Have you ever finished reading a medieval text like Beowulf, Egil’s Saga, or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and wondered, “where are the women,” or “why are the few women mentioned evil or short-lived?” It is no secret that women have been excluded from historical text, pushed away from politics, and forced into secondary roles throughout time as we know it.
But…
What if heroes like Beowulf or Egil were women?
If that idea excites you, grab a bowl of popcorn, turn on Netflix, and start watching Damsel.
This series will function as a type of amateur film criticism that roots claims in medieval text. I argue that the film Damsel offers a visual representation of a long-awaited medieval warrior-princess who embodies both the Arthurian knight’s code of justice and mercy and a Beowulfian sense of leadership and strength. Landscapes, rituals and plot devices, and creatures like dragons all work together in the film to show viewers a blend of medieval culture and ecology with a female protagonist at the forefront. To analyze Damsel in an orderly fashion, this series will be split into four parts:
Part 1: Exposition and Landscape
Part 2: Lies, the Lair, and Liberation
Part 3: Family is Everything
Part 4: Justice is Served
The first thirty minutes of the movie could have stood on their own as a short “Cinderella story.” The main female protagonist, Elodie, is the daughter of the Lord in charge of a crumbling mountainous village - think primitive Iceland. Elodie’s father arranges a marriage between Elodie and Prince Henry of the Kingdom of Aurea, so Elodie, her sister Floria, her stepmother and father ride by boat to settle the marriage. Once they arrive in Aurea, they are amazed at the flourishing landscape and gilded castle. The Queen of Aurea and Elodie’s father take care of the details regarding the marriage, the prince and Elodie get to know each other, and the wedding is a picturesque success.
But, it’s not. Let’s take a step back.
The first section of the movie plays with space and time. The opening sequence looks like the creators of Monty Python had a bigger budget with a group of soldiers that could have been fresh from King Arthur’s court riding across vast plains. A castle in the distance, these soldiers travel across open land into a dark cave within a foreboding mountain-this is the dragon’s lair. The richly-clad soldiers look out of place facing the dragon; perhaps, they have stepped back in time. After the King's soldiers have been laid waste and the king takes a final stand, the scene changes to introduce the main plot line and protagonist. What caught my attention with this scene change was the text at the bottom of the screen:
“Centuries Later”
Now, supposedly in the future, viewers witness a desolate, cold, and blue-gray landscape punctuated with Elodie’s auburn hair. This new scenery seems more ancient than the luscious Arthurian-styled kingdom, especially when the camera pans to the ruins of the village. I was so focused on the richness of old and bleakness of the present that I almost missed a crucial element of the barren landscape.
There are no more trees!
So, just from observing the landscape of both time periods and civilizations, it is clear that industrialization was a failed process in Elodie’s corner of the world.
The vast difference between the kingdom of old and Elodie’s village harkens back to subtle messages about industrialization and ecology in Beowulf and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. First, Beowulf opens with genealogies and a funeral where Shield Sheafson was placed in “a ring-whorled prow,” a ship “ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince” (lines 32-33). Already, the setting of Beowulf is icy and mournful. The genealogical list serves to introduce Hrothgar, the builder of Heorot, the great mead hall. The main plot of Beowulf begins with Grendel’s attacks on Heorot and the shell of splendor it has become:
So Grendel ruled in defiance of right,
one against all, until the greatest house
in the world stood empty, a deserted wallstead.
For twelve winters, seasons of woe,
the lord of the Shieldings suffered under
his load of sorrow; and so, before long,
the news was known over the whole world. (lines 144-150)
Contrast the state of Heorot at the beginning of Beowulf with the description of King Arthur’s hall at the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
This king lay at Camelot at Christmastide;
Many good knights and gay his guests were there,
Arrayed of the Round Table rightful brothers,
With feasting and fellowship and carefree mirth.
There true men contended in tournaments many,
Joined there in jousting these gentle knights,
Then came to the court for carol-dancing
For the feast was in force full fifteen days… (lines 37-44)
One hall is laid waste by a monster, while the other is lively and bright. The states of the two halls speak to the ecology surrounding them. Early Scandinavia, where Beowulf is set, was quite icy as the “mid-6th century was one of the coldest periods of the last 2000 years,” and to those who wonder why, this harsh climate “was initiated by volcanic eruptions in 536 and 540 CE” (Van Dijk et al. 357). Moreover, most people know that Scandinavian countries are littered with beautiful, and yet often inhospitable, “fjords, mountains, valleys, and coasts” (Van Dijk et al. 377). Imagine a cold, harsh, and blue (because of the water and ice) climate - the Vikings in Beowulf’s time certainly would find it familiar.
On the other hand, the plot of Sir Gawain takes place in King Arthur’s court in Britain. What makes Sir Gawain seem more modern than Beowulf is the language and emphasis on romantic, chivalric values that the writer imposes on the story. While both authors of these Medieval works are anonymous, it is believed that Beowulf was written c. 1000 AD while Sir Gawain was probably written in the 14th century, making the author a likely contemporary of Chaucer’s. King Arthur, if he could be proven to have really existed (I cannot wait for that), would have lived around the same time as the Vikings in Beowulf, but his shiny armor, beautiful Guinevere, and loyal knights do not seem as “old” as Beowulf and his men because of when it was actually written.
What is beautiful about Elodie in Damsel is that she is a character that successfully navigates both worlds: one a desolate and cold wasteland, one a vibrant, industrialized kingdom. She fits in both landscapes. When watching the movie, it was clear that Elodie’s father is displaced in the Kingdom of Aurea and the messenger/priestess from Aurea looks just as out of place in Elodie’s village. Keep the ecological contrast in mind as we move forward in the film - glitz and glamor is not always as it seems!
Works Cited
Abrams, M. H., editor. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Norton Anthology of
English Literature, vol. 1, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 1986, pp. 233– 288.
Heaney, Seamus, and Daniel Donoghue. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. 2nd ed., W.W.
Norton and Company, 2019.
Van Dijk, Evelien, et al. “Climatic and societal impacts in Scandinavia following the 536 and 540 CE volcanic double event.” Climate of the Past, vol. 19, no. 2, 3 Feb.
2023, pp. 357–398, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-357-2023.
Emma, thanks for the fascinating post. I was unaware of the series upon which you have chosen to write, but it seems to be a subject quite fitting. Your ability to weave your thoughtful exposition of the various medieval works is quite effective here. The idea of a work that presents an amalgamation of landscapes and an array of variations based upon human experience is one that lends itself to a veritable cornucopia of expressions. I am sure that this will be an enormously successful project.