Outlander - a series about fairytale love amid 18th century politics

Imagine: you're a nurse who has just been through World War II and you're on honeymoon with your husband, whom you married in 1939 and haven't even had a chance to celebrate: so now you have to get reacquainted. You settle into a lovely cottage in Scotland, and your husband keeps telling you interesting historical facts about Inverness and your ancestors.

On the morning of a pagan festival, you decide to pick some herbs at the famous stones. Suddenly you hear a loud rumble, lose consciousness, and wake up already... in the 18th century!

So begins "Stranger Things" - one of my favourite and very feminine series! I think that if a girl from the 21st century had travelled to the 1730s, it would have been quite difficult for her. And Claire Randall did a great job: both her army and childhood training (she spent her entire childhood on Egyptian excavations with her uncle) helped her to come up with a believable story and even become a very useful and valuable doctor in that dangerous time. After all, keep in mind, witches were still being burned at the stake back then, and she was an Englishwoman in Scotland!

Let's break down this beautiful costume series in the time-travelling genre. After all, it has all the components of a great women's novel: stunning historical atomosphere, colourful costumes, deep characters, breathtaking scenery, intrigue and adventure.

And love. The kind of love that every girl dreams of at first sight. With a handsome prince, a magnificent warrior and a man of honour who will always take your side. And that kind of love really does exist. At least when you look at Claire and Jamie, you really want to believe it.

So, this is a series about Scotland - its struggle for freedom. At least in the first two seasons. Therefore, we see a lot of Scottish costumes, landscapes, and the characters often speak Gaelic - it is not translated on purpose, because Claire, through whose eyes we see what is happening, does not understand anything.

At first Claire tries to return to her own time and is captured by the Mackenzie clan, who are unsure if she is an English spy. Her skills quickly make her useful and valuable, but being a woman at that time proves very difficult and just as the danger from the Scots passes, there is danger from the other side. The English General Black Jack Rendall is trying to destroy her, and to do this Claire is arranged to marry Jamie, a young lad with whom they have already started to get somewhere.

At first Claire feels very guilty towards her first husband, but the forced marriage proves to be a great success, and eventually a love for this red-haired mountain man awakens in her heart. Even when she confesses to him that she is from the future and Jamie takes her back to the stones, Claire does not return to her own time, choosing to stay in the 18th century, even though it is more dangerous.

But it's not just love that Claire is basking in - she also has some very complicated feelings about her "multiple marriages" - especially since her first husband Frank and his distant ancestor Black Jack Randall are played by the same actor!

He is the main evil of the series, at least the first two seasons. But the danger doesn't only come from him - as much as the series is beautiful, it is also bloody. Fights, bloody accidents, murders (and those who died are never brought back) are often shown. What's worse is rape, with both women and men being raped. Unfortunately, it was probably really commonplace at the time, and the show's creators don't sugarcoat it here. It is true that the abuse of women is shown much faster and less significant, while the abuse of men is emphasised much more, probably wanting to show how traumatic it is for both sides. And I am not even talking about the multiple deaths, murders and suicides typical of the time.

The main political event in the series is the Jacobite rebellion, when the Scottish clans tried to restore the throne to the Stuarts. Claire and Jamie are involved in political manipulation in an attempt to change the course of history and prevent tragic events.

"Stranger Things" is a pseudo-historical series with lots of historical details and facts that are not always accurate. But definitely piques my interest in the Jacobite rebellion, I didn't know about it at all before watching it!

These are the moments and details of the series that best reflect 18th century life:

But there are also historical inaccuracies. Here are some moments from real history slightly altered for the sake of artistic effect:

Sassenach is the name Jamie always lovingly calls his wife, and in the context of the series this is understood to mean English and foreign. However, the term "Sassenach" (literally "Saxon") was used by eighteenth-century Highlanders to refer to both English and Scots people living in the lowlands - essentially people who did not speak Gaelic.

