Hancock
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Risk of blood clots from COVID-19 seven times higher than from vaccines

A report from the University of Oxford has found that the risk of developing rare blood clots from a COVID-19 infection is seven times higher than the risk from vaccines. COVID-19 also increases the risk of rare blood clots by 100 times compared to normal.

The international rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been dogged by concerns about whether the vaccine is linked with rare blood clots in the brain called cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). In the UK, 44 CVT cases had been reported in patients who received the AstraZeneca vaccine as of March 31st. 14 of those patients died, although it is not certain whether the clots caused their deaths. 20.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered in the UK by this point.

In early April, the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that healthy 18-29 year olds who were not at high risk from the virus should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine. The decision was made because three cases of blood clots were found in patients in this age group, who are generally at a lower risk from COVID-19 than older people. 

Researchers at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre compared the number of CVT cases diagnosed in patients two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19 or had received a vaccine, and compared it with the background level in the general population.

Over 500,000 COVID-19 patients were included in the study, along with over 480,000 people who had received either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. CVT occurred most frequently in COVID-19 patients, at a rate of 39 per million. 30% of these cases occurred in patients younger than 30. The rate is 100 times higher than the background level of CVT in the general population.

The reported rate of CVT in patients who received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine stands at about 5 per million. This rate of CVT after contracting COVID-19 is about 8 times greater than the risk from the AstraZeneca vaccine. For patients who had received the Moderna or PFizer, the rate is about 4 per million. The rate from contracting COVID-19 is about 10 times greater.

It is unclear whether COVID-19 increases the risk of developing CVT via the same or different mechanisms as vaccines.The researchers advised that the data should be interpreted with caution, since the rates could change as more data is gathered. There is also uncertainty in the data surrounding whether CVT is under-reported in medical records.

The Head of the Transneural Biology Group at Oxford University, Professor Paul Harrison, said: “We’ve reached two important conclusions. Firstly, COVID-19 markedly increases the risk of CVT, adding to the list of blood clotting problems this infection causes. Secondly, the COVID-19 risk is higher than we see with the current vaccines, even for those under 30; something that should be taken into account when considering the balances between risks and benefits for vaccination”.

Patients who experience unusual bruising around the injection site, new or persistent headaches, confusion, seizures, blurred vision, shortness of breach, chest pain, and leg swelling after receiving a vaccine are advised to seek medical attention.

Image: Vacunació Professionals / CC0 1.0

Student Profile: Luke Bateman

Issy Kenney-Herbert
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Student Profile: Luke Bateman

Joining this zoom call, Luke is sat in his childhood bedroom with a bookcase overflowing in the background. Luke immediately starts chatting and smiling, with a clear ability to put anyone at ease, even in online setting. This site is familiar to me as we both took a History module together last Trinity. Little did I know that lockdown had been such a creative time for him beyond those two-hour long classes we had each week – while I was binge watching Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time, Luke was producing copious amounts of poetry and short stories…

Luke Bateman is a second year History student studying at Merton College, who also happens to be a prolific writer. He has been published in several journals for poetry including CP Quarterly, Jupiter Review and the Broad Street Humanities Review, and was also the winner of the Short Fiction Prize by Oxford Review of Books in December 2020 for a piece that he produced in the first lockdown.

Having read many of them, I start the interview asking about the multiple Tolkien references I found littered throughout his work. He lights up in delight when saying ‘I think anybody who is interested in fantasy has a massive debt to Tolkien. One of the major reasons I chose to apply to Merton College was because I found out that Tolkien had been there. I think the man’s incredible, obviously there are problematic elements to his work, but the sheer imagination of it. The poetry of the way he writes has always really appealed to me.’

When I ask what he is working on currently, he discusses a fantasy novel that is ‘very much Tolkien inspired with wizards and witches and a strong theme of environmentalism’ and continues to state that Tolkien has very much influenced his work. His passion for all things Tolkien is clear from the start. Yet, that passion does not subside throughout the interview. From discussing the topics of lockdown and the intensity of Oxford terms, to his aspirations for the future, he never once fades in his enthusiasm and optimism.

He mentions that poetry is a relatively new medium for him, which I didn’t expect – his poetry is the main body of his work that I read. He smiles and says ‘poetry is really something that I’ve got into as a result of being in Oxford. Before coming to University, I wrote maybe three poems in my entire life’, he laughs to himself as he recounts one of those times being for a poetry competition at his sixth form, which they eventually cancelled to his disappointment. However, as seems to be a theme with Luke, he managed to turn this situation into a golden opportunity later on: ‘I just put it away and didn’t think about it for a couple of years. When I got to Merton, I discovered the Merton poetry society and thought that since I had this poem that had been sitting there, it would just be silly to not take this opportunity. I submitted it and they were really kind about it, I went along to a meeting and met lots of really lovely people and thought – huh, poetry is kinda cool? And just got into it like that. If I hadn’t have come to Merton, I don’t think I would have pursued this route.’

