Cultural History

Apparently there's a new Indian movie called Laal Singh Chaddha that's a remake of Forrest Gump. I'm kind of curious to see it, but worried that I won't be able to follow the Indian history moments. Or will it be like how Ms. Marvel explains the Partition of India that created Pakistan? Maybe I'll be able to google the history afterward.

In American schools, you just learn the history of the US and Europe, while other countries and continents only get mentioned during the colonialist era or the World Wars. So that leaves me ignorant about the rest of the world's history unless I seek out more information for balance.

Watching the Miss S mysteries on HBO Max was very interesting to see how they adapt Phryne Fisher's world. They swapped the Lin Chung character with a Russian character to keep the interracial romance, and his bride also was a secret Communist, in danger of arrest or death in China. Since I didn't know about the Chinese Civil War or the Shanghai Massacre, I found this very confusing until I looked it up afterward. (Though it still seems questionable that Chinese authorities would target a Russian for being a Communist, thereby risking a diplomatic incident, but I guess maybe if they thought she was spreading Communist propaganda to Chinese citizens....) Other cultural changes in the show included replacing the Gilbert & Sullivan opera Ruddigore with a Chinese traditional opera called The Peony Pavilion. I also liked that Miss S changed the motivations of their Murdoch Foyle equivalent, so that Ding Rushan was insanely trying to resurrect his daughter, not just become a stupid Egyptian god.

After I finished Miss S, I wanted to rewatch Miss Fisher to compare, so I bought the DVDs when I got a good deal on the box set. The Australian series has its own slang about "sheilas" and "diggers" and references to World War I. It also tries to be culturally sensitive to Aboriginal characters and the aforementioned Lin Chung, though they depart from the books by making Jack Robinson the love interest. I have read some of the Kerry Greenwood novels, and Miss Fisher is not as faithful as it could be.