50 thoughts on “The Not-So Magnificent Century

  1. Gosh. I feel like I’m reading a bad historical romance novel with pictures. But I still plan on trying to find this to have a good ROTFLI moment or moments.
    And the Sultana er queen Mom, could definitely be a new Evil Queen on OUAT so Regina can get her happy ending.

  2. I loooove Magnificent Century. Because it’s a soap opera, there’s a lot of gasping, close-ups of conflicted expressions, meaningful stares, and so on – so you don’t have to be constantly focusing on subtitles, if you’re like me and you prefer to compute/internet/write while watching Netflix. You’re very very right about the costuming, though.

    1. I do enjoy a good ol’ soap opera, which is how I got thru maybe 8 episodes of Magnificent Century one lazy Sunday! I had to remind myself it was supposed to be historical tho — imagining it was some fantasy kingdom seemed more appropriate, given the costumes ;-)

      1. The FIRST thing I noticed besides the modern fabrics were the set-in sleeves😮 What. The. Heck. ?!? THEN I saw some ZIPPERS and satin covered buttons with plastic backs🤦🏼‍♀️ Oh and rick-rack!!!!!!!!!!!!! Baaaaaaah😫Otherwise I’ve enjoyed it muchly✨

  3. This was a huge success in Hungary too, tried to watch it, but the bitchy drama and poly fabrics made me sick even after one episode :(

  4. I was particularly taken with the upholstered white pyramid hats on the inner council of courtiers (male.)

  5. Believe or not the version that aired on Turkish TV was even slower than the Netflix version. Every episode was at least an hour and a half. I found it nearly unwatchable.

    My husband is an Ottoman historian and while I’m not I have learned a fair amount about the Ottomans over the years, particularly the Harem system which I find endlessly fascinating.

  6. The Wikipedia entry for Roxelana (Khourrem, the Laughing One) is quite interesting. She also plays a significant role in the fourth book of the Lymond Chronicle, Pawn In Frankincense. She actually forced Suleyman to make her his wife, rather than just another concubine, and she was definitely a power behind the throne. By some accounts, she was Circassian, an ethnic group known for its beautiful women.

  7. That last pic was obviously shot on Yad Sdrawkcab. Her bedazzled casino visor is flipped up and reverse, and she’s got her pretty blue undergarment on backwards and over her dress.
    :-)

  8. I swear I read that one as a historical romance back in the days I was reading historical romance, which means…. Eeek! All that time ago?!!

    Crap. Feel old now.

    I’m not bothered by the “Tudor drag” (insert giggle here), since the Ottomans also traded with Europe… And fashion has a way to get from one place to the other, as we all know.
    But yeah, fabric quality? Not exactly there… And once more, it’s not because they spent the budget on hairpins, Godframmit!

  9. Dinosaurs? I thought it was the PolySatin Silk worn.? *Snorting while I typed this*

      1. In the Ottoman era, wasn’t the Valide Sultana (Queen Mum) the most powerful woman in the harem? Wonder if Roxalana survived to become the Valide?

  10. I remember reading a little bit about Turkish harems in this book written for American Girls called “The Black Tulip,” and takes place in the 17th century. (It was part of their “Girls of Many Lands” series).

    It’s weird that they get the costumes wrong a lot of the time, and yet the bizarre headdresses from the period actually get some recognition. I did find it ridiculous, based on the pictures, that the women are wearing corsets (or at least bodices with boning) when most of the time, they wore loose, comfy-looking caftans that were made of beautiful fabrics. Typical costume of that period consisted of a soft, loose caftan, one or more under-tunics, harem pants, and slippers. If the concubines wanted to be sexy, I suppose they would have worn clingy silk. I think when in the harem, they wore their hair down, but if, say, the Head Wife was in the court or in public (not sure if she was, but she would be the most likely one to leave the harem for such things) she would have probably worn her hair tied up, some elaborate head covering, and definitely a face veil of some kind. Maybe even a feminine turban on her head, or one of those semi-medieval-looking hats.