We also discuss the viability of poetry with an intense Oxford term, with Luke saying ‘it is a lot easier to write a little ten line poem then sit down with the intention of writing the latest scene in a novel – poetry provides a creative outlet between essays’.

Whilst during Oxford terms, Luke mainly finds time for poetry, during the vacs he takes every opportunity to continue his lengthier projects: ‘this vac I have written two chapters of the novel I am working on, and it has been so lovely to disappear and be like “I’m going to pretend to be a witch!”‘

I ask if he finds his subject inspiring for the writing process – usually you would expect writers to study English and read novels. His reply is that of someone who has endless passion for everything he sets his mind to, and the ability to find creativity everywhere he looks: ‘we live in this world where so much has happened, the breadth of human creativity is so large, as a historian you read things and think that can’t possibly have happened, but it has. I come away thinking, well yes these are some great ideas for an essay but imagine putting them into a fantasy context…’

I explained to Luke that when starting student profiles, part of the idea was to spotlight the amazing work of students but also to help make some more things accessible. Luke is an incredible writer, has been writing throughout his life, but as he himself states, his degree at Oxford has changed the direction of his writing immeasurably. From inspiration from his degree to the environment of Merton College and the exploration of the medium of poetry to being published in the Oxford Review of Books. When asked what others could do to pursue a creative outlet whilst trying to get to grips with the Oxford workload, he suggests looking up and finding societies, such as the Merton Poetry Society: ‘you don’t need to constantly commit to doing absolutely everything, just take a chance. You might be led to the most creative thing you have ever done, or you might never think about it again. But just take that chance – what have you got to lose?’

Luke’s work is well worth a read and you can find it through his LinkTree.

Beyond the 9-to-5: In Conversation with Chelsea Fagan

Irene Zhang
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Beyond the 9-to-5: In Conversation with Chelsea Fagan

Chelsea Fagan’s videos are credited for making me finally understand stocks — no small feat, since both economics teachers and my dear parents had been unsuccessful at cracking my skull. With just the right number of pastel pillows and aesthetically pleasing plant combinations, her YouTube presence combines an impossibly chic visual appeal with deep cuts into the intimidating world of budgets, credit cards, and investing.

All very inspirational: naturally, I rolled out of bed 20 minutes before the interview and failed to get out of pyjama trousers before logging on, feeling like the absolute opposite of the accomplished woman I am about to call. Outside of being YouTube’s honest, feminist financial voice, Chelsea Fagan is the founder of The Financial Diet (TFD), a Manhattan-based, all-women media company dedicated to talking about money: what it does, how it intersects with our lives and social structures, and how to best cultivate a relationship with it.

One technical mishap later, we rolled into a conversation about TFD’s 2021 vision. Fagan’s followers on Twitter are familiar with her frequent updates on TFD’s workplace policies, and I was curious to learn more about flexible work-from-home and 35-hour work weeks from the perspective of a CEO. Fagan’s voice lit up, and I could sense palpable pride in her tone. ‘Before COVID we had a very flexible work-from-home policy where employees were only required to be in the office three days a week. We had a relationship to work-life balance that I think was already […] skewed more towards life than many employers, especially in media.’ Pre-COVID, TFD employees enjoyed ‘Summer Fridays’ in addition to flexible remote-work arrangements, and Fagan noted that neither productivity nor company revenue dipped.

However, she is hesitant to exaggerate the impacts of her workplace culture experiments. ‘The model that we have, which is essentially having leadership that feels very strongly about these issues and makes these choices, is unfortunately not very scalable, because quite frankly a lot of employers don’t feel that way.’

Fagan has made no secret of her politics: she supported Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primaries, and our conversation frequently circled back to systemic ills in American capitalism. On the subject of exploitation, she does not mince her words. ‘Especially when you get to large corporations and, of course, publicly traded corporations, their loyalty ultimately is to their shareholders and their bloated executive packages, it’s not toward their workers. And in many cases their workers’ interests can be diametrically opposed with what is profitable.

‘[…] I do believe that when implemented properly, a lot of these practices are very good for the health of the business. My business […] operates this way and it’s been fantastic for the overall health and sustainability of the project, but I know that it doesn’t scale. I think the answer in a much broader sense is, of course, worker empowerment [and] unionisation. It’s really grassroots, and unfortunately I can’t do that for every worker in America, but I hope that by, in a very small way, setting an example, at least in our own industry of media, we can start to shift the narrative a little bit.’

