Apple TV+’s Franklin reveals a new side of the founder

“Electricity. Yes, you can all thank me. I picked up some lightning, a kite, and a fat brass key,” sang the Decemists in their 2017 “Song of Ben Franklin.” For most Americans, this is the image of the Founding Father. And they are not wrong. It is undoubtedly what he is best known for. Franklin, his key and his kite decorated everything from portraits for postage stamp for cups of tea It is tops for centuries. He was without a doubt the most famous man in the world. But these flashes of electricity are so great that they, unfortunately, blinded many from Franklin’s greatest achievement: the signing of the 1778 Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France.

That’s why it’s so welcome and important that Apple TV’s new eight-part series, Franklin, starring Michael Douglas, sheds light on something beyond enlightenment.

Franklin offers a nuanced and generally accurate view of the alliance that led France to the American Revolution and the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the war. The miniseries is based on the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff. A Grand Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America (2005). Unlike Ken Burns Franklin documentary or John Adams miniseries, which attempts to cover an entire life or career, this version offers a “slice of history”, in the words of director Tim Van Patten. It’s a smart choice that more films should use. This show has the potential to elevate the importance of Franklin and the Treaty of Alliance of 1778– like Steven Spielberg Lincoln did for the Thirteenth Amendment.

What the show gets right is how easily things could have gone wrong. The Treaty of Alliance of 1778 was fundamental in winning the Revolution. By December 1776, the optimism of the Declaration of Independence had faded. The meager Continental Army under the command of General George Washington was on the run in New Jersey after being humiliated by the combined might of the British Army and Royal Navy. They were outgunned and outmatched by the most powerful military on Earth. The American Revolution seemed to be on borrowed time. “These are the times that test the souls of men” he wrote author Thomas Paine, calling the moment an “American crisis”. The US needed money, clothing, equipment, weapons, men and, most of all, a friendly navy to have any hope of defeating the British. They needed outside help. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Franklin charmed a foreign nation, convinced an absolute monarch to finance a war for freedom, alienated his own bitter compatriots (like John Adams), and forged a defensive pact that put France (and, more importantly, its navy) in conflict. the war. Four years later, these French soldiers and sailors joined Washington’s army to win victory at Yorktown – and end the American Revolution. The war was won on the battlefield (and by the French navy) and Franklin’s diplomacy put all the pieces and peace in place.

Dr. Franklin, the “American Prometheus,” entered Paris to a hero’s welcome in the streets and castles. While being mobbed like a combination of the Beatles during the British Invasion and Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, Douglas, playing Franklin, jokes: “They have it in their heads that I invented electricity. Who am I to dissuade them.” Franklin’s style of diplomacy was built around his own fame, reputation and an elaborate image of himself – complete with busts, medallions, portraits and even chamber pots bearing his likeness. Credit goes to the production team who replicated the plain brown suit (although the show’s looks more burgundy) and fur cap that Franklin consciously chose to symbolize American republicanism in the face of French extravagance. “Think how it must appear among the powdered heads of Paris,” he he wrote. This endeared him to the French.

Michael Douglas, 79, convincingly plays a septuagenarian Franklin and brings some of the humor to Franklin that was missing from Ken Burns’ version – historically accurate fart jokes and all. Interestingly, Douglas appears to be the most prolific American revolutionary actor. He did a narration of Franklin in 2003 Freedom: a story of usplayed the patriot John Laurens of the future Hamilton-famous for a 1972 two-part TV movie, voiced Patrick Henry in the animation Freedom Childrenand provided the virtual tour introduction to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Douglas clearly has an affinity with the era, and Van Patten cast him because he believed the two men had a “similar spirit.” Although in dispensing with makeup and prosthetics used in the publicity photos, Douglas’s Franklin does not look like the portraits of Franklin. He looks like Michael Douglas with a wig and lots of hair.

Read more: How rich were the founding fathers?

There is no early bed or early rising for Franklin in Paris, flirtations and intrigues abound. However, it doesn’t turn into a sensationalist Franklin bodice-ripper romance. Showing welcome restraint, Van Patten opted for “whispers” to get the job done – and toy with viewers’ imaginations and rumors (like those of 18th-century Parisians). There’s still a very awkward Franklin sex scene, but he looks more like what the elderly man was: a “founder flirt”, not a “founding Casanova”.

The constant dilemma in dramatizing history: how close do you need to stay to the sources? Van Patten, which has its own long history of historically defined series (including Pomegranate, Airbender, Pacific, Deadwood, etc.), believes that “authenticity counts”. And this is seen in the details, such as filming 90% of the show in Paris and using lighting that replicates candlelight. It doesn’t look modern. Very similar Shogun (Van Patten is executive producer), English is not spoken for long periods of time – giving a sense of realism. The script opts for a colloquial style, so there are no word-for-word lyrics turned into dialogue, but rather an homage to real quotes. However, although “Diplomacy should never be a siege, but a seduction” is a great line that is getting a lot of attention in reviews of this series, Franklin never said it. It was probably borrowed from an also fictitious line by Franklin in John Adams: “Diplomacy is seduction under another disguise.”

Drawing by Claude-Anne Lopez Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris (1990), women feature prominently in the series – especially composer Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy (Ludivine Sagnier). But the series doesn’t give enough credit to French women as guardians of the French court. Brillon in particular is not clearly shown as Franklin’s Main Key to high society. She pretended to be pursuing the American, when in fact she maintained a non-romantic father-daughter relationship—this also helped elevate her own status (despite Franklin’s other intentions).

Van Patten admits that his main function was entertainment, and this is where the story sometimes strays from reality. Franklin in Paris and the American Revolution are dramatic enough, there is no need to invent more drama. Overall, these aren’t particularly egregious offenses, but they are noticeable if you delve deeper into the story. For example, Franklin failed to get the Marquis de Lafayette (played by the remarkable Théodore Pellerin) a general commission from Congress; Silas Deane, the original envoy to France, did. Marginal characters are given elevated roles to “illuminate characters forgotten by history,” while more prominent ones are cut entirely (Franklin is losing a grandson and America is losing some other diplomats). Still, while the series may not be perfectly accurate, the overall feel of Paris and the moment is spot on. And although it’s perhaps an episode or two too long, this series is fun. Just watch the Monty Python-style opening credits.

But why should viewers care about Franklin as something more than entertainment? With the wit of Franklin, Mark Twain once said, “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” We are at a time that could benefit from Franklin’s wisdom in matters of national and international diplomacy and statesmanship. With global conflict and competition on the rise, alliances and diplomacy are more important than ever. In Franklin’s opinion, “There was never a good war, or a bad peace.” Domestically, Americans face a contentious presidential election while still reeling from the last one. Van Patten hopes the public understands “how fragile the ideas and principles of our founding fathers were – then and now.” Or, in Franklin’s words, we are “a republic, if you can keep it.”

Nothing will replace the correlation between Franklin and lightning. But maybe Franklin will help Franklin, the diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Alliance, become at least better known than Franklin, the scientist who electrocuted a turkey.