Did you see The Northman?
I studied Old English in college and was pretty excited about the movie’s much touted accuracy. That said, white supremacists are dibsing everything right now, including the term “Anglo-Saxon” and all things Viking, so I didn’t want to pay for theater viewing. Kevin Fox, Jr. made me rethink when he argued that “Just because Nazis like a thing doesn’t mean we have to let them have it.” I ended up watching The Northman for free on a streaming service.
Here’s the thing: it’s SO GRIM.
I’m sure that was the point. Life is hard, then we die, toxic masculinity was always a thing, yadda yadda. But even though Robert Eggers’ archaeological accuracy was arguably spot on, what should we make of his historicity?
Dr. Cat Jarman (of River Kings fame) had a great conversation with the movie’s consulting archaeologist, Prof. Neil Price. Jarman clearly admires and respects Price, but to my ears she did not seem convinced by all the hype about accuracy. To paraphrase her gently framed pushback, she asked Price: “Is the movie’s unrelenting violence really the best and most informative window we have into Viking life right now?” Price was 100% down with the movie as a valid perspective, but my answer would be a big fat NOPE—this was essentially a caricature of culture.
Obviously we will always be filling in gaps in our historical knowledge, and the less we know about a time and place, the more we tend to project. The so-called “Dark Ages” in Britain are a perfect example of this: legends of King Arthur, descriptions of waves of archetypal conquering invaders, the belief that culture just disappeared with the Romans—the growing evidence from new archaeology challenges all of this (science! amazing stuff!).
The thing is, we also project our own glass-half-full/glass-half-empty take onto history. Without tangible evidence, some historians miss a universal truth about humanity: there are good and kind people around, even when the broken and mean folks are in control. Also, silliness always survives! I think our later medieval goofballs show that a sense of fun made it through the Dark Ages (do we really think that rude marginalia were drawn by baddies? Has Chaucer’s farting Thomas taught us nothing?).
My plea would be to make more room for silliness and kindness in our pre-history. There’s a middle ground to be explored between Monty Python and The Northman (though I lean toward Monty Python).
The more we think of our ancestors as “us”—and a lot of us are giant, friendly, well-intentioned eejits—the easier it will be to understand what it was really like to live their lives.
The next time Joe Biden needs a press Secretary, s/he should be trained by the outrageous Frenchman on the parapet. The White House press corps wouldn’t stand a chance.
I miss Monty Python. Luckily we have Craig Ferguson and Kathie Lee Gifford to help fill the void.
As I struggle with the world today, laughter is helping create harmony.