    That last picture immediately reminded me of that awful cat fight between Catherine Howard and Princess Mary in “The Tudors.” Same horrible outfit and ridiculous headdress on slutty little Cathy, same arrogant expression, same hands on hips. Though I’m not sure what they were going for in that scene. It looked like a cheap, poorly done knock-off of the Tudors fashion, and frankly, it has no place in ancient Turkey.

    It actually is not out of the realm of possibility that an Ottoman Emperor would have women from all over the place in his harem. By that time the Silk Road was up and running, and his traders would have had contact with quite a number of civilizations, not just the Middle East. A redhead with skin that pale would be seen as quite a prize in that part of the world. I also remember reading that royals and nobles from all over would sometimes offer brides/concubines as a form of diplomacy.

    I’m actually surprised that it’s the Head Wife, and not the sultan’s MOTHER who isn’t the head bitch in this soap opera. There’s a saying among Turks that “The world lies at the feet of the mother.” Often it was the sultan’s MOTHER who was the real power behind the throne, partially because she had to groom her son into becoming a ruler if the father was away on military campaigns all the time. Now if both his parents are dead, that’s another story entirely.

    1. My mother is Arabic, so we watch a lot of Arabic- speaking shows. The costumes in the ones I’ve watched are actually better then the costumes in Magnificent Century.

  11. Not that I’m an expert on 16th C Middle East or anything, but shouldn’t the women put their hair up? (or maybe I’ve been reading your site waaaayyy too much;)

    But thanks for the heads (ha!) up for this series. I’ll watch it like I watched the Tudors… with lots of wine:)

    (ps/ot – just bought a lovely mug from your site. I will, as a noob here, don a head necklace, hoard bobby pins (I have 6!), wear a corset without a chemise and watch Marie Antoinette over and over again. All while drinking bad box wine out of a shiny new mug. One of these things should endear me to you:)

      1. I kinda suspected that:)

        Now that my noob status is winding down, I should tell you how I got here…

        Broken ankle, tall house, many cats… whatever. I thought I would take the time and take on a knitting project. Ok, my project was ‘teach inny how to knit.’

        It was a long way between a hard core Game of Thrones forum and here, but, well, consider the chunky knits of Outlander my pathway.

        I still don’t know how to knit…

        Gotta run… uzbekistan wants their bobby pins back…

  12. On the last pic the headgear looks like the so called “párta” (in Hungarian) which was the traditional wear of unmarried women (symbolizing virginity). :)

  13. I really enjoyed the show since it’s an interesting period to me and I thought it was well done…..the costumes are very inaccurate but very pretty and interesting to ponder….though I was pretty annoyed with the whole Spanish princess look. They do seem to take a very strong LOTR/GOT/Ren faire feel instead of really making any effort for accuracy. Probably because to be period accurate everyone would just be in multiple layers and completely covered up which certainly doesn’t sell for drama….so I understand. I really hope Netflix picks up the rest of the seasons :)

    1. I’m not sure… Also, her arms are in a bit of a weird position, almost looks as if her FACE is the thing backward. Very strange.
      And lovely fake dupion silk FTW!

  14. I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR SO LONG. Though, confession time, I’m surprised you took the time to watch it because I don’t remember being able to endure more than 15 mins in one sitting, and I think as a whole I viewed about five episodes of the original show. But I feel like I know it so well, partly because of pop-cultural osmosis. When it was on air it was everywhere. Even serious Ottoman historians were watching it.
    Its success, I think, lies in being the first of its kind. Before the ’90s there were only the state-run TRT channels available on Turkish TV, and their period pieces generally tended to a) be “educational” in purpose and b) have very low production values so everything looked sort of historically accurate but also sort of drab. In the 90’s and ’00s not many historical TV shows were made, and ones that were made, especially those about the Ottoman era, tended to be somewhat more colorful versions of old TRT productions. I remember another TV project about Süleyman and Hürrem that aired in the early 2000s that totally tanked and was cancelled after a few episodes.
    Then the Magnificent Century happened, with its explosion of color and glitter and boobs. You very astutely observe their “commitment to sparkle motions”, I don’t think it could have been said better than that. It’s exactly that shiny version of history, that “magnificence” is what they’re selling. You mention fabric choices, well I don’t know anything about fabric, but I believe if the producers could keep all the glitter and boobs and the fantasy princess hair but were only asked to use better & more historically accurate fabric (a choice they probably had anyway), they would still use the polyester because it looks so damn SHINY.
    Couldn’t they have performed the same commitment to glitter with somewhat more authentic designs, you may ask. Well I guess anyone could do anything if they really wanted to. I wouldn’t describe Turkish TV producers as the most hardworking people around. Also there’s a cultural expectation at work here: Unlike for example in India and Japan, where sari and kimono are still beloved ceremonial dresses, in Turkey most aspects of classical Ottoman clothing, but especially the şalvar, are considered “peasant garb” nowadays. Even the conservatives would find the the Tudors-esque ballgown look more appealing than the original Ottoman styles. So the corsets and the boobs both appeal to contemporary tastes and work as a visual shorthand for how much more glam their version of history is than what you’re used to.

