The Great is a Hulu television series that takes a comedic sendup of the life of Catherine the Great of Russia! It is in the vein of the Apple TV+ series Dickinson. The humor is modern and often rather crude. The crude humor is one of the fun things about this great series!
It is appropriately rated mature due to a lot of nudity, sexual content, and vulgarity! Elle Fanning takes on the role of the iconic monarch, and as usual does an amazing job. I have loved her in a period piece since she took on the live action role of my favorite princess, Aurora, in 2014’s Maleficent. She has the poise and elocution (not to mention classical beauty) to pull of period piece films well!
Catherine’s husband Peter is played by Nicholas Hoult, who also was in the period film The Favourite, about the life of Queen Anne of England. He does a great job of playing the inept Peter to perfection! Everything about this series is overdone to heighten the humor.
There is little historical accuracy, other than maybe focusing on Catherine’s intellect. As a parody it is perfect since it works as a sendup of all period films and television series. I am a huge fan of historical fiction and films (as well as the actual history they are based upon), and I find parodies like The Great and Dickinson to be great fun! I can see how some avid history buffs may find a parody insulting, but I personally think parodies are flattering. The Scary Movie franchise is often loved by horror fans (I am one of these people myself)!
I think that parodies and sendups simply need the right audience. A proper audience is someone who can laugh at themselves, and their interests. I have no problem mocking myself and joking about things I love, and that is one reason I adore this series!
The Great reminds me of the old BBC series Blackadder in its parody of royalty! I love that we can find this kind of humor again, and I cannot wait for the next season of this show!
Note on Image: The image above is the poster for season one of The Great. I found it on filmaffinity.com.
Further Watching
- The Great (2020-present)
- Dickinson (2019-present)
- Blackadder (1982)
- Scary Movie series (2000-2013)
White Rose of Avalon 