I've really really got to stop reading forums.. I'm not joking.
The people at Westeros.org are having a debate over which is more faithful to Robert E. Howard, Barbarian or Destroyer in the guise of a thread for "Worst Fantasy Films Ever".. It's not surprising so many posters don't understand Howard's writing though.. Judging by the normal sort of fare which they seem to enjoy, I guess maybe Howard just dosen't have enough minorities, non consensual sodomy, or socialist rhetoric for their tastes.. Maybe some one (I don't) who has an account, will see fit to hoist a shield against this nonsense?
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/47379-worst-fantasy-film-ever/
Half their posts just make me wonder why any of them even like GRRM...
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7 hours ago
4 comments:
I would argue that the existentialist core of the first one resembles what we see in Howard. Crom, if he even does exist, merely imbues his creations with life and they are left alone to carve out their destinies or die trying. Conan may be lumbering, cloddish, and very un-Cimmerian-like, but the film gets that part of it right, if a little heavy-handed.
The second film, well, the less said about it the better. Outside of an ape that's vaguely like Thak in Rogues in the House there's nothing Howardian about it at all. Conan is now entirely a buffoon and is coupled with an annoying sidekick whose head would have been split by REH's creation.
A couple folks over on those boards needs to read some Howard, methinks.
Not only would I seriously doubt they could read and enjoy them for what they are, great stories. But I also highly doubt they would be able to put his stories into the context of the times in which they were written but would instead allow their modern sensibilities to send them into a sputtering, chundering, rage of ill defined anxieties.
I'd agree with you on Barbarian though, thematically it does share far more in common with Howard's Stories.. or at least with L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter's Pastiches of Howard's stories...
Definitely Barbarian--not that its a particular great film, but it does have a mildly more Howardian aspect.
Conan the Barbarian is a rock 100 miles away from the source material: Conan the Destroyer is a rock 200 miles away from the source material. Sure, Barbarian is closer, but as you say, that doesn't mean it's close by any means.
It's perplexing going through that thread. I particularly love that bit where someone cites the list of things that are "Howard's Conan" - a list that includes Conan praying to Crom. This is why I'm doing the Filmgoer's Guide (and why I might as well do one for Destroyer too, to counteract some of the crazy ideas that Destroyer's more Howardian)
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