This page cites Romanichal-related books, films, documentaries, and other forms of media documentation and/or depiction.
List of Romanichal-related depictions & documentaries
Television My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding - a controversial reality television show which allegedly portrays the lives of Romanichal Gypsies and Irish Travellers in the United States, but the show has been widely denounced and criticized for racism, and non-Gypsy actors spreading misinformation about the Romanichals. Gypsy Girl (2001) CITV — Children's television series, based on the books by Elizabeth Arnold, and centers around the title character Freya Boswell and her family. Ashes to Ashes Series 2 2009 Episode 2 — A British television police drama series set in the 1980s. A police officer tries to clear her name when she is involved in the accidental death of an English Romanichal. She uncovers a pre-meditated plot to murder him with a depressant overdose. The episode does include some stereotypical elements as the plot unfolds; namely the plot device of an old Romani clairvoyant and friction between the police and the Romani camp. However these stereotypes are turned on their head as there are elements of police corruption and the local doctor who was obsessed with the victims wife is found guilty of poisoning. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 3, Elementary, Dear Data (December 5, 1988) — In the opening scene in the holodeck playing the part of Sherlock Holmes Data exposes an ambassador for the king of Bohemia. Claiming he was robbed in London by gypsies who in turn also took a sensitive photograph of the king and his mistress. Data rips open the mans coat lining displaying the photograph concluding he is an agent working against the king with the intent to use the photograph for blackmail purposes. The Canterville Ghost (1974) Television dramatisation - Based on the (1887) short story by Oscar Wilde. A Romani group are suspected of kidnapping a girl but are innocent and join in the search for her. Kizzy (1976) BBC Television dramatisation - Based on the (1972) children's novel The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden. Peaky Blinders - The BBC Two series features the Romani Lee family who become allies to the Shelbys after an arranged marriage between John Shelby and Esme Lee. Glue (2014)
Documentaries Romany Trail, The World About Us (1981) TV documentary – Discusses the Indian origin of the British Romani people and other groups throughout Europe. The programme shows various aspects of Romanichal culture, including Appleby fair in Cumbria. Romany Summer by Barry Cockcroft (1971) TV documentary – A documentary of Romani life in Britain in the 1970s, featuring a family of Romany Gypsies who travelled and lived around York. 'Latcho Drom ("safe journey") is a 1993 French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival La canzone di Rebecca (The Song of Rebecca, 2012) - A documentary by Roberto Malini on the story of the young Roma artist Rebecca Covaciu. The documentary received the Dan Avalos Award 2013.
Radio Atching Tan (The Stopping Place) (2008 – 2010) Radio drama – A drama series of 36 episodes that follows the relationships that evolve between members of the Gypsy community and the settled community in a rural village. Atching Tan has received extremely positive reviews for its insightful drama produced by The Romany Theatre Company (RTC).
Film Caravan – Based on the book by Eleanor Smith (herself of Romani descent). Richard Durrell loses his memory as a result of the assault and marries a Romani girl. The Vagabond (1916) - by Charlie Chaplin a slapstick comedy where he falls in love with a young woman who is with gypsies. Sky West and Crooked (1966) - Inspired by the novel The Gypsy and the Gentleman by D. H. Lawrence. A young girl played by Hayley Mills finds happiness and friendship with a young English Romani played by Ian McShane in an English village. The Raggedy Rawnie - Starring Bob Hoskins (himself of Romani descent) playing a soldier who goes AWOL during World War I who is taken in by a community of English Romanies. Haunted (1995) – Starring Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale, an old Romanichal fortune teller reads the palms of two characters. Thinner (1996) - based on the 1984 novel by Stephen King. An elderly Romani places a weight loss curse on the New England lawyer who recklessly killed his daughter. The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958) – A movie based on Belle, a young English Romani, who seeks to infiltrate the gentry of high society. Stone of Destiny (2008) – Based on a true story, Scottish nationalists reclaim the ancient symbol of their nation the Stone of Scone and bury the treasure is in a field. They return to find a Romanichal camp and one of the nationalists barters with the leader for the stone. In reality they waited until the Romani family left before recovering the stone. Stardust (2007) – A fantasy film, where Madame Semele/Ditchwater Sal: A witch, and a member of the Sisterhood travels around in a yellow Romani wagon.
Literature Many of the descriptions in the 19th century are also the product of a romanticized view of Romanichal and other Romani groups, both idealized and reviled by Victorian and early-twentieth-century writersGypsies and the British Imagination, 1807–1930 (2006). Deborah Epstein Nord. Columbia University Press which manifests itself in the works of fiction by many other authors throughout the Victorian Era to the present.
