The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages

by Kevin J. Harty (Editor)

Overview

Factual and fanciful tales of the Nordic warriors known as Vikings have proven irresistible to filmmakers for nearly a century. Diverse, prominent actors from Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier to Tim Robbins and John Cleese, and noted directors, including Richard Fleischer, Clive Donner and Terry Jones, have all lent their talents to Viking-related films. These fourteen essays on films dealing with the Viking era discuss American, British and European productions. Analyzed in detail are such films as The Vikings (1958), The Long Ships (1964), Alfred the Great (1969), Erik the Viking (1989) and Outlander (2008), as well as two comic-strip adaptations, the 1954 and 1989 films of Prince Valiant and the animated Asterix and the Vikings (2006). A comprehensive filmography is also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786460441
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/22/2011
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kevin J. Harty, professor and formerly chair of English and coordinator of the Undergraduate General Education Core at La Salle University in Philadelphia, is associate editor of Arthuriana, the official journal of the North American Branch of the International Arthurian Society (of which he is the former president). He has previously written or edited 14 books, including ground-breaking studies of depictions of the Middle Ages on film.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface     
Introduction: “Save Us, O Lord, from the Fury of the Northmen”; or, “Do You Know What’s in Your Wallet?”     
KEVIN J. HARTY

The Trope of the Scopic in The Vikings (1958)     
KATHLEEN COYNE KELLY
Guess Who’s Coming to Plunder? Or, Disorientation and Desire in The Long Ships (1964)     
DONALD L. HOFFMAN
“To be, or not to be”—King: Clive Donner’s Alfred the Great (1969)     
CHRISTOPHER A. SNYDER
Valiant and Villainous Vikings     
ALAN LUPACK
Silly Vikings: Eichinger, Hickox, and Lorenz’s Anglo-German-Irish Production of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant (1997)     
JOSEPH M. SULLIVAN
When Civilization Was Less Civilized: Erik the Viking (1989)     
SUSAN ARONSTEIN
“The Love of All Mankind but Also the Love of One Woman Alone”: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s Shadow of the Raven (1988)     
JOAN TASKER GRIMBERT and CLAUDIA BORNHOLDT
Different Pathfinders, Different Destinations     
ROBERTA DAVIDSON
Who’s Savage Now?!—The Vikings in North America     
KEVIN J. HARTY
Call of the Wild: Culture Shock and Viking Masculinities in The 13th Warrior (1999)     
ELIZABETH S. SKLAR
Harrying an Infinite Horizon: The Ethics of Expansionism in Outlander (2008)     
DAVID W. MARSHALL
Between Exploitation and Liberation: Viking Women and the Sexual Revolution     
LAURIE A. FINKE and MARTIN B. SHICHTMAN
Time Out of Joint: Why a Gaul Fought the Normans in Astérix and the Vikings (2005)     
ANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT
Northern Lite: A Brief History of Animated Vikings     
MICHAEL N. SALDA
The Vikings on Film: A Filmography     
KEVIN J. HARTY

About the Contributors     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

this is a volume that has long been awaited”—Arthuriana; “such criticisms aside, though, this is still a useful exploration into the range of depictions of Vikings in cinema”—Parergon; “splendid”—Medievally Speaking.

From the Publisher

"such criticisms aside, though, this is still a useful exploration into the range of depictions of Vikings in cinema"

Parergon

this is a volume that has long been awaited

Arthuriana