As I stated on my previous article, the inclusion of the Byzantines into more forms of media is very important towards getting the visibility of this civilization in the general public. Video games are a great way to attract the attention of many people to particular concepts and ideas. However, they still to this day have a stigma attached to them and its important for anyone who is interested in getting the Byzantine culture to be more readily available to the general public that we are looking to use as many different forms of media as possible. One of those mediums that needs to be used is the realm of movies and television.
Television in particular is a great medium for helping getting people through difficult subjects that are hard to digest. The Byzantine Empire in the 11th century is not an easy topic for people to understand and I believe that it is important that television helps to break down the topic into digestible chunks that people can understand and relate to.
Vikings Valhalla does exactly that while still retaining a middle-brow approach to history. Middle brow in this case means that it is not overly complicated but it is not going out of its way to insult the audience like other shows like Bridgerton and the recently released so-called history on the Queen Cleopatra. Vikings Valhalla is surprisingly a respectful series that does make some missteps but is not really insulting to the intelligence of the viewers.
Vikings Valhalla has been an incredible journey into the world of the Rus during the 11th Century.
More importantly, the series will be heading to Constantinople for its third and final season. This is an incredible moment for the director to show the grandeur and beauty of the city. Constantinople has not been depicted on the big screen many times before, so this depiction will be vital for influencing how people think about the Byzantines and their empire. People need to get the best impression of the city as it will probably be the only thing that they will see of Constantinople for a while.
This is why its so important that they get it right. People already have opinions about the Byzantines that have been developed over time from people like Gibbons who had his own anti-Christian bias. The Valhalla series is an important step towards giving people another perspective on what the Byzantine state actually meant to the people living in it.
There have not been many narratives that take place in the Byzantine realm and this is an important step towards making it more accessible to modern audience so it the history isn’t hidden away is highly academic books and journals. As much as I love those articles, there is an important need for the Byzantine culture and history to represented to a wider range of people. Through this way, we will be able to get the story of the Byzantines out there to the wider public and that is what matters.
Byzantine-Empire.com 