Poem and verse The earliest literal references of Romanies in England occurs in the 16th century, as Romanies emigrated to Tudor England. However, by the Elizabethan era this was a popular topic of the time, and suggests in his writings that William Shakespeare was influenced by tales or interaction's with the Romanies. As was common at the time Shakespeare referred to Romanies and believe they were Egyptians.Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society By Gypsy Lore Society 1889Story of the Gypsies By Konrad Bercovici Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (1591–1595) – The play refers to Dido, a Cleopatra a gypsy.The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare, Joseph Allen BryantWhen Romeo Met Juliet By Leslie Dunkling A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1596) – Which includes the lines "Sees Helens beauty in the brow of Egypt", Egypt is used to refer to the Romnai people of England. In the context that imagining the face of a lover can make the dark skinned gypsy look like Helen of Troy a great beauty. As You Like It, a Pastoral Comedy by William Shakespeare (1600) – Shakespeare uses the word "dukdame" is a corruption or mishearing of the old Romanichal word dukka me or (I foretell or I tell fortunes).As You Like It By William Shakespeare Editorial Review - School Library Journal vol. 55 iss. 3 p. 171 (c) 03/01/2009K. E. Chambers. William Shakespear: A study of Facts and Problems, 2 vols., (Vol 1 Oxford Clarendon Press 1930) Othello by William Shakespeare (1603) – Desdemona's handkerchief a gift to Othello's mother is a gift from a gypsy "Egyptian charmer" who can almost read the thoughts of people.Shakespeare's Caliban: a cultural history By Alden T. Vaughan, Virginia Mason Vaughan 1993 Cambridge University Press The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1611) – The only human inhabitant of the mythical island the character Caliban is thought to be named after the word Kaliban meaning black or with blackness in the English Romani language.Albert Kluyber “Kalis and Calibon” trans. A. E. H. Swain Englich studien XXI (1895): 326-28; John Holland A Hystorical Survey of The Gypsies (London printed for the author 1816) p.148; B.C. Smart and H. T. Crofton, eds., The Dialect of The English Gypsies 2nd ed., London 1875. p92. As the first Romani immigrants arrived in England a century before Shakespear wrote The Tempest, it is thought he may have been influenced by their exotic looks. In this time Romanies in England were targeted for discrimination. Bartholomew Fair by Ben Jonson (1631) – A comedy in five acts, set in London's Bartholomew Fair. A band of German Romani arrive in England and perform to the assembled crowd as entertainers and rope-dancers. The Scholar Gypsy by Matthew Arnold – A poem based on a legend recounted by Joseph Glanvill in The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661), based on the thoughts and reflections of a Romani's relationship, belief in, and relationship with, God. Vagrant Muse by William Wordsworth – A young homeless woman is welcomed by a band of Romanies who take her in and offer her charity and companionship. Not all Wagons and Lanes by Charlie Smith – A collection of English gypsy poems. The Invisible Kings by David Morley – A selection of Romani poems inspired by the authors own British Romani heritage. Vagabond in a Native Place by John Clare - A selection of poems romanticizing the lives, culture, and wanderings of the English Romani people. The Scholar Gipsy by Matthew Arnold – A 19th-century poem regarding the religious moral of the English Romani based in his belief in, and relationship with god. Arnold laments that non-gypsies have lost their faith. Not all Wagons and Lanes by Charles – Collection of poems by Charles Smith. Gavvered All Around by Dennis Binns – Anthology of thirty poems written by 10 Gypsy poets.
Novels and short stories Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (1722) - Moll's earliest memory is of wandering "among a group of people they call Gypsies or Egyptians" in England. Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (1841) – Describes the first literary mention of an English Romanichal vardo or wagon. Lavengro by George Borrow (1851) – Considered to be Borrow's autobiographical masterpiece and a part philosophical adventure. A young man is befriended by a group of English Romanies and reflects on his wanderings with them. Romany Rye by George Borrow (1857) – In which a young man continues his journey with English Romani and is a sequel to Borrow's previous work Lavengro. Romano Lavo-lil by George Borrow (1874) - A dictionary of the language of the English Romanichals. Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott (1815) describes a community of Romanies living in the Scottish borders as being Scottish Romani and exotic. This refers to a Romanichal community living in the border area between Scotland and England, especially in the Kirk of Yetholm. The Wind on the Heath: A Gypsy Anthology by John Sampson (1930) - A compilation of more than three hundred selections from novels, plays, etc., from British authors, to convey the ubiquity of the idea of the Romanichal in British literature. Phoebe and the Gypsy by Andrea Spalding (2009) - A children's book about a young Canadian Phoebe Hill's who visits to her grandmother in England who befriends a Romani woman. The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892) – one of 56 Sherlock Holmes stories; in which a group of English Romanies are suspected and later acquitted from the investigation and are allowed to leave. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - The protagonist Maggie runs away to Romanies, but decides she has gone out of her depth. They do not harm her, but the episode darkly prefigures the steps that she will take in adulthood. Emma by Jane Austen - Romanies make a brief appearance in Emma as children who bait Harriet in a lonely lane. Mr Knightley is warned about them as a neighborhood nuisance. Austen's description of the Romani is romanticized. The Gipsies Advocate by James Crabb – A Reverend motivates his community to improve the living standards of Romanies. The book was inspired after the author J. Gibb saw the injustices of society on British Romanies when a gypsy was convicted to death and his accomplice a non-Romani was spared.