North and South (trilogy): Difference between revisions

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The focal point of the saga is a budding [[Heterosexual Life Partners|bromance]] between Orry Main of South Carolina and George Hazard of Pennsylvania. The two become best friends while attending [[Military Academy|West Point]], but later find themselves and their families on opposite sides of the war. The slave-owning Mains are [[Deep South|rural gentleman planters]] while the big-city Hazards are heavy in industry, their differences reflecting the social divisions that eventually led to the Civil War.

 

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[The Alcatraz]]: The infamous [[wikipedia:Libby Prison|Libby Prison]].

** John Jakes fought this for a while, but was ultimately convinced that Orry losing an arm would constantly take viewers out of the story, as they'd spend every scene trying to spot how Patrick Swayze was hiding his arm.

* [[And Your Little Dog, Too]]

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: At the start of the ''North and South'', Madeline is paired off with Justin La Motte, a wealthy plantation owner who is significantly older.

* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]

* [[Bastard Bastard]]: Bent was fobbed off onto an abusive foster home after his ''real'' father, a U.S. Senator, decided to cover up his own marital infidelities.

* [[Beard of Evil]]: {{spoiler|Bent}} grows one in the third miniseries.

** ''Heaven & Hell'' elevates Madeline to "Hot Mess" status as she works to rebuild Mont Royal.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Orry Main has bad luck with trains. The first time he arrives at a Yankee train station, he is harassed for his southern accent, leading into a brawl. The second time, Virgilia's mob stops the train and tries to lynch him. The ''third'' time, Orry whips out his cutlass and goes to town on some muggers.

*** This wasn't the last time David Carradine would get his ass handed to him by [[Kill Bill|a chick with a sword]].

* [[Big Bad]]: Elkanah Bent.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Madeline Fabray.

* [[The Cameo]]: With a cast this humongous, there were bound to be a few.

* [[Cool Old Guy]] / [[Nature Hero]]: Adolphus.

* [[Dark Secret]]: Ashton's discovery (through Bent) that {{spoiler|Madeline}}'s late mother was not only black, but a high-class prostitute to boot.

* [[Domestic Abuse]]: Madeline's unpleasant marriage to Justin.

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Orry}} is killed off at the beginning of ''Heaven and Hell''. Through creative use of [[Stock Footage|Archive Footage]], {{spoiler|Swayze}} walks through a doorway to be replaced by a stand-in, who (silently) bites the dust when Bent stabs him from behind.

* [[Duel to the Death]]: Orry schools Charles in the finer arts of dueling prior to facing off against a aristocrat.

** Another time, some of the Southern villains maneuver one of the Northern characters into a pistol duel with a sabotaged gun so they can murder him legally. Fortunately, the more sympathetic southerners learn what is going on and charge in to stop it.

* [[Fake American]]: English actress Leslie-Anne Down portrays Madeline.

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Bent turns out to be an illegitimate son of a U.S. Senator, who shilled him off on an abusive foster family rather than have anything to do with him.

* [[Great Escape]]

* [[Henpecked Husband]]: Stanley Hazard and James Huntoon are married to an embezzler and a sociopath, respectively. Stanley gets bullied into betraying George and selling shoddy equipment to the Union forces, while Huntoon is merely a puppet for Ashton and Bent to carry out their plot.

* [[Her Heart Will Go On]]: {{spoiler|Orry}} getting bumped off at the start of Book 3.

* [[Historical Fiction]]

* [[Homosocial Heterosexuality]]: Madelyn is manipulated into an [[Arranged Marriage]] based entierly on his friendship with her father. This scenario is gradually rolled up retroactively after the protagonist loses contact with her only to find out that she's suddenly getting married.

* [[The Hyena]]: Ashton Main.

* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]] / [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]

* [[Informed Attribute]]: Bent repeatedly claims to be an outstanding military tactician, and especially loves to bring up how one of his West Point instructors compared him to Napoleon. He never gets to actually demonstrate these skills, and it's unclear how much he's embellishing.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: It's a twofer: [[Johnny Cash]] (!) gets a scene as renegade abolitionist John Brown. [[Jimmy Stewart]] appears in the second miniseries as attorney Miles Corbert. ..Alright, technically he gets two scenes, but still.

** [[Star Wars|Billy D. Williams]] as a black rights union leader in part three.

* [[Politically-Correct History]]

* [[Politically-Incorrect Villain]]: Virtually all of the southern villains including Bent, Justin, and Ashton.

* [[Professional Gambler]]

* [[Rich Bitch]]: Also numerous.

* [[Save the Villain]]: George and Orry rescue Elkanah Bent from drowning in an icy lake. He's [[Ungrateful Bastard|not exactly grateful]].

* [[Scars Are Forever]]: Justin receives one from Madeline's sword slash.

* [[Second Act Breakup]]: In ''Love and War'', Madeline deserts Orry after {{spoiler|Ashton threatens to expose her black lineage and disgrace Orry's family}}. They finally reconcile after the war ends. Only in the miniseries, not in the novels.

* [[See You in Hell]]

* [[Soaperizing]]

* [[Spoiled Brat]] / [[The Vamp]]: Ashton.

* [[The Epic]]

* [[Torches and Pitchforks]]: Virgilia directs her Abolitionist mob to lynch Orry, but he escapes in time.

* [[Wanted Poster]]

* [[War for Fun and Profit]]

** In the miniseries, Virgilia agrees to serve as Congressman Greene's mistress in exchange for a judicial pardon. In his final scene, Greene reveals {{spoiler|that Virgilia's name has been cleared for month; he was just stringing her along in exchange for sex. Virgilia goes berserk and shoots him dead}}.

* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: The people who made the DVD chapter titles had a lot of fun with Bent's name.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Historical Fiction]]

[[Category:Miniseries]]

[[Category:The Eighties]]