The Crown Season 4
Welcome to Weekend Binge. Every Friday we’ll bring you an over the top title designed to keep you from going too crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Golden: The Crown Season 4
With Oscar weekend upon us – and with the British Royal Family dominating the news for one reason or another – we decided to recommend this week’s Binge weekend as something both timely and timely. unexpected queer. The Crown follows the reign of Elizabeth II of Great Britain from her coronation amid national scandal and war to the present day… when war and national scandal continue to plague her family. Funny how it works.
Season 4 of the series – which has already been cleaned up at the Golden Globes and will likely do the same at the Emmys – catches up with Elizabeth (now played by Oscar-winning Oliva Colman) in the 1980s as her son Prince Charles (Josh O Connor, from God’s Country) is considering marrying Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin). Beyond the royal fanfare, ultra-conservative Margret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) grabs the post of prime minister, ushering in an era of international strife and national disarray thanks to his draconian policies. As Charles and Diana struggle to raise their children in a difficult marriage, Elizabeth begins to test the limits of her office by criticizing Thatcher and his policies. The actions and inactions of the monarch are starting to raise questions about the relevance of the royal family in modern times. How can Elizabeth help her family through the modern era without being fired?
Colman, who won an Oscar for playing Elizabeth’s ancestor Queen Anne, and who won another nomination this year for The Father, dominates debates as Queen Elizabeth, focusing on the character’s contradictions of perfect balance and his inability to accept or give the kind of affection. most humans take it for granted. Corrin, who recently appeared to come out of the closet as a queer, also makes an impression of hell as Princess Diana, a woman both impressed with her role in the royal family and frustrated with the scrutiny of media and (let’s face it) dehumanization it entails. Helena Bonham Carter is also a hoot as Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, a party girl who begins to question her purpose in life. Emerald Fennell, currently Oscar nominated for writing and directing Promising Young Woman, shines on screen as Charles’s mistress and future wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
The real star of the show, however, is Anderson. The actress does the best job of her career as Margret Thatcher, mastering both a woman’s peculiar ways and her zeal to punish the poor of Britain. Unlike Meryl Streep’s Oscar-winning performance in The Iron Lady, Anderson isn’t afraid to show Thatcher’s disgusting sexism, blatant racism, selfish motives, or lust for power. Thatcher may have been Britain’s first female Prime Minister, but that doesn’t mean she did anything to help other women’s station in the UK. As a queer woman herself, Anderson also bites into Thatcher’s homophobia and her contemptuous attitude towards the AIDS crisis.
In other words, yes, we prefer his Thatcher to Streep’s. So the.
But we digress. Season 4 of The Crown presents the show at its best: a dramatic chronicle of history that’s not afraid to praise or condemn its characters. Aspiring gay icon Colman reminds viewers that she is one of the best actors working today. Queer actresses Corrin and especially Anderson match her every step of the way. Even for those familiar with British history, The Crown has its fair share of surprises. We recommend him for drama and for the award winning performances of his extraordinary cast.
Streams on Netflix.
