In both The Green Knight and the epic poem it’s based on, Gawain arrives at the home of a lord and is put up to a test of seduction by his wife. It is left unclear what exactly is prompting her here, and while it is fine to have elements of ambiguity, I can see how some audiences might find it exhausting.Īll that said, let’s get into where it fumbles the homoerotic subtext.
In the legend, Le Fay’s motivation for masterminding the entire Green Knight episode is to test King Arthur’s knights and also get some payback against Guinevere. In this incarnation, he’s the son of Morgan Le Fay and not Arthur’s other older sister, Morgause. The film is not confusing, but it does ask the audience to fill in a lot of information-especially when it comes to Gawain’s Mother. A friend of mine called it Sir Gawain and the Seventh Seal that F*cks, and I think that is very apt. It is beautiful, well-acted, and dripping with dark fantasy elements. Not only were we getting a strange, trippy Dev Patel-led version of an Arthurian legend, but a legend that didn’t heavily feature King Arthur. Now, the timer is set, and Gawain, whose name is now known across the land, must honor his part of the bargain.Īs someone who is familiar with the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but also aware of the reviews, I came into The Green Knight with excitement. Now, you would think with rules like that, you’d just make it a flesh wound, but Gawain takes up the challenge and beheads the knight-who stands up and rides off carrying his decapitated head. The otherworldly figure challenges the knights to a “game,” where if anyone is able to land a blow on him, they will win his ax, but they must come to the Green Chapel next Christmas and receive an equal blow in return. Gawain shamefully admits he has none to tell. He arrives at Camelot, and his uncle asks to hear a tale about something Gawain has done so they can know each other better. The Green Knight begins on Christmas Day, and Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur (Sean Harris), is not acting in ways that befit a knight. Where the film and I have a little bit of an issue is how it chooses to handle some of the homoerotic subtext of the original story in this adaptation.īased on the Arthurian legend, the movie follows Gawain (Dev Patel) on the journey that made him a legend. A24’s latest release, The Green Knight, has seen a very split reaction between critics and audiences.
0 kommentar(er)
