Anyone watching "Vikings"?

[Joelist]

To be honest I posted the clip on the old "Vikings" film as a sort of joke. The film while entertaining bore no resemblance to reality - just like this series except the one episode I watched told me it wasn't even entertaining in the exchange.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Why needed a long draft boat? Thor Hyerdahl made the trip on a freakin raft. Whatever type of boat they used to get to South America, it did the job. And they did it first.

A freaking RAFT will get an individual from A to B, not a voyage. To crate voyages and intent you need a long draft vessel.

Uranium...only a resource valued by a nation which has nuclear ambitions with either energy or weapons. There is wildlife in California that does not exist anywhere else. So what? I am talking tonnes and deposits. Resources for the ages like oil, fresh water, rainforest, arable land, etc. In sheer volume of resources, Africa has everyone beat. But hey, I am not cheerleading for Africa since I am not African nor do I identify with that continent. What its people did in ancient times is my interest. What they left behind tells me a lot abouit who they were, and they were not who the Europeans are saying they were.

You have no interest in "what they did", if your interest ended there, then you would stick to the data, and not "make up your own" to support your claims. You see whites as "thieves" of black culture, yet you deny that the thief took the bad stuff as well. "that's just a white thing"........

The Asiatics. The truth is, nobody "discovered" anything. They simply explored and expanded into areas they did not previously inhabit. The whole notion of taking credit for "discoveries" is a European thing.

North and South Kingdom Nile empires, did a "European" make that?

Other cultures simply record information and collect it to create a bigger picture that others can interpret as they see fit. The Europeans seemed to be seeking glory and decoration in all things they did.

Are you fucking kidding me?
Please, stop.

A medal for this, a knighting for that, rewards of treasure and land for "discovering" things. It is sickening. Why do so many natural occurrences and processes and particles have the names of European men attached to them? They most certainly were not created by them. Im glad Europeans are not like that today.

Because they recorded them via history, and history was written by the church, and the church was predominantly white with a decided religious leaning at the time??
Are you silly??

Most whites believe that Africans never built boats, never left Africa and had no interest in exploring...despite the evidence.

Because most people presenting the evidence sound like goddamn lunatics with a "black agenda", they destroy their own arguments by being twits. Simplees.

They cite the absence of the wheel, and then ignore the fact that the wheel was not needed in Africa. Stuff like that...too many stupid people believe these things. You arent stupid.

what WAS needed in Africa?
The Bridle?

Racism? I dont think so! Just history. I would prefer to read Asian or Aryan (Indian) accounts of history when it comes to what was going on during the Conquest times.

why not call it "the enlightenment" rather than "the conquest"??
Your mind is made up, pretty simple.

Why are you going here? This is not about race. It isnt about "white people". It is about a culture of honor in thievery, murder and oppression. The Romans were more civilized than the barbarians, but not as civilized as the Greeks. Im specifically talking about the barbarian clans of western Europe..since this is a Vikings thread.

I did not make it about race OM, YOU did that, and when you made it that, expect a response.

We who...white people? Well lets leave that for the other thread in Flame Hell. I mentioned the Africans only because we were talking about who came to the Americas first. But the Vikings themselves are much different than what is being portrayed in the series:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/09/is-vikings-historically-accurate

yeah, you are not fooling me. You wanted a stage, you got one and you are using it, I am challenging you.

Whites created the market for slaves. Without that market there would not have been a slave trade. End of story. But this is a drift again into "race" which is not where we should be taking this thread.

The Slave trade has existed for millienia, before white guys stepped foot on South America or Africa, we just took what you were selling, and you were selling your own people.
Sorry. I will accept we abused it, you need to accept you did it.

 

[Overmind One]

Craft whatever reasoning you must. The barbarians have earned their history.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[Jim of WVa]

Some whites were slaves also:

 

[Jim of WVa]

...
The Slave trade has existed for millienia, before white guys stepped foot on South America or Africa, we just took what you were selling, and you were selling your own people.
Sorry. I will accept we abused it, you need to accept you did it.

A couple aspects of the slave trade were not covered by the Vikings show. English were enslaved and sold to Muslims. All male English were castrated prior to sale. At least Africans were allowed to breed.

 

[Illiterati]

I guess I'm just the oddball then, as I watch this show and rather like it.

I find the characters interesting to watch.

I realize that it's fiction, and I can live with that. I'm watching it for entertainment, not education.

And no, nothing tries to say that one religion is better than another. There are those in the show who follow the Norse pantheon and others who are Christian. I rather like that, for a change.

 

[YJ02]

I guess I'm just the oddball then, as I watch this show and rather like it.

I find the characters interesting to watch.

I realize that it's fiction, and I can live with that. I'm watching it for entertainment, not education.

And no, nothing tries to say that one religion is better than another. There are those in the show who follow the Norse pantheon and others who are Christian. I rather like that, for a change.

No, not just you, me too, we are the Oddballs

 

[Joelist]

I can try it again. It was just boring to me when I first sampled it.

 

[Backstep]

I guess I'm just the oddball then, as I watch this show and rather like it.

I find the characters interesting to watch.

I realize that it's fiction, and I can live with that. I'm watching it for entertainment, not education.

And no, nothing tries to say that one religion is better than another. There are those in the show who follow the Norse pantheon and others who are Christian. I rather like that, for a change.

No, not just you, me too, we are the Oddballs

Make that 3.

 

[Overmind One]

IM the oddball.

