Molly & the Tinker's Virtual Pub

[Tinker]

Bristol is now going the way of KC and King Richard's by allowing fantasy characters like fairies and elves, and by ditching any pretense of historical accuracy. Is this good? Should a Renaissance Fair try to depict the Renaissance to some degree, or should it just be a costume party with music and entertainment?
_________________
Tinker MacLea, alias Brian Leo

[Curt]

If I wanted fairies and elves I'd play D&D. Wait, I do play D&D. I still don't want them at the fair, unless they are contained, say in the Kids Kingdom or a Fairie Forest.
I liked the historical aspect of the faire, but I won't get too bent out of shape about this. They've done worse things.

[Jim]

Unfortunately fairs are going more to being only about the dollar. Granted there nothing wrong with making a buck but they been following the cultural trends for a long time. A couple things that come to mind at both KC and Scarbough (outside of fantasy creatures) is pirates and the fair workers themselves dressing in the wrong periods. Now I do live with and am married to a wonderful woman with a master in history and her area of specialty is the reigns of Henry VIII thru Elizabeth I. She can be quite vocal about the things that are just wrong (to me, she will not critize anyone who doesn't ask her option).

Jim

[Molly]

I know that "Ren Faire" is a term that encompasses many different types of shows, but I was always proud of Bristol for being a "true" Ren faire: an historically accurate (as much as possible) portrayal of the times. King Richard's in Boston has never even pretended to be historical, thus they are a "fantasy faire". Nothing wrong with that. I really enjoyed that show.
Go a few more centuries back and you get the medieval, or King Arthur faires. They all fall under the "ren-faire" umbrella, but Bristol seems to be losing it's sub-catagory identity. It's no longer historical. It's not quite fantasy, and it's definitely not Medeival.
_________________
Molly.
Not Tinker.
Just me.
The cute one.

[Velouria]

I always saw Bristol as a place where you could spend the day with historical accuracy or not as you chose. (of course this is comming from a person who doesn't know all the little historical things about the time period that someone die-hard might). I only went once last summer and was sort of surprised to see Robin Hood having an audience with the queen. I think that Bristol would do well to keep its historical aspect and not degenerate into something esle. There are faires for people who want that type of thing. Bristol has made its popularity by being historical, and I do think that this very fact should speak for itself.
_________________
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

[Tinker]

It's always been a balancing act for Bristol. Too many anachronisms and it becomes a parody of itself. Too much historical authenticity and, oops, no more toilets. As merchant Janet Thatcher once said, "They want authenticity? Fine, I'll throw my slops in the street."

Frankly, even the vastly popular jousts aren't historically accurate for the Elizabethan era. But somewhere between the WWF and the museum is a nice compromise. Bristol has pizza, Pepsi and ATMs, and no one seems to mind. It's just when you encourage ignorance that there becomes a problem, and Americans are notoriously ignorant of any history of any country.

That's why you did NOT see Robin Hood at BRF last year. You saw a 16th century outlaw who was taking his inspiration from the 12th century outlaw and assuming his name. That's how they got around the obvious anachronism.
_________________
Tinker MacLea, alias Brian Leo

[Velouria]

[irishbain]

If it's legitimate to have Cardinals running around in full vestment, then certainly there should be room for the sidhe.

"Historical" includes far more than what was politically correct at the time!

[Molly]

Actually Cardinals have not run rampant at Bristol for years. That's a shame. They were so entertaining! Now we have Puritans. Almost as entertaining, but not quite as elegant as Cardinals.
_________________
Molly.
Not Tinker.
Just me.
The cute one.

[Keigh]

I've always enjoyed Bristol, but have on occasion found that the Puritans can be overwhelming. One young lady who was comfortably dressed for the day in modern shorts and tube top was harrassed so by a group of these kindly gentleman as to burst into tears. Enough is enough. Historical accuracy can go at that point. But that's just my opinion. Keigh