Truitt Glover
Vikings in Vikings
Lately I’ve been watching the History channel show, Vikings. So far, I’ve finished season 1 and I have to say that it’s really good. But some of the more fascinating things I found about it were the way in which it was historically accurate and how it really connected to all the things we’ve been reading in class. Now it’s a TV show and of course with that there comes some liberties taken that aren’t necessarily “historically accurate.” But what sets this show apart is how it deviates from the usual depiction of Vikings in pop culture, and the effort the producers put in to make this as authentically true to the historical Vikings as they could. The way in which the series takes inspiration from historical accounts and literature, like the texts we’ve read in class, really makes me appreciate it even more .
One of the things I noticed most about Vikings is how true to some first-hand accounts, like Ibn Fadlan’s, it is in depicting customs and events. In the show, there is a funeral for a slain Earl that goes down just like the funeral that Ibn Fadlan described in his writings. One of the Earl’s slave girls chooses to die with her master and is prepared for the ceremony. A funeral boat is made and filled with parts of dead animals and such. The slave girl has sex with all the Earl’s men, then her throat is slit and she is burned on the boat with the Earl. I was surprised at how much the show was dedicated to getting this shocking ceremony historically accurate, considering how little care is given to other depictions of the Vikings in pop culture.
Another example of this is how the Vikings cleaned themselves in the morning. Ibn Fadlan tells of how the Vikings he encountered all washed their hair and blew their nose in the same bowl of water. Disgustingly enough, the show stays true to this and depicts this custom in a scene. It was cool, but also gross.
Furthermore, Ibn Fadlan describes the Vikings themselves as tall and tattooed from head to toe, just as the Vikings in the show are shown to be. Being very interested in the historical accuracy of this depiction, I even did some research on if the clothes and hairstyles of the Vikings were accurate, and guess what, they were. All of these things really contribute to the experience of watching Vikingsand seeing for ourselves how these people lived. Having studied and read about the Viking sagas in class, my experience with the show has only been enriched. It’s really cool to read about these stories of blood feuds and raids and strange customs and then to see them put into action in a mostly historically accurate TV show. I highly recommend Vikingsas I have a great appreciation for the way in which the show is made and how true it is to the sagas and accounts we have read.
The show also does a great job of adapting the story of Ragnar Lothbrok into a TV format and includes several other real life Vikings that aren't in his old saga like Rollo. It also mirrors real life facts and events too, like the raid on Lindsfarne.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that Vikings is markedly different from the common image of Vikings in pop culture, I do think that the show is ultimately somewhat limited in scope. Yes, I know it’s called Vikings for a reason; they have to draw in the viewer with something that isn’t too close to a Game-of-Thrones-esque rendition of Njal’s Saga. At the same time, the show does start out with some elements of the “Scandinavian farmer who goes on Viking raids” we see in characters like Onund or even Egil. And while the topic of farming and settlement are brought up and discussed in the show, they focus primarily on the raiding and international conflict (shying away from local blood feuds), and therefore don’t tell the whole story. That’s fine, though. Vikings is just a single show, and we can’t expect one show to be representative of an entire culture group at a specific time period in history.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see modern media like shows and such going in for research! It's so annoying sometimes to see something that just isn't right. But at the other side to this, it's really nice seeing something done right!
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