For all it’s worth, Vikings is not the kind of show that you would expect to be particularly woke (Scandinavian warriors are often claimed in the so-called Aryan legacy of white supremacists), but there are aspects of the show that I nonetheless enjoy for their revisionism of historical narratives that insist on projecting contemporary conservative conceits about “the past”. Same-sex romance, a certain flexibility in gender roles, cultural and religious intermixing, class-crossing abound in Hirst’s show. In Kattegat, Lagertha rises from farmer to queen, as she manages to impose herself first as earl, and later as queen by slaying Aslaug, who had replaced her as the main concubine and ruler of the kingdom. She installs a matriarchal rule, even going as far as refusing to remarry and keeping a woman, Astrid, as her lover, as well as a personal guard and advisory committee of shield maidens, including Torvi, her daughter-in-law. From beginning to end of the show, we are made to side with Lagertha, shield maiden extraordinaire and consistent winner in the category of badassery.
That kind of characterization easily falls in line with the recent “feminist”-leaning trend to incorporate more sheroes into the Hollywood narrative (the fact that they have to be warriors is itself problematic and should be the subject of another post entirely – I’m looking at you, Wonder Woman, Daenerys et al.). Vikings also manages to escape its snow-white Scandinavia to portray a variety of other ethnic groups. Unfortunately, this attempt at diversity turns out to be awkward, if not highly problematic at times.
Continue reading ““She was not a she”: a Vikings’ vision of the Orient”
Morgane Flahault 