Books and Movies for August

[geonncannon]

I'm posting this today rather than tomorrow because I'm done with the last book, and I've watched my last movie, so tonight I'll start a new book and a new list for September. Ergo and so... the list! :D I'll recommend one (technically three) of the books outside the cut: The King Raven trilogy by Stephen R Lawhead is really great. All three books

Comments

[scarimor]

Hmm, trying to migrate Robin Hood to a Welsh setting really does not work imo. Aurthurian legend makes a lot of sense for iron age Britain in various western locales of the island - Wales, Cumbria, Cornwall - but Robin Hood no. All the mythological, literary and historical discourse for Robin Hood is English - Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire, the English subjection by the new Norman rulers, serfs and forest-dwellers becoming outlaws (the legal definition of a wolfshead).

The ballads and songs and stories are of early English origin, as are the gods and heroes associated with him (Woden, Herne, Wayland, etc.) Stealing the hooded man from one culture to put him in another doesn't make a good tale for me.

edit: oops, forgot to mention Salt. Woohoo, Angelina. I heard the film was originally written for a male protagonist in mind (Tome Cruise?) I wouldn't have bothered (nothing against Cruise's acting, just another male spy flick would hold no interest for me). But pulling a Riply was a very good idea. The film isn't perfect (a bit lacking in emotion imo) but it's very well-paced and enjoyable, and hello franchise anyone? hoho :)

[geonncannon]

The author explained at the end of the first book that he knew people would raise their hackles at transporting it to Wales, but he offered historical research/evidence that supported it may have been true. And for the purposes of the story, it worked (but maybe just because I'm ignorant about the whole England/Wales thing). In the final book he explained wandering minstrels spread the story and changed details to fit the locals rather than telling a story about some faraway place. That's how Rhi Bran became Robin and Coer Cadw became Sherwood. :D

As for Salt... yes. A Tom Cruise version would have just been same-old, same-old. Angelina Jolie really brought it to life. A female superspy movie is intriguing and a lot of fun, and a series of them? Yes please. Especially if they introduce a seductive Latina antagonist named Pepper (okay, that might be stupid, but Angelina broke the laws of physics a few times in the movie. We can bend the believability scale back a little. ;-D)

Although I WILL say it would have been fun to see how Tom Cruise did the "panties over the security camera" scene.

[scarimor]

In the final book he explained wandering minstrels spread the story and changed details to fit the locals rather than telling a story about some faraway place. That's how Rhi Bran became Robin and Coer Cadw became Sherwood. :D

The research he claims doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. Barnsley is the place where a historical figure surfaces (i.e. a real man) on which ballads and stories build English folklore and then later elaborate with their tales of Friar Tuck, Little John, Maid Marian, Will Scarlet etc. It moves down to Sherwood from the northeast, not from the west, and really gets going from there in popular consiousness. And those wandering minstrels were English-speaking (not English we could understand today), building on English/Norse mythology (eg. Woden is Odin), not the Romano-British or pre-Roman British myths found in Wales.

There's no problem having stories about a Welsh enchanter, it's simply that it's not the origin of the outlaw of English folklore. They're different myths/legends (just like the English/Norse myths are a different stable than the Welsh ones.

But I'm glad you liked the story anyway.