Wish I Had Seen This in High School...
or
Farewell to Childe Harold and the Purple Crayon

As a follow-up to my assertion that Romeo and Juliet is the worst possible way to introduce Shakespeare to high-school age girls, allow me to propose that every Intro to English Literature class begin with a mandatory viewing of this BBC biopic.

In the course of my holiday week-end video viewing, I did not learn anything new, but saw our hero in a new light. Instead of just being 'mad, bad and dangerous to know,' he came across as...well, the word I want to use is apt, but I am prissy enough to not want to use it here. (Dear daughters of mine, do not feel obligated to leave it in the comments...) Let's simply say George comes across as a creep. Mad, bad, good looking and absolutely unappealing.

If I had seen this when I was in high school perhaps I would have spent less of my youth searching for my own Byronic hero. And I wouldn't have found Lady Caroline Lamb to be so much of a role model either. It didn't take long for the phrase "psycho bitch" to come to mind.

I don't think I would actually want any of my children to have seen this movie - I watched it in my bedroom with the door closed. But I would force a girl to watch it if necessary.

Did I mention the costumes were very pretty?