The Jacobite rebellion is presented in the series as a conflict between England and Scotland. It's actually much more complicated than that, as there were quite a few Jacobites in England, and certainly not all Scots supported the cause. So, there would have been no real reason to suspect Claire just because she happened to be English.

Highland characters often use words from Lowland Scots to give English dialogue a more Scottish flavour. Historically, very few Highlanders spoke Scots during this period, as English was considered the language of prestige and was the medium of instruction in schools, and Gaelic was the common language that Highlanders spoke amongst themselves. In general, most of the less educated Highlanders, such as Angus and Rupert, probably wouldn't have been able to speak English at all. This is changed in the series for obvious reasons.

Clare and Geillis Duncan are being prosecuted for witchcraft. It is 1743 and the British Parliament abolished the offence in 1735. The last real prosecution for witchcraft in Scotland was in 1727.

Claire introduces Jamie to the word"fuck", which at first puzzles him because he thinks it is not a word used in Scotland, which is ironic given that it first appears in a sixteenth-century Scottish poem. It's also amusing that Geillis uses the word "fuck" during their witch trials. Although Claire is too tense to notice it, it's a subtle hint at Geillis' reveal.

When Claire mentions Germany in the third episode of the first season, Jamie doesn't realise what she's talking about at first, until she uses the term Prussia instead. But there are 2 problems here: firstly, the kingdom of Prussia, even at its largest extent, never encompassed the entirety of what is now known as Germany. Second, although the various German principalities had not yet been united into a single nation-state by the time of the series, the word "Germany" as a generic term for the geographical area where German was the dominant language had been used since the early Middle Ages. But and "Italy" (which was equally fragmented at the time) is properly used to designate the seat of Charles Stuart.

The show gives the impression that there was some settlement of Highland Scots in the mountains of North Carolina. However, almost all of the people of Scottish descent who settled in the Appalachians were Scots-Irish, descended mainly from Scottish farmers who had migrated to Ireland in the seventeenth century, and had very little in common with the Highlanders culturally.

Claire is a very strong female character whose role and actions challenge traditional 18th century gender roles and norms: after all, she is a modern woman from the 20th century, which makes her attitudes and behaviour well very progressive for the 18th.

Well Jamie is the Prince Charming who is constantly rescuing Claire. He is so unconditionally loyal to her, so amazingly willing to listen to her and actually be a partner - which is very unusual for the 18th century! - that it seems so unreal. And yes, he really is unreal, because he is the hero of the series. And seriously, he is a collective image with all those qualities that any girl sees in her dreams and dreams to see near her.

And this technique is called"Big Damn Heroes", when Prince Charming appears in the window or in the courtroom at just the right moment. Or the princess breaks into a heavily guarded prison with a pack of cows and Scottish Highlanders.

Jamie is a little old-fashioned, but very sweet! Because he and Claire are from different eras, they of course have a value dissonance. When Claire disobeys him and puts their group in danger, he feels morally obliged to hit her on the arse with a belt.... Nothing good comes of it, and that's realised by anyone who knows Claire's character. And, of course, his reaction to the bikini photo is hilarious.

Deliberate value dissonance is also a trope. And the show has a very interesting use of it - there are a lot of pregnant women, Claire in particular, who drink. This is particularly annoying to modern viewers during Claire's pregnancy in season two in Paris. Claire also tends to use alcohol in various medical procedures - she knows the basics of germ theory and prefers alcohol to unboiled water. Thus, she tends to resort to alcohol more often than her eighteenth-century peers. Although Claire is a twentieth century educated nurse, she is still living in the 1940s, and even she could not have known that drinking alcohol could be harmful to her child because it was not widely known until the 1970s. Nor does she know about the effects of excessive alcohol consumption in general.

In my opinion, the series is divided into two main parts: before season 3 and after, as season 2 and 3 are separated by 20 years. Season 2 opens and ends with one episode, a technique called flashforward. Claire returns to her own time and learns that the outcome of the Battle of Culloden remained unchanged, even though they tried so hard to change everything, but she is also pregnant with Jamie's baby. The final last episode of the season, "Dragonfly in Amber", opens with a television showing an episode of The Avengers from the 60s to show that there has been a time jump.

