The Rose of Versailles by Ikeda Riyoko

I meant what I said in the description of this blog about ridiculous reading choices. I'm really intrigued by the visual style of anime and manga and its long tradition, and I also love the way Japanese and European culture(s) interact with and interpret one another. The Rose of Versailles is a 1970s manga that was originally supposed to be a biography of Marie Antoinette (and it is actually very historically precise), but became the story of her protector and commander of the Royal Guard, Lady Oscar Francois de Jarjaves, a woman raised as a boy to be a soldier when her father is disappointed in his lack of sons. What I was interested in is how this differs from or similar to western fiction about the French Revolution. Like most stories, it focuses on a character who finds him/herself between the nobles and the working class (such as Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities or Marguerite St. Just in The Scarlet Pimpernel), in this case, Oscar. Much of the latter part of the story revolves around her inner struggle between loyalty to the queen, the court and the aristocracy, and her enlightened ideas about freedom, liberty, etc. But this differed drastically from most western representations (which depict the Revolution as an impasse where both sides are in the wrong) in that the ideas of the privilege of noble birth is not really challenged. Though Oscar says that everyone is equal, etc, there is a huge emphasis on how Marie Antoinette was born to be queen, how her very presence can strike the commoners dumb with instinctive awe, how Oscar is a certain way (genteel, learned) because of the class she was born in. Overall, it seems that this adheres to the almost medieval narrative of things going wrong because rulers 'aren't doing their job'. Marie Antoinette is married off and comes to the throne too young, lacking in wisdom, and that is the problem, not one class ruling another. The oppressive taxes and the court's luxury (in other words, the specifics of the historical moment) are blamed, rather than the overall social structure. This disruption of the way things are supposed to be is what causes social upheaval and reversal, causing Oscar to suddenly fall in love with her servant and fight side by side with the commoners. I thought it was fascinating that the idea of 'noble birth' is so pervasive and so much adhered to.

I enjoyed the first half (or so) more than the last, because of its focus on Marie Antoinette and court life, which gives Riyoko the opportunity to do some great things with the drawings; the voluptuous textures of hair and dresses, the detached, otherwordly atmosphere created by sweeping lines and shading that conveys luxury, ease and carelessness. I also loved how all the ladies at court fell in love with Oscar. All the women in this story do not give a fuck about gender. It's great. Overall, it was very thought-provoking (due to the cultural trends it brings up) and kind of guiltily enjoyable and certainly better than the abominable Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette, but that is not saying very much.