# I want Mel Gibson to make an exceptional Viking movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465 "2010-02-26T01:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/21 "2010-02-27T18:08:28Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > They were . . . trying to . . . get into Valhalla by dying with a sword in their hand. That kind of cultural myth is an effect, not a cause. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/22 "2010-02-27T18:25:42Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > If can only be good if it surpases “Erik the Viking” Actually, I think that it can suck pretty hard and still surpass _Erik the Viking_. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/23 "2010-02-27T20:00:39Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > Yeah, I forgot about that. Lets hope he learned his lesson and has someone checking the facts this time. Doubt it - he did make Apocalypto after the historical insanities he inflicted on Braveheart. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/24 "2010-02-27T20:01:00Z")
Hey, hey - _The 13th Warrior_! Solid, pseudo-Viking flick ( despite the steady stream number of anachronisms ). ---
**Author:** ![mathews78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@mathews78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mathews78)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/25 "2010-02-28T02:23:17Z")
I’d love Mel to do a film on the life of aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy - [Pemulwuy - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemulwuy), with all aboriginal dialougue done in traditional language/s. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/26 "2010-02-28T21:08:34Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > Actually, I think that it can suck pretty hard and still surpass _Erik the Viking_. Take it back or I’ll put a mad smiley:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/27 "2010-03-01T01:24:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No, he didn’t. He confused the Maya with the Aztecs. In what respect? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/28 "2010-03-01T03:04:23Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > In what respect? It was actually the Mayans that used a “primal eye” on the backs of their heads, not the Aztecs. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/29 "2010-03-01T03:17:54Z")
I think if Mel Gibson wanted to accurately portray medieval Scotland or Mesoamerica on the brink of European invasion, he would’ve chosen to film a documentary or write a book. The medium of narrative film is primarily meant to entertain, and he succeeded. The Vikings in his new movie could carry iPods and rally against rising mortgage rates, and it’d still probably rock. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/30 "2010-03-01T03:45:27Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > It was actually the Mayans that used a “primal eye” on the backs of their heads, not the Aztecs. I don’t follow your criticism. _Apocalypto_ was set among the Maya. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/31 "2010-03-01T06:07:53Z")
I hope he can somehow manage to include a marauding boat full of cats and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” into the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/32 "2010-03-01T12:32:29Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I don’t follow your criticism. _Apocalypto_ was set among the Maya. It’s a reference to _Bull Durham_. Annie was always getting things confused and at one point confused the Mayans and Aztecs (she thought Fernando Valenzuela was one of the two but couldn’t remember which). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/33 "2010-03-01T15:46:48Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > In what respect? 1. _Apocalypto_ is mainly about the Maya raiding the jungles around their cities for human sacrifices, performed by cutting out the victims’ hearts. [The Maya didn’t do that.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_religion#Offerings_and_Sacrifices)[The Aztecs did.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture) 2. The film ends with Spanish ships being spotted offshore. Centuries before the Spanish landed in Mexico, [the Maya civilization collapsed (nobody knows why),](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_collapse) the Maya cities were abandoned, the Maya people, greatly reduced in numbers, went back to living in the jungles around. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/34 "2010-03-01T16:50:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. _Apocalypto_ is mainly about the Maya raiding the jungles around their cities for human sacrifices, performed by cutting out the victims’ hearts. [The Maya didn’t do that.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_religion#Offerings_and_Sacrifices)[The Aztecs did.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture) The Maya did cut out the hearts, as depicted in the movie. [Cite.](http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/deathafterlife/qt/012709MayaScrfc.htm) [Cite.](http://ambergriscaye.com/museum/digit14.html) (In fairness according to the second cite, the postclassic Maya - among whom the movie is set - copied this practice from the Aztecs to the north. The second cite also notes that the victims were painted blue, just as depicted in the movie.) > [@](#): > > 1. The film ends with Spanish ships being spotted offshore. Centuries before the Spanish landed in Mexico, [the Maya civilization collapsed (nobody knows why),](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_collapse) the Maya cities were abandoned, the Maya people, greatly reduced in numbers, went back to living in the jungles around. As noted above, the Spanish arrived during the [postclassic period](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Postclassic_period) of Maya civilization. At the time the Spanish arrived, the Yucatan was occupied by competing Maya city-states. Nothing in the movie contravenes this. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/35 "2010-03-01T16:56:35Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > It’s a reference to _Bull Durham_. Annie was always getting things confused and at one point confused the Mayans and Aztecs (she thought Fernando Valenzuela was one of the two but couldn’t remember which). Dang. Got whooshed. I _hate_ that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/36 "2010-03-01T18:34:12Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I think if Mel Gibson wanted to accurately portray medieval Scotland or Mesoamerica on the brink of European invasion, he would’ve chosen to film a documentary or write a book. The medium of narrative film is primarily meant to entertain, and he succeeded. The Vikings in his new movie could carry iPods and rally against rising mortgage rates, and it’d still probably rock. I agree, artistic license. > [@Sigmundex](#): > > I hope he can somehow manage to include a marauding boat full of cats and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” into the movie. I think it’s all ready been done and cannot be improved upon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/37 "2010-03-02T02:45:53Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Dang. Got whooshed. I _hate_ that. 😉 That’s a’ight, happens to the best of us. It’s one of my all-time favorite running movie gags (look later in the movie and Robert Wuhl is reading a book called “Secrets of the Mayans” in the dugout) and the whole Mayan v. Aztec thing called it to mind. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/38 "2010-03-02T03:28:23Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > _The Vikings_ totally rocks. And for 1958 it was pretty hardcore – eyes gouged out, severed hands, a major character ripped to shreds by ravenous wolves – good times, good times … . That movie did indeed rock. Kirk Douglas’ Einar was a great character, and his funeral was one of the most cool ones in cinema. Plus, that theme song sticks in my head every time I see that movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465.md?page=1)