Helenie Mende

The Portrayal of Anne Boleyn in "The Tudors" Helenie Mende

When reinventing history within the medium of film or television, these re-tellings of the past are always strongly influenced by our contemporary way of living, our contemporary society, our contemporary understanding of morals. Thus, the historical television series "The Tudors" employs a rather modern way of reimagining Henry VIII's (Jonathan Ryhs Meyers) reign and life. It is particularly Henry Tudor's second wife Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) who is represented in extremely contemporary terms. The means of recreating the historical figure of Anne Boleyn in "The Tudors" in a context of contemporariness are manifold: her physical appearance in the sense of casting Anne Boleyn, her representation of female behaviour and the mediality of her varoius costumes. In all that Dormer's portrayal of Henry VIII's legendary wife seeks a rather modern approach, which has the effect that she seems to have a great appeal to modern-day audiences, which is certainly always one of the main objectives of historical fiction.