How <em>The Crown</em>, and Its Clothes, Transform Power
One of the most telling scenes in the new season of Netflix’s The Crown comes midway through the first episode, when Queen Elizabeth (now played by Olivia Colman) is preparing for a funeral. As the various units of Britain’s armed forces line up in formation by Buckingham Palace, the queen’s dresser readies the sovereign, clasping her signature three-strand pearl necklace, placing a black pillbox hat reverently on her head, and brushing any unconstitutional specks of dust off the shoulders of her wool coat. Outside, men in uniforms fire ceremonial cannons and pull a flag-covered coffin through silent streets. Inside, a woman puts on her own armor.
In its first two seasons, felt like a study of a woman abruptly given often , its central character trying to come to terms with the widening chasm between her desires as a person and her role as a monarch. And, like any superhero, the Queen relies heavily on costume to delineate her dual identities.
