Tbh - if you do any academic study of history, that’s what it all starts to look like.
I tried to watch Spartacus because Kubrick and… I couldn’t. Those fucking hairdos. The depiction of Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator upset me - like no, the man was not a proto Thomas Jefferson (and even the IRL Jefferson made his money on child slavery and raped children.) Wuxia is so much fun but there’s never going to be a period accurate Three Kingdoms (which is a 14th century novel anyway)
Medieval history especially…. That’s pages and pages, and I’m not even really that much of a medievalist.
Tbh - if you do any academic study of history, that’s what it all starts to look like.
Even without academic studies - I wanted some context for Tolkien (analogous periods\events), Walter Scott, Dumas, who not. And I wanted some context for R:TW and M2:TW games, so I found mods like Europa Barbarorum. And eventually I’ve read some of Icelandic sagas, and some of medieval poetry translations, and so on. Same with context for fantasy books, some alternatives IRL.
So, after that, there’s just nothing on screen I can watch.
Icelandic low-budget movie kinda associated with Beowulf, but making Grendel a neanderthal (yep), looked cool due to seemingly authentic buildings and weapons and clothes and everything. But it wasn’t a very interesting movie.
I’ve seen a Danish low-budget movie “Eagle’s eye”, some things felt like fine, but again, the story itself just didn’t seem right. Except for the one-eyed guy seeing through the eye of a bird - eh, I dunno why it was an eagle and not a raven, but his relation with the king and with the bishop seemed an interesting allegory on heathenry and christendom.
Roman empire - just leave me alone.
like no, the man was not a proto Thomas Jefferson
The man also, when he found out his wife had a lover, made her a bath filled with his blood. That was in his youth, but.
At the same time he called her “so meek, so simple-minded, so kind” when thanking gods for her.
He became very wise by the end of his life, but, eh, not in US founding fathers’ direction. More like Obi-Wan Kenobi made emperor.
I do historical reenactment, so I have a hobby that involves researching the age of a certain embroidery stitch, for example.
I’ve learned to just switch off that part of my brain for games and movies, or I’d cry a lot more. I just project them to an alternate reality where they totally had nylon in 1200.
I’ve got this rough theory that we can get decently historic pieces from around 50 AD (but only in central italy, nowhere else), around 1200, 1800 and then from 1900 to now. Everything else is even more of crapshoot.
Anything between Commodus and Charlemange is especially cursed
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/now-showing/
Tbh - if you do any academic study of history, that’s what it all starts to look like.
I tried to watch Spartacus because Kubrick and… I couldn’t. Those fucking hairdos. The depiction of Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator upset me - like no, the man was not a proto Thomas Jefferson (and even the IRL Jefferson made his money on child slavery and raped children.) Wuxia is so much fun but there’s never going to be a period accurate Three Kingdoms (which is a 14th century novel anyway)
Medieval history especially…. That’s pages and pages, and I’m not even really that much of a medievalist.
At least we have Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Even without academic studies - I wanted some context for Tolkien (analogous periods\events), Walter Scott, Dumas, who not. And I wanted some context for R:TW and M2:TW games, so I found mods like Europa Barbarorum. And eventually I’ve read some of Icelandic sagas, and some of medieval poetry translations, and so on. Same with context for fantasy books, some alternatives IRL.
So, after that, there’s just nothing on screen I can watch.
Icelandic low-budget movie kinda associated with Beowulf, but making Grendel a neanderthal (yep), looked cool due to seemingly authentic buildings and weapons and clothes and everything. But it wasn’t a very interesting movie.
I’ve seen a Danish low-budget movie “Eagle’s eye”, some things felt like fine, but again, the story itself just didn’t seem right. Except for the one-eyed guy seeing through the eye of a bird - eh, I dunno why it was an eagle and not a raven, but his relation with the king and with the bishop seemed an interesting allegory on heathenry and christendom.
Roman empire - just leave me alone.
The man also, when he found out his wife had a lover, made her a bath filled with his blood. That was in his youth, but.
At the same time he called her “so meek, so simple-minded, so kind” when thanking gods for her.
He became very wise by the end of his life, but, eh, not in US founding fathers’ direction. More like Obi-Wan Kenobi made emperor.
I do historical reenactment, so I have a hobby that involves researching the age of a certain embroidery stitch, for example.
I’ve learned to just switch off that part of my brain for games and movies, or I’d cry a lot more. I just project them to an alternate reality where they totally had nylon in 1200.
Pre medieval knitting bothers me immensely. Stockinette is too recognizable and too taken for granted to not be driving me crazy constantly.
I’ve got this rough theory that we can get decently historic pieces from around 50 AD (but only in central italy, nowhere else), around 1200, 1800 and then from 1900 to now. Everything else is even more of crapshoot.
Anything between Commodus and Charlemange is especially cursed
Helmets with horns, yes? And Roman army looking like cabaret.
pretty much any ‘historical’ movies are completely unwatchable to me