    1. The appealing to modern shiny aesthetics is something I feel is common around the world today! That’s why the comparison to The Tudors works — modern U.S. audiences ate that up bec it looked very sparkly & pretty & kinda sorta historical but not stodgy or stiff.

      Magnificent Century follows that vein very well! Serving up the glamour with just a hint of history ;)

      As prob the least reverent one around here, I get what shows like this are doing. Sometimes I enjoy watching them for fun (ehem, Reign!) but I also love snarking them, lol.

      1. Oh, yes: snark AND having fun watching can go together! And I can snark freely because it’s not someone’s earnest first attempt I might be disparaging, it’s a professional who knew she was making choices based on what the show would give her for a budget and a look.

      2. Now you’re gonna make me watch Reign… dammit!

        As a woman of a certain age and with over 400 college students, I actually kind of like the historical fiction on tv boom. At least the young’ens are asking questions.

        Granted, I don’t teach history…

        Back to topic. Thanks for highlighting this show – I would have missed it. Its a period of history that I adore and a geography that I know nothing about. This is a good thing:)

  15. Thanks for covering Magnificent Century here! I finally watched the show– well, the first two episodes of it– and it was fun, in a very Turkish telenovela sort of way. SO MANY DRAMATIC CLOSE-UPS! The costumes were pretty risible, especially the blue Evil Queen outfits worn by the sultan’s mother. I actually laughed out loud when she walked in wearing that.

    However, I am enjoying watching something which is not American, Canadian or Western European. It’s interesting watching the characters go back and forth in Turkish, Russian and Italian.

    One thing that I find particularly interesting, costume-wise, is how the costumes seem to take their inspiration from Ottoman styles– but 18th century Ottoman styles, when the clothes were low-cut and form-fitting (esp. in the artwork of Levni, who worked from 1720-1725). There are a bunch of pictures here. So yeah, only off by two centuries… But this probably ties in to what Pina said above, in her wonderful comment about “cultural expectations.” It’s Turkish-inspired, but less frumpy, I’m guessing. (Of course, since this is a period I know little about, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. :) )

  16. I think I figured out why so many Turks were watching this. Based on some earlier comments, if all they had was boring, State-run propaganda crap on tv, it’s no wonder tons of ordinary Turks would happily watch this. It’s a distant echo of a trend I noted in early tv-watching culture in the US after the 1950s.

    I watched some of the classical tv shows (or, at least tried to), and I was thinking to myself, “Why would anybody enjoy this? A lot of these stories are dumb! Or boring!” Now, mom’s default answer of “It was a CLASSIC!!!” didn’t do it for me. Dad’s answer to my question was more reasonable. He explained that such shows were only watched because they were there, not because people would have loved them like we would. Everyone was doing it, and everyone would talk about the new episode the next day or the following week, and if you didn’t see it, you weren’t in the loop or were not “cool.” People didn’t watch the classics because they always liked said shows (some were okay, and a few I saw were still good, even today, but some I just shake my head at). They just watched them because they were on, and it was a time to spend with family and friends gathered around the tv. I think that’s what’s happening in Turkey too, with this show.