Why run a business helping individuals get good at money, if the problem lies with an entire system rigged against much of her young audience? Fagan says that this dilemma is ‘the tension at the core of everything we do.’ Referring to TFD’s expansion into Spanish-language content for Latino communities and her experiences working with underprivileged individuals, she adds a game metaphor for explaining American society’s unspoken financial pain. ‘As the game in which you’re operating becomes more and more rigged and more and more difficult, it’s very, very hard to put too much of the emphasis on individual choices and individual responsibilities. You don’t want to get into […] victim-blaming someone if they happen to be in a tough financial situation, because the majority of what determines our financial outcomes in the US is the family to which we’re born and the circumstances to which we were born.

‘Most of wealth is inherited and poverty is very difficult to escape once you’re in it. Especially as the communities […] get more and more marginalised, it’s quite frankly very difficult to to find the right balance between personal responsibility and social awareness.’ Nevertheless, her work has convinced her that individual leveraging power through financial literacy is meaningful. ‘If I had to sum up the ethos of how we frame this information and how we communicate to our audience in a soundbite, it would be to say: the game that we’re playing is rigged. All of us are playing a rigged game here in the United States when it comes to building our financial stability, there’s no way around that. However, while we’re playing this game, it is in your best interest to play the best game you can possibly play.’

The decision to make accessible financial media her life mission was an intensely personal one for Fagan. In video essays, online articles, and public talks, she frequently harks back to her own money-troubled young adulthood. Rarely can anyone talk about sinking credit scores and being arrested for debt with such refreshing clarity, and it’s clear that Fagan has moved past financial shame. ‘I’m someone who went from experiencing pretty substantial poverty early in my life to becoming more financially stable, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that having money and financial security is like playing with a cheat code in life. It’s very difficult to get over that hump when you’re on the other side of poverty or not having enough. But ultimately, it is not going to help you and it’s not going to help your family if you abandon the game and just say, “well, I’ll never win.” I understand that; I think that’s a very human reaction and it’s very, very hard to find motivation to make the right choices when you’re working with so little. But you’re still better off making those better choices.

‘And in the meantime, especially [for] those of us who do have financial privilege, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can advocate for people to improve themselves in terms of their financial literacy and the choices they’re making, and simultaneously advocate for better policy and for better social responsibility with regards to quality of life.’

Where and how do we find the capacity to ‘do both’ — seek both individual and systemic change — at the same time? I ask Fagan about ‘selling-out’ for graduate jobs and ethical conflicts in careers choices. She isn’t familiar with the phrase: Fagan dropped out of college in 2010 to start her career and never obtained a degree. Nevertheless, is it possible to balance the pursuit of financial wellbeing with values?

To Fagan, the answer depends on who you are. ‘I do believe that as people achieve higher and higher levels of financial stability and freedom themselves, it becomes something of an ethical obligation to […] do whatever you can to make sure you’re not just getting on the hamster wheel of hoarding money for yourself.

‘Quite frankly, especially at elite universities, many of the most privileged children who come from wealth and really would have a lot of options will often go to extremely high paying jobs that are probably pretty detrimental to society. That’s not good, but it’s understandable if people’s central values and self worth […] is centred around how much they have and how much they can afford.

‘And then on the flip side, especially in more progressive circles, you have the opposite pressure […] which is to do something that is true to your values but perhaps will keep you trapped in a cycle of poverty, because a lot of these jobs that are very important are also terribly paid. If you have a massive debt burden, which you likely would if you’re coming from an elite school and you didn’t come from a wealthy background, you could be signing yourself up for a pretty hand-to-mouth life for some time and not be able to do any of the things that you would want to do, like maybe own a home […].

‘So I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to the choice of how you position living up to your values versus achieving financial stability for yourself, but I will only say to people who are […] struggling financially, who come from a disadvantaged background, [and] who don’t have a lot of resources: you do not owe purity to anyone. You are allowed to prioritise your stability. You are allowed to prioritise your financial security. And you don’t have to explain that to anyone.

‘It’s often the people who have the financial security who are going to really drill down on someone for opting to do the same thing. But I will say again: once you do have financial stability, resources, and choices, I do believe that if you care about living in a more financially just society, that it is an ethical obligation to some capacity to make sure that you’re paying that forward.’

We return to the emphasis on life beyond work, and Fagan believes that such a shift can also be value-based. ‘It is important to remember too that your nine-to-five job is not the only place that you can have an impact on the world around you. You can have a job that is stable and allows you to live a functional life, and with your additional time you can do things that are contributive [to] building the community around you and helping improve the situation in which you’re operating; it doesn’t have to always be through your job.’

