Slaying the audience

What I read

In "How accurate is the murder rate in Miss Fisher’s Melbourne?" Lizzie McNeill (2018) says that the popular Australian TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries exaggerates the number of murders that actually happened in 1920s Melbourne much less than similar TV series tend to do, with the first series being close to Melbourne's actual murder rate of 32 per million people. McNeill also says that since it was suffering an economic depression and alcohol prohibition at the time, Melbourne was less glamorous and exciting than the series presents it through the adventures of the shockingly "modern" Phryne Fisher, who is always dressed to kill. 

___________________________________ 

My response 

Central Melbourne in 1925

I wouldn't normally have seen this article in the BBC News, but this morning I was browsing more widely than usual as I looked for some examples to use for a coming writing task. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on NetFlix, although I hadn't realised it was so popular as McNeill reports. No one I know in Australia has mentioned it to me, but that might just be because we talk about other things at family meals and other get-togethers. The murder rate didn't worry me as I watched it, but when I thought about it, I was actually surprised that it is so close to the real figure for the time. I assume that TV crime shows greatly exaggerate the reality to be more exciting than things really were. Naturally, I was not surprised that the real Melbourne of the 1920s was a more boring place than it appears in the jazz-age world of Ms Fisher. But that's OK: we don't expect perfect historical accuracy from TV shows. And as McNeill writes, the outfits are always impressive. 

The most unlikely thing about the show seemed to me to be the portrayal of Miss Fisher as a shockingly modern woman. Just going out alone would be shocking enough, but her adventures running around shooting her gold pistol and with the various men seemed a bit unlikely, although when I think about it more, I guess that at least some women have always had sex with men who were not their husbands, just as men have a strong habit of having sex with women who are not their wives. Perhaps it was the openness of Miss Fisher's liaisons with handsome males that was unlikely, but again, it was fun and the exaggeration is expected in TV series that are for entertainment. 

If she were alive today, Miss Fisher would surely be Ms Fisher. But when we look at women today, it's hard to image anything that they might not do as confidently as a man, at least in more developed countries not stuck the bad old ways of traditional attitudes. 

___________________________________ 

My question

What do you think? How much equality with men have Thai women traditionally had? 

___________________________________ 

Reference

• McNeill, L. (2018, April 25). How accurate is the murder rate in Miss Fisher’s Melbourne? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43860914