Smith 1

Madison Smith
Frances McCue
What We Know
11 November 2014
Inquiry Paper 2- Historical Analysis
While modern television shows are known to sacrifice realistic depictions and accurate
representations to appeal to modern viewers, they may not sacrifice nearly as much as we
expect them to. Rather, instead of completely changing the facts of the past, often the
television show slightly modifies the facts to fit in with the television show. In this particular
example, The Doctor, the main character from the popular television series Doctor Who, is
faced with aliens invading eighteenth century France. This is where he meets Rene-Antoinette
Poisson, more popularly known as Madame de Pompadour, a mistress to the then King of
France. This piece will focus mainly on the accuracy of the appearance of the actress playing the
Madame de Pompadour, and what the discrepancies and accuracies mean in a modern context.
In this episode, The Girl in the Fireplace, the Doctor visits eighteenth century France
where he meets Madame De Pompadour in her palace at Versailles. Doctor Who, well known
for its historical and futuristic episodes, consists of a man, who calls himself the Doctor, who
saves various races and creatures. This case, the Doctor saves Madame de Pompadour, who is
threatened by futuristic aliens who believe the brain of Madame de Pompadour will be capable
of piloting their stranded spaceship. However, this piece will not delve into the fictional
characters and events that take place in this episode. In this scene, the Doctor and the adult
Jeanne, whom he does not recognize, meet for the first time in over a decade.

Smith 2

In this scene, the Doctor, finds himself standing in a historical French palace. In the
room there is a fireplace and a harp, which he strums as he walks. A young woman walks into
the room. The woman is dressed in dress with a pannier skirt and her golden hair is swept into a
twist. A ornament is attached to her tightly twisted bun. There's a small lace necklace around
the woman's neck and small pearl earrings on her ears. The doctor, surprised to find himself in
front of a someone, quickly become flustered. A woman off screen, presumably the woman's
mother, calls for the woman. The woman calls back, saying she will be down to the carriage in a
moment. They converse for a few moments, and then the woman leaves. Once she has left the
room, the Doctor realizes that Jeanne, the woman he has been visiting since she was a child, is
actually Madame De Pompadour, or as the Doctor says "the uncrowned queen of France."
Both in the episode and in historical context, Jeanne is known for her beauty. In this
episode, Jeanne is presented in a slender young women with golden blond hair. She quickly
catches even the aloof and romantically-awkward doctor's eye. In the historical context, Jeanne
was known for her beauty and logically must have had some attractive qualities for she became
one of the King's closest companions. However, we must recognize that society's definition of
beauty is not set in stone. The modern definition of beauty is very different than the beauty of
eighteenth century. According to historical sources, the definition of beauty includes a plump
figure. A plump figure signified that one had the wealth to eat an excess of food. However,
today beauty popularly includes a thin figure. In a society plagued by obesity, our culture values
the health associated with a slim figure. However, the Jeanne presented in the episode had a
thinner figure than the Jeanne that is illustrated in royal portraits. This difference demonstrates

Smith 3

how the television plays to the modern definition of beauty rather than the historical definition
of beauty.
On a similar note, historical sources indicate that bathing was unpopular in the
eighteenth century. This resulted in the popular trend of powdering ones hair in order to
degrease it. However, the Madame de Pompadour the episode presents not only appears to
have bathed recently, but also does not have a speck of powder in her hair. Additionally,
historical sources suggest that it was popular fashion to fizz or curl a woman's hair. However,
the hair of the woman in the episode is rather straight, pulled tightly back into a twist. Having
grown up in Paris and Versailles as member of the French court, Madame De Pompadour would
have surely closely followed the newest styles in order to gain the King's attention. Hence, we
can conclude that the condition of the actresses hair in the episode is not historically accurate
to the time period that she is portraying. Therefore, the condition of the actresses hair can also
be viewed as a inaccuracy within this episode.
Also, the mistress in the episode wears a tight lace necklace around her neck. The
necklace consists of a small string of lace from which several cream-colored beads hang. In
many of the historical portraits of Jeanne, she wears a similar necklace, although in the
portraits the necklace seems to be a bit more fluffy and obtrusive. The television show likely
toned down the obtrusive of the necklace, again, in order to appeal to the modern viewers.
Modern necklace are nearly never large and conspicuous, in fact, most modern necklaces are
placed on a thin chain or string, rather than fluffy lace. This constitutes both a small accuracy
and a small discrepancy. While they did include the type of necklace found commonly in the
portraits of Madame de Pompadour, they modified the necklace to appeal to the modern

Smith 4

audience. The accuracy found in the existence on the necklace in the episode suggests that
while the television episode is not exact in every detail, they did attempt to create a reasonable
depiction of eighteen century French style.
There are two different theories that can explain these blatant discrepancies between
the television and historical Madame de Pompadour. First, that the television show is angled
towards the entertainment of a modern audience rather than accurately representing
eighteenth century French beauty standards. In this case, the television show appears to be
little concerned with its representation of eighteenth century France in comparison to
entertainment of the television's show viewers. Therefore, the television series had little
motive to properly reconstruct an accurate representation of this Frenchwoman, and therefore
modified her appearance in order to entertain viewers. On the other hand, these discrepancies
could be viewed as a method in which the television show makes eighteenth century France
relevant to modern viewers. By making Madame de Pompadour beautiful in the eyes of its
viewers, the viewers more easily see the beauty that eighteenth century society saw in her. This
latter theory seems more likely because there is some evidence to support the idea that the
television episode attempted to create a somewhat accurate representation of eighteenth
century France. In fact, nearly all of the discrepancies found in the appearance of the television
Madame de Pompadour and the historical Madame de Pompadour can be attributed making
the eighteenth century French woman more relatable to modern viewers. For example, the
television episode retained lace necklace despite the fact that lace necklaces are not modernly
popular. Rather, instead of eliminating the necklace altogether, the show simply modified the
necklace to more closely match the viewers idea of beauty. Meanwhile, there is no evidence to

Smith 5

suggest that these discrepancies are due laziness or carelessness as would be found in the
former theory.
In conclusion, the Doctor Who episode generally creates a historically accurate
representation of French style. While some things were modified to make them more appealing
to the viewers, these changes can be viewed as attempting to make Jeanne's life more relatable
to its viewers, rather than careless historical inaccuracies. Hence, the performance of the
actress can be viewed as a historically accurate representation within a modern context.

Smith 6

Citations
"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de Pompadour." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopdia
Britannica, Inc, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de
Pompadour>.
Lyn, Euros, dir. The Girl in the Fireplace. Perf. Sophia Myles. BBC, 2006. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
"Madame de Pompadour." Chateau de Versailles. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
<http://en.chateauversailles.fr/history/court-people/louis-xv-time/madame-depompadour>.
"The Real Madame de Pompadour." The National Gallery. The National Gallery, n.d. Web. 5
Nov. 2014. <http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/paintings-indepth/the-real-madame-de-pompadour >.
Van Cleave, Kendra. "18th Century French Court Gowns Basics." Demode. N.p., 13 Aug. 2013.
Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://demodecouture.com/2013/08/18th-century-french-courtgowns-basics/>.
"Womens Hairstyles & Cosmetics of the 18th Century: France & England, 1750-1790." Demode.
N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://demodecouture.com/hairstyles-cosmetics-18thcentury/>.