In terms of the future of work for Gen-Z, Fagan, a self-proclaimed millennial, is cautiously optimistic. ‘When it comes to the concept of work, we have seen over the past century that human productivity has increased by leaps and bounds. A lot of that is a result of our ability to synthesise our human capabilities with all of this technology. We’re producing more than ever, but we’re still stuck in a very old-fashioned concept of what it means to work; it’s really about an arbitrary number of hours that was decided a century ago.

‘I think the broader question is: how do we get to a place where we are not centering our lives around work? It can be an important facet of our personality, of our identity, of our validation and all of those things — I think it probably always will be for certain people — but it shouldn’t be the absolute centre and majority share of your life. And I don’t think it needs to be, because productivity as we’ve seen has skyrocketed, people are producing more than ever, and that’s completely decoupled with their average wages.

‘[In] professional managerial class jobs, if you’re even remotely competent at the job, you don’t need to be sitting at your desk for nine-plus hours a day. You just don’t.’ Her line of argument shaping up around some echoes of David Graeber, Fagan laughs a little as she pictures a potential future that allows ‘automation and technology to […] liberate workers, and to liberate people and to free up more of our time and resources. […] It will only be a net positive for society, because right now we are forcing people to waste not just a lot of their time, but a lot of their identity and a lot of their potential on planting their ass in a chair for fifty or sixty hours a week at many of these jobs, if not more.’

For one last question, I ask that classic aspiring-creative query on the values and limitations of unpaid work. Fagan sees social media advocacy and websites like Glassdoor as having had important impacts on workplace transparency, but also recognizes the internet’s inherent complexity. ‘The internet has had [an] inherent effect of devaluing a lot of work, because so many people can produce it, and a piece of work can be lifted and manipulated and repurposed and reproduced in seconds for all kinds of purposes. It’s not always clear who is the victim of that versus who is the beneficiary of that.’

She raises the example of one of TFD’s recent clients: a young woman whose Twitter video went viral. Her work was ‘repurposed left, right and centre’ by major media corporations, but she received no monetary compensation. Fagan sees more nuance in the story: ‘the original viral video she made no money from, but […] as a result of that virality and as a result of that ability to reach an audience, she has been able since to build a very lucrative career off of that attention. Certainly, it doesn’t work like that for everyone; there are shades of it.

‘We as a company at TFD do not do any unpaid internships […]; people don’t work for us for free. However, I got my career start in media distinctly by working for free, and had […] a similar experience to that young woman who went viral, in the sense that the visibility that that work, and that the internet was able to give me, I was able to [then] parlay to my own benefit and eventually start my own company through it.’

While recognizing the visibility economy’s many possibilities, Fagan makes thoughtful counterarguments. ‘We have to understand that it’s a double edged sword, the exposure and the transparency and the communication of the internet versus the inherently devaluing of it.

‘My biggest piece of advice to anyone starting out in their career is to be an opportunist. Look at everything as an opportunity, [and] weigh it as a cost-benefit analysis in terms of its future possible benefits for you. If you do something unpaid or underpaid, be very clear about why you’re doing it and what leverage it might give you in the future.’

Fagan ends on a resonant and honest note, on-brand as always. ‘Remember that these employers and companies that are leveraging you for free or for very little, they don’t care about you. So use them in the same way: use them for a byline, use them for a connection, use them for a step up.

‘I’m glad I did the things that I did when I was at the beginning of my career because I did leverage them as opportunities. I think having that real opportunist mentality is the only way to square the circle of the simultaneous level of visibility and devaluation that you will find in a digital job marketplace.’

In no way is the tension between individual action and collective problem-solving resolved; indeed, it seems that Fagan does not anticipate such a resolution. We haphazardly survive the ethical chaos of money in an inherently unjust world, hopefully doing all we can to pick the system apart. Such an idealistic, transformative task calls us to analyse employment as an honest tradeoff while imagining identities beyond work. I leave the call with questions still, but more interesting ones for the coming years and decades: how do we balance the need to cope, financially and otherwise, in the present with planning for a radically unpredictable future? What about the looming horizon of climate change? At the very least, I’ll be tuning in to TFD for more advice.

In and Out of Love: A Biblio-Biography

Katie Kirkpatrick
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In and Out of Love: A Biblio-Biography

It feels weird to be writing about books again. I used to consider myself a huge bookworm, often getting through multiple books in a week, but, as is the cliché, I found that my attention span waned dramatically once I reached my mid-teens. It remains true, though, that the books I read growing up have had a massive impact on who I am now, and that there have still been some in recent years that have felt important to me. 

The Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo

Like everyone else under the sun, I was a massive Harry Potter fan growing up. I owned a Hermione wand, along with a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and all the film tie-in books. I vividly remember going to the cinema to see the Half-Blood Prince adaptation aged nine (and hiding behind my mum’s cardigan at the sight of the nightmarish inferi), and taking the Pottermore sorting quiz for the first time (I maintain that it is flawed and I am a Ravenclaw, not a Hufflepuff). So why isn’t Harry Potter on this list then? It’s not just because I’m trying to be ‘not like other girls’. The Charlie Bone series shares many traits with Harry Potter: it similarly follows a boy who discovers that he is magic and the friends he makes at his magic school. What sets it apart most, though, is the fact that the school is for people gifted not only in magic, but in music, art, and drama, making it feel more grounded in real life. The Charlie Bone series was one of the first books that felt important to me because it creates a whole other world, like Harry Potter, but being less popular, its world felt like my own. 

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I first read The Hunger Games aged eleven, on a family holiday to France, and I was immediately obsessed. The gritty dystopian universe sucked me in from the start, and I got deep into the details of the world that Collins created. Embarrassingly, I won a school ‘Book Mastermind’ competition with the trilogy as my specialist subject, and to this day could tell you the names of minor characters and their districts of origin. The Hunger Games is also important to me as it started a prolonged interest in dystopian fiction and media. I went on to read every book of the genre I could get my hands on, from Divergent, Matched, and Uglies to The Handmaid’s Tale. I also did a project qualification on the popularity of dystopian fiction among young people, and it’s since been the subject of several articles I’ve written this year. The Hunger Games spawned for me a lifelong fascination with the world of dystopia – one that’s felt increasingly relevant recently. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

“Okay? Okay.”

Following my obsession with The Hunger Games, I fell deep into the YA rabbithole. At this point, I was very lucky to get involved with the Guardian Children’s Books website, reviewing books like All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven before they were published. I was also, regrettably, introduced to the concept of ‘fandom’. The Fault in Our Stars feels like the most significant book of the 2012-14 YA boom, but it’s also one that had an impact on my life in the real 

world. My now very tattered copy of the novel was passed round every single friend I had in Year 8, and was something we all talked about – a lot. My best friend at the time scribbled ‘Augustus Waters’ on the back page of my Maths book, and my cousin and I made (really, truly, deeply terrible) music videos on the infamous VideoStar based on the plots of our favourite books. On a family holiday to Amsterdam I insisted on finding the sites mentioned in the book and seen in the film adaptation – at this point in time, YA lit, and this book in particular, was everything to me and my friends. 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

To this day, if I am put on the spot and asked about my favourite book, I will say Never Let Me Go. The novel combined my love of YA and dystopia with literary writing, allowing me to see that this all-consuming interest could become something more widely widely respected. I did a school project on the film adaptation in Year 9, and wrote about it for a film website this month: it’s a story I keep coming back to. At this point, however, I was also starting to run out of steam with my reading habits. I began feeling too old for YA, and was instead eager to find ‘adult’ books that still dealt with the kinds of themes and characters I enjoyed, and Ishiguro’s novel presented me with exactly that. I also saw myself in its heroine Kathy – her name was so close to my own and despite her dystopian situation she had similar stresses and insecurities growing up. Never Let Me Go showed me that ‘literary’ fiction has the potential to be just as gripping as YA, and presented a morally complex story that has stayed with me for several years.

Selling Manhattan by Carol Ann Duffy

Just as I was drifting away from fiction, I found myself falling in love with poetry. I stumbled into it, really, after entering a local poetry competition. Making it my entire personality, as you do when you’re fifteen, meant that I went and bought a selection of poetry books: it was Selling Manhattan that stuck. Duffy is one of the most well-known poets in the country, especially by my generation due to the fact that seemingly everyone studied the iconic ‘Valentine’ (the onion poem) at GCSE and can still quote much of it by heart, but for good reason. This poetry collection was the first to demonstrate to me that poetry can be fun, honest, and accessible, having had enough of studying the Romantics. A special mention here must also go to the Young Poets Network website, where I was reading many poems by other young people and finding just as much inspiration.

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

At sixth form, I read for fun less than ever before – with the exception of the new John Green book and everything Sally Rooney, I spent all my reading time diving into French lit in preparation for my personal statement and interviews. When A-levels were cancelled, however, I found myself with a lot of time to kill, and naturally turned back to reading. This time, I didn’t care about trying to find something ‘literary’, or something I could reference in a personal statement – I just wanted something fun to take my mind off the state of… well, everything. Red, White and Royal Blue did the job perfectly. The book is a ‘New Adult’ rom-com, and a really excellent one. It reads like fanfiction in the best way possible, indulging in tropes, an eccentric ensemble cast, and tooth-rotting romance. I’ve highlighted God knows how many lines, for both the exquisite writing and unexpected moments of relatability, and re-read the book at least three times in less than a year. It’s just so good, and reminds you that reading can be, above all else, fun. 

