Forever in my Heart

Forever in my Heart
Mom

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Getting medieval on the silver screen


It’s time for the annual review of the silver screen’s portrayal of the medieval world. This year is a plethora of television and movies for the history enthusiast. Let’s begin with the big screen.




First up another re-telling of King Arthur: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword: as invisioned by Guy Ritchie (see link for trailer).  Ritchie blends the Arthurian legend with a ’gangster’ style. The hero runs around wearing a sheep’s-wool lined leather jacket and pants in the back streets of Londonium, trying to revenge his parent’s death at the hands of Mordred with ‘his gang of followers”. What happened to the Knights of the Round Table? Hmmmm…sound familiar? Sounds like someone watched too any Batman episodes. The now boring use of slow motion filing is over-used. Critics have blasted this version. It remains to be seen how movie-goers see this film.






Next up is the latest Pirates movie: pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Johnny Depp has supposedly said he will continue to play Captain Jack Sparrow as long as Disney allows him to make the movies because he has so much fun with the role. Well, let’s hope he stops before he needs a walker or wheelchair. I admit I do enjoy watching him as a pirate. Sure, it’s fun, if not realistic but then, hey, it’s Disney! Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley reprise their roles in the film along with Sir Paul McCartney.






Cable Television is finishing off two shows this year: Black Sails and the most decorated show in Emmy history, Game of Thrones. Outlander starts up in the fall.



Black Sails is the story of pirates in the 17th century, roughly set twenty years before Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Treasure Island. The book season, in my opinion, was rough which caused me to stop watching, but I heard it did get better. One of my peeves about historical dramas is how Hollywood changes history to suit itself. One example is the pirate Vane. He didn’t last as long as the show. Anne Bonny is also depicted different from the real female pirate.






We move on the two series based on books by Phillipa Gregory: The White Queen and The White Princess. Both series chronicle the War of the Roses with Gregory’s spin on what might have happened. As with most authors, the books include fictional as well as historical characters. In both series, one of the tragic Princes in the Tower, Richard, was switched with a look-a-like. He gets away and tries to raise an army to regain his throne while his real-life sister, Elisabeth (married to King Henry VII) does her best to survive to serpent’s den. A well-written show filmed in authentic locations.









The History Channel’s Vikings have become popular – don’t believe me? Just attend a Renaissance Fair. The show is between seasons but last year we saw the death of Ragnar Lothbrok. Ws Ragnar a real man or a legend? History is torn on this but there is no doubt the men who are considered his sons are real. Ivar the Boneless was a feared warrior. The show gives us a realistic portrayal of Viking lifestyle. They weren’t men wearing horned helmets (that never happened). Many of the journeys were in search of new lands for homesteading. Let’s face it: the place they lived wasn’t the best for farming and raising a family. Another issue with the show was the mixing of time periods. Rollo wasn’t Ragnar’s brother. In fact, they lived in different times altogether. But other than that, it is a fun show to watch.






Next up is Reign, the convoluted story about Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scotland who was ultimately beheaded by Queen Elizabeth. Multiple seasons kept Mary in France until she marries the ill-fated King Francis II. In fact, he died young, leaving Mary childless. She returned to Scotland where she had two more marriages. The show is accompanied with an upbeat soundtrack and luxurious costumes & locations.






Our perennial favorites Game of Thrones and Outlander are returning this year.



Outlander won’t be on the screen until the fall for its third season based on Diana Gabaldon’s book, Voyager. In this book, Claire has returned back to her time while Jamie is gearing up for the battle at Culloden. Again Gabaldon’s input, meticulous research, amazing locations, wonderful costumes, and a great cast makes this a show to put on your watch list.






The big show coming in July is Game of Thrones. The show finale premise has been a he secret. George R.R. Martin’s books haven’t kept up, with the next book, Winds of Winter, still in the writing process. As George keeps reminding us, “It will be done when it’s done.” I guess it doesn’t matter since the books and show have splintered off in different directions. No one knows how it will end. Recently the powers That Be announced the talks had begun to seek a writer for a GOT prequel series. One thing we do know, the show will NOT be about Dunk & Egg.  I’m glad because I’m going to have seizures when the show is finished. Sure, I have my DVDs and there is always Xena but no one looks as good doing the broody as Kit Harrington.





A couple of new shows loom on the horizon:



Still Star Crossed takes places after the suicides of Romeo and Juliet in Verona, Italy. It debuts in May on ABC. From what I’ve seen, the producers are trying to follow the Hollywood agenda, casting ethnic actors in key roles. Not a fan of this. Instead, use Italians if you want to stay away from the ‘normal’ A-Listers. This is the way I stopped watching Once Upon a Time. I just couldn’t stomach the thought of key characters in Arthurian legend being cast with ethnic actors (sorry, but NO way was Lancelot an African American – he was FRENCH – a Norman man true & true).





Have you ever wondered why Friday the 13th is unlucky? Well, it has to do with the Templar Knights. King Phillip of France, along with the Pope, ordered all of the Templar arrested. Knightfall focuses on events after the fall of the Templar Knights in the mid-13 hundreds. It debuts on the History Channel in the fall.






There have been some fantasy movies released but I’m not going into those. I did enjoy Warcarft for the fun of it (never played the game, though).



Until next time. Stay safe out there.




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