Author: stevenattewell

Guerrillas

Outside the realm of Robin Hood, is there any basis for a social/guerrilla movement like the Brotherhood Without Banners from actual medieval history, or would we have to look to the post medieval era to find a group as complex and organized as this resisting an overlord?

Social movements? Absolutely. There were a whole host of “peasant uprisings” in the 14th century, from the Battle of Golden Spurs to the Jacquerie revolt of 1358 to the Great Peasant Revolt of 1381.

In the 15th century, you had Jack Cade’s rebellion, and then in the 16th century you had the Bauernkrieg.

These uprisings tended to involve at least some organized groups – craft guilds, local notables and local governments, former mercenaries, John Ball’s “Great Society,” Yorkist sympathizers in Cade’s example, the German peasant haufen which were organized along professional military lines, etc.

Guerrilla tactics? See here.

Any thoughts on Black Panther?

I didn’t want to do a long post on this, because I feel like the voices we need to hear from about this movie are black and it’s more important for me to listen/read.

So the short version: 

  • brilliant movie, easily one of Marvel’s best, and I don’t think it was unrelated that it was easily the most political (and radical) of Marvel’s films (more so even than Winter Soldier). 
  • incredibly visually inventive, made Wakanda come to life as both a fully-realized setting but also a main character in its own right.
  • stellar ensemble cast who really enrich the film and who seem to be having a competition as to who can steal each scene. 

One slightly spoilery thing below the cut.

My only and minor critique is that, having developed one of Marvel’s best villains in Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger, killing him off seems something of a waste. On the other hand, the scene of him and T’challa watching the sunset over Wakanda is beautiful, so it’s hard to say it was the wrong call. 

I started reading the Prince of Nothing series after seeing you mention it in one of your CBC posts. I was wondering, what are your thoughts on the series? (I’m taking a break from it between books 1 and 2 right now). Thanks for all your work!

I have a more thematic essay about how that series fits into the whole post-GRRM deconstructive fantasy movement planned. 

The first trilogy I like quite a bit. The succeeding books turned me off with excessive grimdark. 

What’s the Great Heathen Army? I’ve never seen that particular theory floated around before.

The Great Heathen Army was a real-world historical event, when the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok gathered together a substantial force of vikingers who would not raid but conquer. The Great Heathen Army, as the Saxons named it, landed in East Anglia in 865 CE, took York in the following year, and then proceeded to seize large swathes of eastern England (East Anglia, Northumbria, eastern Mercia) and almost succeeded in overrunning Wessex. 

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Arya IV, ASOS

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Arya IV, ASOS

image
credit to Patrick McEvoy
“The lightning lord is everywhere and nowhere, skinny squirrel.”
Synopsis: Arya and the Merry Men go looking for Robin Hood.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
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