    We’re all so spoiled now with nearly 1,000 tv channels and tons of shows to choose from. Netflix and tv shows on dvd have only made it worse. It’s difficult to understand how limited tv is outside of the US and Europe when we’ve got an attitude of “900 channels and only 5 of them have anything good on! Time for Netflix!” TV actually kinda sucks outside of those regions, hence why many people in other countries get satellite tv and just watch our shows, hehe. I know they do, because my pen-pal in England is one of them xD.

    So perhaps the Turks are motivated to watch this because a.) tv sucks over there, and b.) regardless of the inaccuracies, they like seeing something that speaks volumes of their cultural identity without the State writing the script.

    1. Turkey has more than just one state-run channel, whose content would appeal to people of all tastes, even before this series was aired. So, I do not understand why people are saying that they had nothing to watch before this except for shows with state-run propaganda. The irony is that the historical drama series, ‘Resurrection: Ertugrul’ had more viewership than ‘Magnificent Century’. And it was broadcast in the state-run channel. My point is that the claim that ‘Magnificent Century’ brought revolution to a supposedly conservative entertainment industry does not hold water.

  17. Magnificent Century, both the original and the sequel were really popular in my country (Poland). I guess because of change of pace from the American series and native telenovelas which oversaturated our TV channels. I can’t deny that whenever I managed to catch it on TV, I stuck with it because of its fantasy splendor. I think I enjoyed the sequel more because I kinda rooted for the main villain, perhaps because she was the most-gloriously over-the-top costumed character of them all.

  18. I’ve been watching it for a while, into the second season. They’ve portrayed Hürrem as such a bitch, it’s hard to watch her, this conniving slave, lord it over the Sultan’s real family. I wonder why they made the tone of this series so negative? I don’t know how much longer I can stand to watch it now she’s been freed. Historically, she was supposed to be very intelligent, happy and nowhere near as shrewish, though she did get Süleyman to free her and marry her, something unheard of in the harem! She also had Süleyman execute Ibrahim Pasa and his son the crown prince Mustafa. Ok well maybe her portrayal here as a shrew and bitch isn’t so far from the truth. Herbline destroyed the Ottomans. Her son Selim the dot and following sultans were all mad as hatters and so we can thank Hürrem for the end of the Ottomans.

  19. This show, as per end of 2017, had 500 million consistent/regular viewers around the world. That’s 6 times more global viewers/ratings than Game of Thrones.

    It was the most popular show the world had ever seen until another Turkish TV series, “Resurrection: Ertugrul” broke that record with 1.13 BILLION live viewers around the world of the Final Episode.

    Just to put that into perspective, that’s more live viewers than the First Moon Landing in 1969 (at 1 Billion worldwide).

    I’m still finding it hard to process this! Gulp

    Turkish Series are exported to 176 countries around the world now. The country ranks second (only after the USA) in TV series export revenue. However, in terms of ratings, especially the performance of the top caliber series, it is number 1 in the world.

  20. Dear Frickflicks, i am on holiday in Baku and am travelling toistanbul next Thursday, do you know of a theatrical store in istanbul which sells Sultana outfits? Thanks for your help Kim

  21. The last one is Russian (Hurrem’s unlucky competitor for an episode or two), and it looks like she is supposed to be wearing a kokoshnik. Apparently, she is a communist as well, because Soviet star right in the middle OMG I never noticed:))))

  22. This drama is not so true.
    These dresses of Ottoman women are all wrong,they were muslims and chaste.
    Ottoman sultans were not lecherous,they were muttaqi,they were fasting,praying.They had not so much time for fun,because of jihads.

  23. I’ve watched a few episodes of this after stumbling on it on YouTube. It is definitely the stuff of soap operas… Really absurdly long, drawn out scenes about interpersonal relationships that never seem to function happily for more than a couple of minutes. And then there’s the relentless, unceasing, nauseating background music that just never let up. I had to give up watching it because that was making me crazy. Interesting window into Turkish culture, meaning modern Turkish culture’s entertainment preferences. More of a Game of Thrones and The Last Kingdom kind of girl myself, I guess! LOL!

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