3 ms·

Yes, this makes sense, but you can convey what you want to an audience without compromising historicity so thoroughly I believe. Taking the Vikings tv show exa

Yes, this makes sense, but you can convey what you want to an audience without compromising historicity so thoroughly I believe. Taking the Vikings tv show example - Ragnar Lothbroke would have been in richly and boldly colorful, probably embroidered, clothing of wool and linen and maybe even silk or cotton from trade. He would have been covered in gold and silver jewelry, and his armor and weapons would have been gilt or inlaid with silver, gold, and copper-alloy and intricately engraved. Instead we get an extra from Sons of Anarchy complete with tats and edgy haircut. Edit, also 3/4s of those impressions the modern audience does have is from decades of movies and tv shows. I think a project that respects its audience could do its part to start projecting more accurate impressions of past aesthetics and fashion sensibilities.

taneliv 6y ago
By the by, any series (or movies) that you'd recommend for their historical accuracy, especially with respect to the everyday things like clothing and other customs?
- sillyquiet 6y ago
  Master and Commander is really good for more recent history of the Napoleonic Wars era as far as clothing, language and customs. Outlaw King (netflix movie about Robert Bruce) is bad, but a leap better than other medieval outings - they at least try, the armor is sloppy, ill-fitting, and anachronistic but the weapons, clothing and heraldry are really good. Others more expert than me have mentioned Henry V (1944) with Laurence Olivier as being the best movie attempt at 15th century armor. A company that makes clothes and merchandise for 'viking' enthusiasts kick started a short film that is absolutely excellent in terms of language, clothes, and attitude of the very late Viking period, although they too fall prey to the Vikings-as-bad-ass-biker trope on occcasion. (Not to mention the romantic sanitization of all the unsavory activities any early medieval raiders or pirates would get up to). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yqbowUiH-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yqbowUiH-s In general though, true historical accuracy is very hard to find outside niche youtube videos, even if you aren't terribly nitpicky about what is 'accurate'.
  - gerikson 6y ago
    Except the French crew in Master and Commander had clothes from almost a century before the events in the movie. This was done to denote their "foreignness".
    - sillyquiet 6y ago
      Yeah, this is a good point (more like half a century really). I always sort of rationalized in my head because of O'Brians emphasis in the books of sailors' innate conservatism but you are correct. Not to mention there's no way a French crew would be in an American heavy frigate in 1805.
      - gerikson 6y ago
        I'm a huge POB fan but I felt I could overlook a lot of the liberties taken with the movie. At least it got made! And I think the shipboard scenes on the Surprise were really well done.
sillyquiet 6y ago
And this is not a knock against the actor himself - I think he did a fantastic job of conveying the mix of pensiveness, thoughtfulness, brutality and ferocity an early Medieval warlord like Ragnar would have had.

taneliv 6y ago

By the by, any series (or movies) that you'd recommend for their historical accuracy, especially with respect to the everyday things like clothing and other customs?

sillyquiet 6y ago
Master and Commander is really good for more recent history of the Napoleonic Wars era as far as clothing, language and customs. Outlaw King (netflix movie about Robert Bruce) is bad, but a leap better than other medieval outings - they at least try, the armor is sloppy, ill-fitting, and anachronistic but the weapons, clothing and heraldry are really good. Others more expert than me have mentioned Henry V (1944) with Laurence Olivier as being the best movie attempt at 15th century armor. A company that makes clothes and merchandise for 'viking' enthusiasts kick started a short film that is absolutely excellent in terms of language, clothes, and attitude of the very late Viking period, although they too fall prey to the Vikings-as-bad-ass-biker trope on occcasion. (Not to mention the romantic sanitization of all the unsavory activities any early medieval raiders or pirates would get up to). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yqbowUiH-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yqbowUiH-s In general though, true historical accuracy is very hard to find outside niche youtube videos, even if you aren't terribly nitpicky about what is 'accurate'.
- gerikson 6y ago
  Except the French crew in Master and Commander had clothes from almost a century before the events in the movie. This was done to denote their "foreignness".
  - sillyquiet 6y ago
    Yeah, this is a good point (more like half a century really). I always sort of rationalized in my head because of O'Brians emphasis in the books of sailors' innate conservatism but you are correct. Not to mention there's no way a French crew would be in an American heavy frigate in 1805.
    - gerikson 6y ago
      I'm a huge POB fan but I felt I could overlook a lot of the liberties taken with the movie. At least it got made! And I think the shipboard scenes on the Surprise were really well done.

sillyquiet 6y ago

And this is not a knock against the actor himself - I think he did a fantastic job of conveying the mix of pensiveness, thoughtfulness, brutality and ferocity an early Medieval warlord like Ragnar would have had.