From Newsgroup: soc.history.medieval

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Gustav |ahs
Has been active in medieval events for almost 15 yearsUpdated Feb 3

What is the most wrong idea about the Middle Ages that Hollywood has
implanted in us?
Colour, especially in modern Hollywood movies.

Welcome to browns, blacks, greys and if yourCOre very lucky some dark
green that might just as well be another brown.

It didnrCOt use to be like that. This 1950rCOs Ivanhoe movie is far more correct in depicting medieval clothing as colourful and vibrant:

Colouring clothes was cheap as long as you knew which colours to use.
Ligher shades of red, blue and any kind of vibrant yellow, orange and
green would be readily available to basically anyone.

Here is the medieval colour palette for clothes:

HererCOs me in a historically correctly coloured armor:

Here I am in historically correctly coloured rCLcivilianrCY clothes:

Sure, I think this shade of red was a bit expensive for a poorer kind of farmer, but a decently well of merchant, nobleman or other well off
person? No problem.

The medieval period is an incredibly colourful period. Same with
buildings, we often think of the inside of buildings like churches and
castles as either stony or just white. But the white colours of churches
(at least in northern Europe) is a reformation thing. The medieval eras interior design came with wall paintings:

With tapestries:

With painted ceilings:

There should be more colours, decorations and sense of life in medieval movies. Also get rid of the wall torches, wall torches wasnrCOt a thing.

370.1K views8.4K upvotes213 shares459 comments
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Jonathan Nelson
-+ Feb 2
The irony is, if a movie today tried to get those bright, happy-time
colors historically spot-on, a lot of moviegoers would assume it was a
Monty Python comedy or something.

ItrCOs unfortunate, but we often find historical reality somewhatrCaunrealistic, because werCOre comparing it to our IDEA of the
past, not the past as it really was.

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Robert Hill
-+ Feb 2
Monty Python got it right though. Colorful, and the only one not covered
in shit was the king.

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Jacquelyn McBain
-+ Feb 3
Seriously, though, thererCOs a long history of color hierarchy. I think Shakespeare got around the prohibitions of dressing like a nobleman
because he was an actor. In Rome, purple was reserved for the upper echelon.

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Michael Grambauer
-+ Feb 5
Even the statues were painted.

Yes.
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Allan Orr
-+ Feb 17
Part of the background for that was Tyrian purple was painful, time
consuming and expensive to produce in quantity, so restrictions on use
helped produce that hierarchy. It may also be part of why thererCOs still Murex around today, limiting the amount needed acting as a safeguard for
the snail population.

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Jacquelyn McBain
Thanks Allan. Yes, those snails! And red came from cochineal. Little
beetles. I think the reason film makers portray the past with less color
is that it sets the tone. Somber subject, somber tone. ItrCOs a variation, donrCOt you think, on when they portray the past in black and white. Most recent good films adopt certain colors. Like Breaking Bad used a lot of avocado green.
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Nicholi Valentin
-+ Feb 2
That's how you knew he was king! Apart from the fact that the lady of
the lake, her arm clad in shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from
the bossum of the water, signifying that by providence - he was king.

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Alex Watson
-+ Feb 3
Listen mate, strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no
basis for a system of government.

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Douglas Magowan
I think it is time we give it a try! Strange Women Lying In Ponds 2024!
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E Vans
-+ Feb 4
Just because some watery tart threw a sword at you doesnrCOt make you the king!






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