Hera Lindsay Bird by Hera Lindsay Bird 

The poem ‘Monica’ by Hera Lindsay Bird has been stuck in my head for years. It deals with pop culture in a way that’s fun and honest and heartbreaking all at once, constantly subverting your expectations and delivering a sucker-punch ending. Bird’s self-titled poetry collection was my reward to myself for making it through Hilary term from home, and it was great. It’s easy to get disillusioned with poetry when you read a fair amount of it, but Bird’s voice is so raw and clever and unique that it stands out from the crowd. I’ll mention it whenever I’m asked for poetry recommendations, and revisit whenever I want something non-fiction and non-French for a minute. For 2021, it’s the perfect balance of wacky escapism, and hard-hitting dealings with real world feelings.

There are so many more books that have had an impact on me: I couldn’t fit in my deep love for Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, my pretentious fascination with Macbeth, or my awe of I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. So many of us fall in and out of love with reading, but everything we read stays with us in one way or another. I look forward to being able to add to this list. 

Image credits: Sofie Jones, Irene Zhang, and Johannes van Kan (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, Wikimedia Foundation).

Cherwell Recommends: University Reads

Cherwell Books
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Cherwell Recommends: University Reads

Trinity 2021 will see at least a significant portion of the student body return to ‘normal Oxford’, a loose collection of memories, activities, and locations so distant yet so viscerally near. Of course, Oxford means radically different things to each and every student; the higher education experience in general is portrayed in literature as a tumultuous, fleeting moment, preserved in space by historical campuses but not in time. Be it pre-war Oxford, 1990s Harvard, or another locale, university settings have created some of the most treasured texts for readers across generations.

Some of the books editors have selected their favourite reads set in universities. We hope that as you peruse these stories, images of a bright new Oxford life post-pandemic will also spring to mind. Whose words will immortalize university life in the 2020s?

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Maebh, Books Editor
Amidst the news that there will be a new film adaptation of this classic novel written by Waugh in the 1940s, I decided to pick up and finally read a copy of it during the two weeks of isolation I went through in Michaelmas term. Whilst I was confined to my small bedroom, Waugh’s evocation depiction of 1920s Oxford made me nostalgic for the Oxford I had experienced before the pandemic; the joys of roaming around colleges, meeting new people, and the highs and lows of university life. In a weird way, I guess, it gave me a sense of belonging, the characters being described as strolling down the very same street that I lived (and was then isolated) on. Waugh’s memorable characters, his powerful evocation of a country both during and after the two World Wars, and his beautiful prose style makes this novel a joy to read, and an essential for anyone who has, or will, live in Oxford.

The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Sofie, Books Editor
The Idiot, a semi-autobiographical novel by New Yorker writer Elif Batuman, follows a young Turkish American woman named Selin as she navigates her first year at Harvard. When Selin starts exchanging emails with an older mathematics student named Ivan (the novel is set in the 1990s), she finds herself grappling with existential questions of life, language, and love first-hand.

The Idiot is distinctively a type of university novel, but it also captures the way in which Selin experiences the world beyond ivy-clad gates: at home, in Ivan’s home country of Hungary, and in European cities. While Batuman’s prose and dialogue are, at points, overly intellectualized, the novel does capture the very real anxieties and hopes that this period in one’s life brings.

Jill by Philip Larkin
Irene, Deputy Editor
Even among dedicated Larkin fans, Jill is often an overlooked work. Written when Larkin was 21 and studying for an English degree at St. John’s, the novel is set in ‘austere’ WWII Oxford. Gone are the days of Sebastian Flyte and motorcar trips to Wiltshire; instead, protagonist John Kemp finds himself in a labyrinthe of incomprehensible social norms and strang interactions. Kemp is a scholarship student from Lancashire, suddenly confronted with a world of privilege, private-school connections, and pretense. Jill’s subjects and themes are chillingly relevant today; almost none of the challenges that drove John Kemp to the edge of sanity have been resolved, and we too find ourselves back in an ‘austere’ Oxford where societal trauma is ongoing and palpable. At the very least, revisiting Larkin finds us companions in history.

Image credit: Man vyi (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, Wikimedia Commons).

Why we should all get a tattoo (or stop hating on those that do)

Renee Reid
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Why we should all get a tattoo (or stop hating on those that do)

In a city where every other person walking down the street is clad in either a Barbour jacket or an overcoat, and seems to regularly frequent dinner parties and wine-tastings, Oxford does not always appear to be the right place for tattoos.

