User:Stubilan/Reign (TV series)

Fashion
Reign 's lead costume designer is Meredith Markworth-Pollack. According to the Observer, Reign's custom blend of contemporary and historical fashion had mixed reviews from the show's audience. The show did not feature historically accurate clothing, however, was well-received amongst younger audience members--particularly young fashion bloggers--who found the aesthetics of the show's costume-line pleasing. In the same article, Meredith explains that there was a correspondence to the show's overall tone as seasons progressed. The costumes went from pretty, light fabrics befitting of young ladies to dark, more mature designs as Mary got older. Most of the costumes at the beginning of Reign's production were rentals found from different places in Europe, Los Angeles, and off-the-rack thrift stores. Once the show gained more traction, Meredith was receiving vintage fabrics to work with from all over the world.

Music
Executive producer Brad Silberling knew someone who worked with the American folk rock band The Lumineers during the development period of "Scotland", the series opening theme song. In an interview about the song, the lead singer of the band, Wesley Schultz, commented, "The song also was special to us because it had this beautiful driving rhythm that Jer [Jeremiah Fraites] played that reminded us of battle drums, like something out of Braveheart – hence the strange name – Scotland,". Aside from the show's theme song which is aired for all four seasons, The Lumineers' have a second song called "Charlie Boy" which is also featured in the pilot of the first season.

In an exclusive interview with the show's music supervisor, Madonna Wade Reed, she discusses how The Lumineers set the music tone of the show. Although the band didn't create original score for the show, Madonna explains that they used pre-existing songs throughout the show like the Vitamin String Quartet's cover of “Stubborn Love" in order to maintain that connection.

Themes in Gender
Women in Power


 * While Reign mainly focuses on six female characters throughout the series, the show primarily hones in on three particular monarch figures that existed in real life. Reign follows the fictional journey of young Mary Stuart, based off the real reigning monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots, who ruled Scotland for 25 years in the mid 14th century. Throughout the course of the series, Mary is seen in and out of conflict with Catherine de Medici, the Dowager Queen of France who is also Mary's mother-in-law; they act as the driving source of conflict for the majority of the show up until season 3 when the show features an additional rendition of Queen Elizabeth I played by Rachel Skarsten. Both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth take center stage for the narrative during the latter half of the series up until its' cancellation in 2017--facing each other as rivals in a political setting.
 * The show illustrates these characters struggling to balance personal and political endeavors when in a position of power. It is praised by some entertainment media outlets for depicting powerful, three-dimensional women as they barrel head first into a world typically run by men.

Women's Sexuality


 * In light of Kenna's masturbation scene in Reign's pilot, many entertainment media outlets and critics were quick to pick up a stance on whether it was appropriate to illustrate a young woman exploring her sex on network television.   There were two different versions of the pilot released during Reign's first week of airing--an on-air cut that met broadcast standards which premiered Thursday, October 17, 2013, and a director's cut published on CW's website the morning after on Friday, October 18, 2013.  The same day of the television release, an interview with the showrunner, Laurie McCarthy, was published discussing the conception, production, and reception of the masturbation scene. She comments that masturbation is commonplace and a healthy conversation for parents to have with their young adults. In 2014, an interview with Kenna's actress, Caitlin Stasey, was published regarding the importance of depicting female sexuality on television and a woman's sexual independence.