I wear the title proudly.

 

[shavedape]

I guess I'm just the oddball then, as I watch this show and rather like it.

I find the characters interesting to watch.

I realize that it's fiction, and I can live with that. I'm watching it for entertainment, not education.

And no, nothing tries to say that one religion is better than another. There are those in the show who follow the Norse pantheon and others who are Christian. I rather like that, for a change.

I don't have a problem with this show being entertaining, which it should be. But what worries me is the fictionalizing of history to the point where it loses contact with what really happened. Call me crazy but I think a channel that has "History" as its moniker has a mandate and a responsibility for keeping it real.

Now I'm not saying that Vikings has crossed the line yet as I haven't seen enough of it to decide. I'm just saying that possibility always exists ala the mermaids example I listed earlier. Call me a purist if you must, but that's just how I see it.

(*and believe me, being a purist makes me an oddball of the highest caliber )

 

[Illiterati]

They've not used "magic", which I like, and they aren't shy about showing how brutal life could be in those times. It was a harsh life for the Northmen and you're not seeing clean bodies here. People have oily, greasy, matted, lank hair, their faces are dirty, their clothes aren't inexplicably clean (unlike shows such as Game of Thrones). Blood spatters.

Hell, the last episode had a religious guy deciding he was going to crucify someone in the style of how Jesus of Nazareth was executed. There was plenty of blood and brutality involved. Nothing pretty or noble about it. Just ugliness.

 

[YJ02]

They've not used "magic", which I like, and they aren't shy about showing how brutal life could be in those times. It was a harsh life for the Northmen and you're not seeing clean bodies here. People have oily, greasy, matted, lank hair, their faces are dirty, their clothes aren't inexplicably clean (unlike shows such as Game of Thrones). Blood spatters.

Hell, the last episode had a religious guy deciding he was going to crucify someone in the style of how Jesus of Nazareth was executed. There was plenty of blood and brutality involved. Nothing pretty or noble about it. Just ugliness.

Many of the new converts from paganism to christianity-like the saxons at this time (only a few generations removed from their pagan ancestors)-believed that they had to be bible literalists. So the crucifixation punishment-once widely used by all in Roman culture-used for crime was then changed to be used for religious crime--as they saw it

I don't have a problem with this show being entertaining, which it should be. But what worries me is the fictionalizing of history to the point where it loses contact with what really happened. Call me crazy but I think a channel that has "History" as its moniker has a mandate and a responsibility for keeping it real.

Now I'm not saying that Vikings has crossed the line yet as I haven't seen enough of it to decide. I'm just saying that possibility always exists ala the mermaids example I listed earlier. Call me a purist if you must, but that's just how I see it.

(*and believe me, being a purist makes me an oddball of the highest caliber )

I would love all history shows/movies to be pure to the written record-however, if they were, the show would be quite boring. Just like COSMOS has to "jazz" up science with cool sfx, drama must be added to shows like this to add to but not change the actual historical record

We will know if VIKINGS goes off the rails of history if WE DO NOT see Ragnar meeting quite a cruel death. It is not actually a spoiler as it is history and can be easily looked up (note--one could see a hint of this gruesome demise from season 1 and the Mercian King's "pets")--If this changes then we will see a derailment.

 

[Illiterati]

The historical Ragnar Lothbrok

 

[YJ02]

Yup so far they are staying true to the wives bit=although are those their names in the show?

Got a nice pic of the King's pets

I was pretty sure that the show was consolidating when they showed him being in charge of the lindisfarne hit

His assoc with doing all of these things in historical legend may be that he was the most "popular" man of the day who was involved with all of these events

So the show can consolidate events under him since history and legend does-but they can not have him outlive the snakepit

 

[Rac80]

tried an ep...too much like a "period" soap for me!

 

[Illiterati]

And, happily...it just got an order for Season 3.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/history-renews-vikings-third-season-690944

 

[YJ02]

tried an ep...too much like a "period" soap for me!

Uh--its "period" because it is historical--feels like a "soap" because- uh well, so much of real life is quite "soapy"

But at least VIKs doesn't have them going to America cavorting with native american "princesses"

 

[Rac80]

Uh--its "period" because it is historical--feels like a "soap" because- uh well, so much of real life is quite "soapy"

But at least VIKs doesn't have them going to America cavorting with native american "princesses"

lol true...but I get tired of the DRAAAMAAAAA... I really dislike seeing modern mores put into historical settings as well.
Also,on the history channel I expect to see HISTORY NOT fiction!
that is rapidly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves- the channels I go to for documentaries (history, bigoraphy,H2, Military (now AMHC)), etc...are full of either fiction or "reality" (same thing really ) shows.

 

[Illiterati]

lol true...but I get tired of the DRAAAMAAAAA... I really dislike seeing modern mores put into historical settings as well.
Also,on the history channel I expect to see HISTORY NOT fiction!
that is rapidly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves- the channels I go to for documentaries (history, bigoraphy,H2, Military (now AMHC)), etc...are full of either fiction or "reality" (same thing really ) shows.

I believe they are dramatizing the Ragnar of the old Viking stories. It's not intended to be a documentary. Sometimes, in order to catch the attention of people who wouldn't otherwise have an interest in something, you must do something to grab that attention.

Ragnar Lothbrok may or may not have existed, and it's interesting to see what his life may have been like during that time. I certainly don't see any "modern mores" being put into the show. I'm not seeing anachronistic bits and pieces in it at all.