So the first time I watched this movie, I didn't get it. I was very confused by what was "real" and what wasn't "real". Even though I was lost at what to make of this movie it had somehow still put it's hooks in me. The next day, after having seen it, I read a fantastic article that better explained the movie to me then I watched it again with this understanding and I loved it! But I can understand people not liking it. It's one of those artsy, interpretive movies and can be difficult to grasp but once your given some guidance on how to interrupt what you're seeing it is much more enjoyable.
Let me start off by prefacing that this is not your typical knighty movie. In fact, I'd call it the anti-knight's movie. The anti-quest, if you will. Gawain has aspirations for being a famous knight BUT he lacks knightly qualities. He's not brave. He's not chivalrous. He's always trying to take the easy way out. Every test to prove the caliber of his character he fails. Now this sounds like a set up to a comedy, and in some ways it is, but not the laugh out loud kind of comedy more of an intellectual kinda comedy. It's brain funny because it's a contradiction.
Also, Gawain's mother plays a huge part in the story even though she's not in most of the movie. She is the one who summons the Green Knight to King Arthur's court so that her son can go on a Knightly quest. She also gives Gawain a scarf(???) or something like that, that essential makes him invincible as long as he keeps it on. Any scene that depicts him dying, he doesn't actually die because the scarf magically brings him back to life without any knowledge that he'd ever died in the first place. You can see how this makes his quest unfair. There's nothing that he is really putting on the line. It's like playing a video game where you're constantly getting help from an unseen hand and you have infinite lives. You're eventually going to make it regardless of how unskilled or incompetent you are. You're not truly being challenged just in the same way Gawain is not truly being challenged. And therefore, he is not worthy of becoming a knight but, he becomes one anyways because he cheated and he lied his way to it. But it's a empty victory. He lives a long life only to understand that all his victories are hollow and everyone hates him and everything he built up over the years falls apart late in his life. Was it worth it?
The answer is no, because he's suddenly taken back to his final confrontation with The Green Knight where he decides to take the scarf off and accept his fate. The Green Knight sees this and congratulates Gawain on his bravery only to tell him that his head is coming off anyways. This seems to surprise Gawain, as I think, he was excepting to be praised for his bravery and allowed to live for it. And then the movie suddenly ends. We don't see his head come off but I think we can safely assume it does. Now Gawain is truly a knightly hero and all he had to do was give up his life.
I really like this movie because it's very different from other movies I was watching at the time. Something new and refreshing. It even contradicts the usual conventions of its own genre. Also, to me, Gawain was portrayed as something like an everyday man. He's not a bad person but he has no real strengths, no real talent, and he's lazy. He's just an ordinary guy who has aspirations for being great but lacks the strength of character or real will to do so. This movie is The Anti-Knights Tale and I love it!
Let me start off by prefacing that this is not your typical knighty movie. In fact, I'd call it the anti-knight's movie. The anti-quest, if you will. Gawain has aspirations for being a famous knight BUT he lacks knightly qualities. He's not brave. He's not chivalrous. He's always trying to take the easy way out. Every test to prove the caliber of his character he fails. Now this sounds like a set up to a comedy, and in some ways it is, but not the laugh out loud kind of comedy more of an intellectual kinda comedy. It's brain funny because it's a contradiction.
Also, Gawain's mother plays a huge part in the story even though she's not in most of the movie. She is the one who summons the Green Knight to King Arthur's court so that her son can go on a Knightly quest. She also gives Gawain a scarf(???) or something like that, that essential makes him invincible as long as he keeps it on. Any scene that depicts him dying, he doesn't actually die because the scarf magically brings him back to life without any knowledge that he'd ever died in the first place. You can see how this makes his quest unfair. There's nothing that he is really putting on the line. It's like playing a video game where you're constantly getting help from an unseen hand and you have infinite lives. You're eventually going to make it regardless of how unskilled or incompetent you are. You're not truly being challenged just in the same way Gawain is not truly being challenged. And therefore, he is not worthy of becoming a knight but, he becomes one anyways because he cheated and he lied his way to it. But it's a empty victory. He lives a long life only to understand that all his victories are hollow and everyone hates him and everything he built up over the years falls apart late in his life. Was it worth it?
The answer is no, because he's suddenly taken back to his final confrontation with The Green Knight where he decides to take the scarf off and accept his fate. The Green Knight sees this and congratulates Gawain on his bravery only to tell him that his head is coming off anyways. This seems to surprise Gawain, as I think, he was excepting to be praised for his bravery and allowed to live for it. And then the movie suddenly ends. We don't see his head come off but I think we can safely assume it does. Now Gawain is truly a knightly hero and all he had to do was give up his life.
I really like this movie because it's very different from other movies I was watching at the time. Something new and refreshing. It even contradicts the usual conventions of its own genre. Also, to me, Gawain was portrayed as something like an everyday man. He's not a bad person but he has no real strengths, no real talent, and he's lazy. He's just an ordinary guy who has aspirations for being great but lacks the strength of character or real will to do so. This movie is The Anti-Knights Tale and I love it!