Classics and Mary Beard

I'm writing this while waiting for my boyfriend to turn up this weekend. I'm too impatient to actually do any work, besides now I've finished one section of revision I really don't want to start another!!

After hearing about the hullaballoo about Mary Beard's appearance on her latest programme on the BBC and also being a Classicist, I thought I'd check out the series. For those of you who don't know, Mary Beard is one of the known faces of Classics - she's written several books and lectures at Cambridge University (I think at Newnham College). Along with Bettany Hughes, she is doing a great job at reminding the world why Classics is such an important subject to study and how much they affect our lives even now.

Not sure if I'm allowed to put this up - Mary Beard in her documentary on the BBC.

I'd like to say I actually do like that red coat.

Anyway, instead of criticising the documentary itself, some reviewers have turned on her appearance and many have said that she is too 'ugly' for TV, while I know that she can fight her own battles , I still have something to say about this subject. I watched the programme and was shocked to find that she looks absolutely fine, I mean, sure she's no fashionista, but that's not her job description. Instead of her appearance, what came across was her love for the subject she was talking about and her enthusiasm to make the general public understand the culmination of her life work. I think it's time to stop judging these people for what they look like and actually listen to what they're saying! She is NOT too ugly for TV and even if she was, I wouldn't care. I'd listen to her words, enthusiasm and review the content of her documentaries.

Being a Classicist myself (although I'm obviously nowhere near her stage of intellect) I knew quite a lot of what she said already, but this is not the point. A lot of people wouldn't know this stuff - sure we've heard about the gladiators, the bloodthirstiness and the Empire, but the question that this series is tackling is what was the everyday Roman like? That is something that IS an interesting question and one which isn't explored as much. To me, Mary Beard looks like a perfectly lovely, enthusiastic and mature woman whose programmes make the Classics available to the average person.

Documentaries, not hers in particular, was one of the reasons I took up Classics. I remember watching a programme with my mother about Alexander the Great, which made the whole expedition seem extremely exciting. Now that I'm actually studying him, I've come to realise that I enjoy writing about the literature way more than the history. I love Greek Tragedy in particular and would recommend anyone to go and see one if they can because you don't need to know anything intellectual about them to make them move you. Oedipus Tyrannus at the National Theatre was one of the saddest and most moving things I've ever seen.