| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis I have seen how the Norwegian movie The Last King, or Birkebeinerne as it is call in Norwegian, tell its story about Norway in the middle ages. I have also seen what type of story about the middle ages that is being told by the filmmakers. To find out how the filmmakers tell their story I have looked the use of narrative techniques, such as their use of perspective, sound and music, and the work behind the camera. Here found out which narrative that is being presented to the films audience. This is a narrative about world with clearly defined good and bad sides, where what is good is closely linked with what is typically thought of as Norwegian, such as cross-country skiing and snowy mountains. The villainous side is the opposite, exemplified through the use language, were most of the films villains speak Danish. It is also possible to see this in the filmmakers use of narrative codes. Here one can find who is the hero and villain of a story, among other standard characters, and how these fulfills certain functions in the narrative. The narrative codes also show how the films audience plays a role in how, and what type of story that is being told. This could be one of the reasons why skiing and nature is connected to the movies hero, because this is things typically associated with something good in Norway. After this I had look at what type of middle age is being presented in the film. Here I saw how the filmmakers portrayed violence and religious aspects, such as the church, and how this compered to how some historians portrayed them. Here I found that the violence plays a bigger role in the story about Norway in the middle ages in the film then in the history books. This is particularly the case in representation of the movies villains. The violence is a central part of their narrative compared to the heroes. Unlike the historians the filmmakers of this movie have hardly any focus on the religious aspects of the middle ages, and in those few instances that the church has role it is closely linked with the movies antagonists. | en_US |
