Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

No matter how bad KOH might be, I find the equation of Muslims with Orcs very problematic, if not somewhat insulting. In any event, I posted the following comment in the source blog:

I agree that the characters are wooden and that the film is orientalist, but not more than any comparable Hollywood film. The whole epic genre in particular is no home for nuanced character development, so don’t expect it. The question, then, is: Why is KOH being held to higher standards? I’ve been reading reviews, many similar to this one, and I have to say that I cannot help but wonder if there’s something that bothers people about seeing the guys who are usually portrayed as the good guys being bad, and the guys who are usually portrayed as the bad guys being good (I guess it’s in that epistemological subversion that I find the film interesting). Of course, to admit as much is not politically correct, so people sublimate those feelings in the form of a critique of other aspects of the film (I mean, does Bloom really suck any more than the average teen idol?). This really just dawned on me as I read the subtitle of your review: “Orcs Attack Jerusalem.” Don’t mean to get Freudian on you and all, but does equating Muslims with Orcs tell us something about your biases? Anyhoo, I posted an interesting review of KOH by Shlomo Svesnik in my blog: http://ideant.typepad.com/ideant/2005/05/a_pleasant_fict.html

Oh, please! It's not a joke about Moslems. It's about the treating of complex events in history as if they were a Lord of the Rings episode. (For what it's worth, I have only seen the trailer and, frankly (and stupidly) thought the Christians were attacking and the Moslems were defending.)

The reviews I've seen dislike it because it's badly acted and formulaic. Expectations are up because it's by Ridley Scott.

Well it had me laughing out loud. Maybe the movie will have the same effect.

Actually, the historical treatment in KOH (although constructed to fit a Hollywood narrative) IS the more complex aspect of the film, I think.

Lots (if not most) Hollywood movies are formulaic, even Scott's films. Gladiator is extremely formulaic, but it's a formula that doesn't challenge our values and so we like it (and yes, the acting is better). But KOH is less formulaic than Gladiator, which doesn't necessarily make it a good film, but which might explain why people are having problems digesting it. I found that, despite its stated intention, the One Hand Clapping review was not as concerned with historical accuracy (see the Svesnik review for a more serious attempt at that) as with cliches in the script, which is not the same thing.

And I was merely trying to point out that the joke about Orcs and Muslims might be an interesting indication of the discomfort the average Western viewer might feel by being confronted with that approach to history. Jokes have an interesting and complicated relation to the subconscious, Freud would tell us.

But I wasn't suggesting that you hold the same views as One Hand Clapping, so I apologize if that's how it came across, David. Perhaps I should have picked a different topic to introduce myself (I also do work on folksonomies, etc.)!

"Head bad guy to evil henchman: “Start me a war.”"
"Evil henchman: “It’s what I do.”"

"There’s the entire motivation for slaughtering Muslims, according to screenwriter William Monahan, that and a monk shouting near the beginning, “Killing an infidel is not murder, it is the way to heaven!”"

For a moment there I thought the blog entry had started to talk about Bush and his motivation to attack Iraq.

I think Ulises is right. Westerners seeing poeple who are usually portrayed as bad being good and vice-versa disliked the storyline and used other aspects of the film to make critical remarks on it as the former would be politically incorrect. I dont even think ridley scott expected this movie to do really well espeically after 9/11 due to the western sentiments towards muslims. Muslims however welcomed such a bold move from him since(you might be surprised by this) this is the first block buster movie that shows muslims in a good way and the movie is unbiased unlike the usual True Lies crap.

"Because, you know, if the Jews, Christians and Muslims didn’t have Jerusalem to fight about, then we’d have peace in our time!"
Would we? Don't think so.
And it really sounds like a very political one.