The University of Oxford boasts the title of oldest English-speaking university and has hosted some of the world’s most respected personalities — we’ve all proudly recited their names before: C.S. Lewis, Stephen Hawking, Emma Watson, and Hugh Grant for all the fangirls out there. Yet surprisingly, for an establishment steeped in tradition, this 5000-year-old practice of tattooing (the Wellcome Collection suggests it might even be longer) is one long-standing tradition that has not been so readily accepted.

Hailing from the Bronze-Age, Ötzi the Iceman is said to be the oldest example of humans with tattoos. Now, tattoos can be found all over the world, throughout countless different cultures; depending on the country, they may signify anything from tribal identity to religious belief, but most importantly, they always reflect something personal.

So with their eclectic history, why haven’t tattoos made the cut? Our current student body is in the midst of great change – we are challenging expectations and destabilising traditions, flaunting our freshest and funkiest image of academia yet, and still, tattoos remain the subject of stigma and awkwardness. (My guess is that long ago we adopted the opinion of our beloved Greeks and Romans who associated the art with barbarism and this attitude has stuck since then). We’ve all been subjected to the agony of an awful tattoo reveal: the classic strained smile, lips pursed together, the words ‘nice!’ and ‘interesting…’ floating around the room. Yes, it can be painfully awkward.

The tattoo industry has been heavily misrepresented by three common myths that fervent critics, or perhaps just people who are deathly afraid of commitment, have made it their duty to disseminate. And while I will readily admit that I once fell into the former group (or potentially the latter…), I can confirm that, since admiring the tattoos of my amazingly intelligent and sensible friends, I no longer subscribe to that school of thought, and have instead decided to commit myself to claiming a space for tattoos in this prestigious institution.

Myth number one: “Tattoos are dangerous.” A common argument employed by anyone who isn’t too well acquainted with the practice or is perhaps only familiar with its black-market cousin (DIY hand-pokers, I’m talking to you). It’s also probably the most inaccurate of the three. If you do your research carefully and choose a legitimate artist with genuine reviews, there will absolutely be legislations in place to ensure the safety of staff and clients. What’s more – an increasing number studios are committed to using vegan and non-toxic inks making their practices even safer for the body. And above all, it is most important that you voice your concerns if something seems a little dodgy – don’t be scared to leave and go somewhere else if you don’t feel comfortable!  

But seriously, my main question is: what is so different about tattoos and body piercings? After all, they are both permanent, both intrusive – just in different manners. The same risks even apply: scarring, infections, allergic reactions, etc. Yet for some reason, when these complications are related to piercings, they are risks worth taking. Tattoos on the other hand? Often deemed not worth it. If I think about it carefully, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard more horror stories about my friends’ piercings than I have tattoos, even when they are done in reputable studios.  

Myth number two, a grandmother’s special and possibly my favourite: “Tattoos are meaningless, unprofessional and—dare I say—impulsive.” Admittedly, those infamous tales of people drunkenly surrendering their bodies to street tattoo artists in Mallorca would seem to be perfect examples of this (thanks Tattoo Fixers). However, let’s focus on the people who decide to get tattooed with fully informed consent. In these circumstances, it’s safe to say that tattoos are a form of art. And as we all know, art (as well as taste!) is relative, and body art is no exception to this rule – so who’s to decide which piece of art possesses meaning and what doesn’t? Surely we’re allowed to express ourselves in whichever way seems most appropriate without it negatively impacting the way we are perceived? Plus, the very experience of getting tattooed is undoubtedly memorable and is bound to hold meaning whether that be positive or negative!

Myth number three: “They look horrible when you get old.” An oldie but goldie. This one might well be true, but it is irrelevant. The point of a tattoo is not purely aesthetic longevity but rather that it is a form of self-expression – more specifically, a permanent one. Of course, it is inevitable that a tattoo will fade or become disfigured, but there will always be a memory attached to that precious site of inkage. Our bodies are canvases to be adorned with the things that best express who we are, and tattoos are an entirely valid way of fulfilling the body’s artistic potential – consider it an honour to have your body be the coffer of a piece of art that will last forever.

There is definitely pressure to conform to traditional stereotypes and mould yourself into a replica of the classic Oxford student – television representations would definitely suggest so (Riot Club anyone?) – but alas, let us remember the potent words of our French 19th century predecessors: art for art’s sake.

No, I am not encouraging you to spontaneously go and get your college motto tattooed on your body somewhere (I cannot confirm nor deny whether I have considered this before) but I am saying respect the art, it’s nowhere near as bad as you think!

Image credit: Alexander Kuzovlev via Wikimedia Commons.