It is in the third season that the full tragedy of Claire and Frank's relationship is revealed more deeply - after all the time she was in the 18th century, he was looking for her, and then trying to be a good husband and father, even though she no longer loved him.

Although their biological daughter Brianna is not present at this time, they become the named parents to Fergus and Marsali, and while Fergus was literally adopted by them back in season 2, Marsali has come a long way from being the daughter of Claire's rival Lary to being Claire's nurse and successor.

There are some details that run a red line through all the seasons, such as the dragonfly in amber given to Claire for her wedding, Jamie's snake, and the most important detail, Mackenzie's pearl necklace. Such an item is called a memento macgaffin, meaning it's not just the macgaffin everyone is always looking for, but a memorabilia with an important story. Jamie gives the pearls to Claire shortly after the wedding, and she gives the pearls to Mrs Graham (the priest's housekeeper) to thank her for her help after her return. Mrs Graham gives them to her granddaughter Fiona as an heirloom. Claire then returns to Scotland 20 years later and Fiona returns the pearls. And when Claire decides to return to Jamie, she gives the pearls to Brianna as a memento of her parents. And Brianna, when she marries, wears the pearls as a reminder of the true Mackenzie Fraser.

The opening credits are a series of aesthetically pleasing shots from the show.

Lass, by the way, is a maiden, and the characters use this word very often, although it is almost unheard of in modern English.

And if in the first season it is just a titular montage, then further on variations on the theme of the song begin. When the action moves to France in season 2, the second verse is sung in French. In season 3, the theme shifts from a sad Scottish ballad (marking the end of Highlander culture) to a "modern" mood and then to an island rhythm when Claire and Jamie travel to Jamaica. In season 4, when the duo arrives in America, the theme is infused with banjo music, giving it an Appalachian sound. In season 5, all instruments are dropped and the song is sung by an a capella choir, reminiscent of sacred music.

The main theme song of the series, "The Skye Boat Song" by composer Bear McCreary, has become one of the most recognisable musical elements of Stranger Things. Bear McCreary adapted the traditional Scottish folk song, adding modern arrangements and elements to it, making it a symbol of the series. This theme accompanies each episode, instantly immersing the audience in the atmosphere of Scotland and Claire's adventures.

McCreary utilised authentic Scottish instruments such as:

• Bagpipes: creating a unique sound associated with Scotland.
• Fiddle: often used to play folk tunes and dances.
• Bodhran: a traditional Irish drum that adds rhythm and depth.

And while the music in 18th century Scotland has a strong Celtic tinge, in American Seasons it incorporates elements of the music of the time and region. The many leitmotifs (both for Claire, Jamie and the Jacobite rebellion) help the audience to better understand and feel the emotional and plot arcs, and, as always in cinema, the music enhances the emotional impact of key scenes.

I watched the series up to season 6, and in my opinion, somewhere around the fifth season the creators started adding too many events just to give the fans something else to watch. What I mean is: there are Claire and Jamie, beloved by everyone, and let them save a child, and go to New York, and something else happens to them. And the stones have become a passing yard, on which you can not once transported to another era, and go back and forth. Sometimes you wish the creators had stopped in time and not squeezed all the juices out of the story.

But it is interesting that with the course of history travellers through the epochs become more and more, and the series raises the question: how does time travel affect the course of time?

In any case, I am sure that this series is worth watching, because it perfectly holds the attention of viewers and even viewers, provides a lot of aesthetic pleasure and allows you to imagine, even for a minute, that you have moved to the 18th century, and now you are in a beautiful knitted shawl You jump on a horse across the vast expanses of Scotland, with Jamie, a beautiful prince who will save you from any trouble, gently whispering in your ear: "Чужестранка".