Mmm, Vikings (Arthurian Vikings, but whatever, it's cool)

[ealgylden]

Okay, I know everyone was all giddy yesterday about the King Arthur pics of Keira looking fierce (but cold. Poor girl, that costume looks really uncomfortable) or Ioan looking terribly butch, or both. I was too, believe me. But I want to throw a little love in the direction of Stellan Skarsgard. Come on, is that not the face of a Viking who knows he's doomed to die, and wants only to die well? I've only seen Stellan in contemporary roles, so I had no idea he had such a great look for period pieces. Nice surprise. I also have no idea who this Cedric he plays is (Cedric the Saxon, kidnapped and sent back in time from Ivanhoe?), but I'll admit freely that the Arthurian mythos is not traditionally my thing. I had one Medieval Comp. Lit. class on it as an undergrad (Gildas to Mallory, yeehaw), and that's pretty much it. Anyway, Stellan has definitely made the cast of my fantasy Beowulf and/or Viking saga movie, along with Dennis Storhoi and Vladimir Kulich from 13th Warrior (not a great pic of Dennis, but Vladimir looks fearsome), possibly Rutger Hauer (he did "nobly doomed" wonderfully in Ladyhawke, but that was a long time ago, and he's not aging well) and pretty much all of the Rohirrim. Some of the extras in King Arthur seem to fit the bill as well, and who is that long-haired cutie? Him too. I'll make him Wiglaf or something.

And speaking of King Arthur, I’m not in favor of banning books, but damn if I'm not tempted when it comes to Mists of Avalon. Not permanently, but just long enough so that there's one generation of teenies that doesn't shriek, "But Guinevere was blonde! She was a pious Christian virgin! Why isn't it all about the women? Where's Morgaine/Viviane/Morgause/whotheheckever?" whenever something Arthurian arises in pop culture. And I like MoA, or at least I did when I read it at thirteen (haven't read it since, and from what I hear it often doesn't hold up well after adolescence). But kiddies, it is not the Arthurian gospel. It's certainly not very good history, Arthurian or not. Or, you know, history at all. It's just a novel. Honestly.

Comments

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

...but who didn't resort to shoddy, one-dimensional pagan/Christian conflicts that bear little resemblance to history to drive their stories.

My beef precisely. And the society she constructs... It just doesn't happen that way, as far as anyone can tell. The actual process is much more interesting, in my opinion.

...For one thing, in the actual process you get really interesting folktales about Mary, as in Our Lady Mary, the Holy Mother. In some of them she steals stuff. *is juvenile* Mary as a Trickster figure amuses me a wee bit too much.

(And MoA Gwen is an incredibly unattractive character, and I'm not really all that fond of any of the other women either, though I maintain a fondness for the crippled bard who becomes the Merlin whose name I can never remember. I tried to reread it a little while back. Quickly gave up before the few moments of beauty I remembered were sullied forever.)

[ealgylden.livejournal.com]

For one thing, in the actual process you get really interesting folktales about Mary, as in Our Lady Mary, the Holy Mother. In some of them she steals stuff. *is juvenile* Mary as a Trickster figure amuses me a wee bit too much.

Ooh, I haven't come across those before. I've seen some (mostly Italian) folktales with various saints as tricksters (usually Peter), but not Mary. How neat. Must go hunting. Yay research!