Portrayals of Royalty: Film vs Reality

J Daniels
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Portrayals of Royalty: Film vs Reality

It has always amused people to produce performances centring on the lives of their rulers – our most famous entertainer, William Shakespeare, wrote ten plays dramatizing the life and exploits of British monarchs, though not in quite the same way as Peter Morgan (writer of many films about Kings and Queens, including The Other Boleyn Girl, King Ralph, The Queen, Henry VIII, The Crown and Bohemian Rhapsody). Some productions inspired by royal deeds and persons, like A Royal Night Out go straight for comedy and largely ignore any questions of accuracy or veracity – but more present themselves as revealing the secret inner lives and characters of famous figures. Do these portrayals serve to humanise or exotify their royal subjects?

The answer is both, always both.

Dramatize is the key word in most film and television portrayals of royal persons. Certain Lifetime films notwithstanding, the real problem is that most of these dramas approach royalty with a sense of reverence and delicacy which at times dates and always raises the subjects of the production above their audience. The 1998 film Elizabeth and its 2007 sequel, both starring Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, are a famous example of productions playing fast-and-loose with historical fact but still somehow hoping to give an ‘authentic’ depiction of the Royal, or tell the ‘untold story’ – but as is inevitable with portrayals of famous figures about whom we have little or unsubstantiated information, the character will only ever be some combination of the writer, actor and director’s impression of the real person. Suggesting that any historical drama can reveal the ‘true nature’ or a ‘hidden side’ to its real-life inspirations is a fallacy, and an arrogant one at that. This line is somewhat blurred when it comes to more recent figures, as there is usually a far greater wealth of resources available from which to piece together the person behind the persona – but this is less true in the case of the Royal family, who remain notoriously tight-lipped regarding private matters.

Attempts are rarely even made at a true biopic of Royalty. Most productions seem to get swept up in the grandeur of their own sets and costuming – and often overly grandiose acting, akin to that of the overly reverent Shakespearean actor who is fan first and actor second – and thus fail at any attempt to truly humanise their characters, and instead make them seem even less real and relatable. Films adapted from Nicholas Sparks novels are rarely truly relatable to audiences, and when you throw in palace backdrops and headpieces dripping in jewels, the divide is widened. It is the creations which embrace the absurdity of their subject matter that, in my opinion, are the most successful. In Diana (2013), Naomi Watts symbolically kicks off her heels when alone to walk across the carpet barefoot, but the unnecessary focus of the shot turns this into a moment reminding the audience how separate they are from the character on the screen – removing your shoes when home is not something so remarkable for most people. Contrastingly, The King’s Speech and The Favourite (both of which earned numerous awards including the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively) embrace a weird playfulness and become more human through their humorous touches. The use of the fisheye lens in The Favourite further accentuates that truth that audience and creators all know: that the reality in this film is not one even remotely imaginable for most people. However, in accepting this, the film actually becomes much more accessible than most depictions of Royals – as does its refusal to shy away from the crude, with Emma Stone’s character arriving at the Royal residence spattered with mud after suffering a carriage ride sat opposite a man smiling at her while touching himself.

It would be impossible to discuss portrayals of royals in film and television without mentioning Netflix’s The Crown. In season 1 the late Prince Philip was shown savvily pushing for Elizabeth’s coronation to be televised to try and increase the monarchy’s popularity and make the public feel a more emotional connection to it. Yet the royals today either can’t or won’t acknowledge that The Crown has actually continued this work, cementing the image of the ineffectual, harmless Queen who lacks any real power, thus making her harder to criticise, and also distracting the public from current scandals (the Prince Andrew interview) by returning its sympathies to older upsets, such as the tragedy of Princess Diana. Marketed in the customary manner as something that would lift the veil and reveal the real people under the jewels and silver spoon accents – one of the promotional videos for the first season showed a pair of doors opening to reveal the characters caught in a ‘candid’ moment before they resume their public faces for a picture to be taken – The Crown has received both praise and reprimands regarding its faithfulness, or not, to reality. In its familiar, misbegotten quest for ‘authenticity’, The Crown has not quite lifted the veil but rather showed us how intricate it appears from the other side. Just like everyone else, these plummy-voiced people can also suffer from heartbreak and jealousy and being the side-lined sibling; unlike everyone else, most of their problems are rooted in their restrictive roles as royals. It is audacious, to say the least, that a group of people whose biggest problems are portrayed as a result of their being trapped at the very top of Britain’s rigid class structure are still expected to garner sympathy among an audience largely made of those trapped in the lower echelons.

Yet the sympathy is there – and for Princess Diana, especially after The Crown’s fourth season, is there in buckets. There is no possibility of a complete normalisation of the Royals simply because of the absurd and immoral reality of the monarchy, but productions like The Crown have still achieved that dual effect of both humanising and further exotifying the royals – and this is the best result any production tackling royalty with the aim of showing their vulnerable side can hope for.

Image credit: U.S. Embassy London via Flickr

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