From: Natasa Tucev tucev@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu
Some time ago I saw the 13th Warrior and thought it was offensively patriarchal in its subtext.
I have to agree. It's a pleasant enough action romp, and I enjoyed it immensely first time round, but on subsequent viewings the doubts started to creep in. I see it as a kind of infantile offspring of Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, with all the reflective content drained out. Presumably there is a touch of homage to Seven Samurai, with the final battle being fought in the rain, but the social and cultural conflicts that were central to 7S and to a lesser extent Mag7 were virtually ignored. Ahmad's relationship with Olga goes precisely nowhere, and we're not even allowed to know if it's her climbing into Buliwyf's funeral boat at the end. Contrast this with the earlier two movies, where it's pivotal that the warrior wannabes (Katsushiro and Chico respectively) end up putting their weapons aside. Nor is there any clear Kyuzo/Britt analogue, except in the heavily diluted form of Edgtho, nor indeed any obvious Kambei/Chris analogue. Whereas 7S and Mag7 presented a group of warriors diverse in their motives, 13W has them going off to fight for no better reason than that being what they do. I think in that sense it's a very different kind of decentred morality to that in B7 (struggling to get back on topic), since in B7 there is a tacit awareness of being morally adrift, whereas in 13W it is not acknowledged, or is indeed denied by clutching at feeble fatalistic straws (there are several references to fate in the film, and the futility of trying to avoid it).
Further on Mag7 (now out on DVD, hurrah!), I'm mildly surprised that I've not seen anyone trying to map the B7 characters onto Brynner's finest. Possibly because they don't match too well. Blake/Chris is perhaps the most obvious, which suggests that Vin might correspond to Jenna (and I can see the slashers having a field day with Chris and Vin). Various elements of the B7 mob can be located in various members of the Seven, but not all in the same place. Harry's mercenarism and self-protective instincts suggest Avon, but his sociability is more Vila. There is perhaps a touch of Avon in O'Reilly's social outcast status. Britt isn't too bad as a Soolin analogue, though there might be a bit of Cally in there too. Actually, I see some echo of Cally in Lee, but maybe that's just my take on Cally.
Yet further on Mag7, I couldn't help but notice Eli Wallach's line, "Sooner or later, you must answer for every good deed." Presumably this is where Chris Boucher got Avon's "No good deed goes unpunished" in Rescue. Does anyone know which other movies he lifted quotes from?
Neil