Confused American

[InsanityInc]

Hey guys, the confused American is actually me. This isn't really sucky, unless you consider history via Hollywood sucky, but I have a question for the British CSrs.

I was watching a commercial for Johnny Depps new movie, and from the description they gave, it sounded to me like Guy Fawkes rebellion, but they used Sweeney Todd's name. Am I mistaken in thinking Fawes rebelled, and Todd was a cannibal?

[myswtghst]

I'm confused as well. I know that Tim Burton is re-making Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp starring, and have no idea if any type of Guy Fawkes movie is in the works. But that is rather odd. Color me confused as well.

[DarthRetard]

Fawkes was the one they based V for Vendetta off of, if I'm not mistaken. Remember, remember, the 5th of november.

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

Guy Fawkes was a real person in Britain's history who tried to blow up parliment for whatever reason.. They celebrate the 5th there by making effigies and fireworking them to bits. (Or do they not really do that anymore?)


Sweeney Todd is a fictional barber that murdered people.
Will be an interesting film, I'd say.

[Broomjockey]

Sweeney Todd is a fictional barber that murdered people.
Will be an interesting film, I'd say.

I thought Todd was based on an actual barber who murdered people and stole their belongings?

[Sliceanddice]

.... no its based on the play... not a gaye fawkes..... cool play though... johnny depp singing and dancing... must see because even if its bad it will be funny.

[InsanityInc]

Quoth Sir Spaniard the 12th
Sweeney Todd is a fictional barber that murdered people.

Sorry for not being clear, I remembered that Todd was fictional, and Fawkes was real, but that is what I get for trying to post while half asleep. I saw the commercial and went Huh?

[symposes]

Fawkes was trying to help the Catholic church regain its power and authority in Britan.

He and his group, felt if they destroyed parlament, then the church could sweep up the power that had been taken away by... Queen Elizibeth...Atleast I think she was the one who took the power last, as in, keep it away from the church, i know it had been going on for years.

Not bad for an American eh? Hehe, I read up on Fawkes after V for Vendetta, because it was intrigueing.

[Jewels]

According to historical records...he was real.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_k...d/index_1.html

[GingerBiscuit]

We don't blow up effigies, we stick them on top of a bonfire and burn them. In the years where the protestant and the catholics were REALLY having it out, sometimes the effigies would be the pope. Historically they have been commonally reviled figures- it was originally Guy, but has become a way to symbolically destroy anyone or anything we don't have the power to actually destroy. A couple of years ago there were a lot of Tony Blair's and George Bush's on peoples personal bonfires.

Of course the official displays never do that.

ANd there are toffee apples and candy floss and far to much sugar and big flashy lights in the sky, and frost, and flame...


Sweeney Todd is kind of a comic horror, based on real events dramatised a lot. I haven't seen the trailers yet, but I would be surprised if the film industry is mixing them up a lot, because after all, why let historical accuracy get in the way of a good film?

I've just been watching the trailer, and the resemblance to Guy Fawlkes is pretty much co-incidental. Guy was part of an organised rebellion and took the fall when his fellows didn't come forward, and they tried to blow stuff up. He was caught lighting the fuse, and hung, drawn and quartered before his head was displayed over the tower of London.
Sweeney is slashing people up, there is no organised rebellion, just his vengeance. With Sweeney, they've just made him a more sympathetic character by adding the 'family' crud so people won't be turned off him as he truly is in the original work.

That said, I will be seeing it. I have been half in love with Johnny since I was 8 years old, and I've seen most of his work.

[Jewels]

That said, I will be seeing it. I have been half in love with Johnny since I was 8 years old, and I've seen most of his work.

When Johnny Depp and Tim Burton team up it is a perfect storm or awesomeness.

[cinema guy]

Fawkes was trying to help the Catholic church regain its power and authority in Britan.

He and his group, felt if they destroyed parlament, then the church could sweep up the power that had been taken away by... Queen Elizibeth...Atleast I think she was the one who took the power last, as in, keep it away from the church, i know it had been going on for years.

Henry VIII was the original English monarch to renounce Catholicism, because he wanted a divorce. Elizabeth did indeed cement the English monarch as head of the protestant church in England. When Elizabeth died, the Catholics hoped James I would be more sympathetic to the Catholic cause, but he wasn't.

Guy was part of an organised rebellion and took the fall when his fellows didn't come forward, and they tried to blow stuff up. He was caught lighting the fuse, and hung, drawn and quartered before his head was displayed over the tower of London.

Fawkes was indeed the one who was to light the fuse and the one captured in the cellars of parliament. He was tortured to reveal the name of his co-conspirators (many of whom were already known anyway). He actually escaped the drawn and quartered part of his execution by jumping off the scaffold and so breaking his neck.

[draco664]

He was caught lighting the fuse,

This myth annoys me no end. He was not caught lighting the fuse, he was caught in among the explosives (with the equipment to light the gunpowder) the night before parliament was to sit. Had he been about to light the fuse, he would have blown up an empty building some sixteen hours early.

Pfft, what do they teach in history today?

Draco

[Pagan]

When Elizabeth died, the Catholics hoped James I would be more sympathetic to the Catholic cause, but he wasn't.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to note that Guy Fawkes was trying to blow up Parliament and and James VI & I. (And don't even get me started on the politics of how James was raised.) Not Elizabeth I, she had been dead two years! And naturally, being the Jacobite Scot that I am, I think Fawkes was a terrorist!

I8DaCookie - I was thinking of the Angela Landsbury version, too!

Not only does "Sweeney Todd" open 21 Dec, but "At World's End" comes out on DVD on 4 Dec! It's all Johnny all the time.

[auntiem]

Didn't they already make Sweeney Todd into a movie with Ben Kingsley not that long ago? Or is the Depp movie going to be based on the musical and not the play?
Todd wasn't a cannibal - he sold the "meat" to his lady friend to make meat pies - thereby making her customers inadvertant cannibals (if I remember the plot correctly).