Black Vikings: Difference between revisions

 

 

* ''[[Sakura Taisen]] V'' features an African-American female lawyer in the [[The Roaring Twenties]]; while college-educated black professionals were far from unheard of since the early 1900s, what's odd is that this character never has to fight prejudice or racism in the series (which instead would have been likely). Even for an [[Alternate History]], this is just stretching it a bit.

* Hilariously happens, as quoted above in ''[[Durarara!!]]''; Semyon Brezhnev, better known as Simonis a [[Gentle Giant|7 foot tall]] [[Scary Black Man|black]] [[Husky Russkie|Russian]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|sushi tout]] in Ikebukuro. In the ''[[Refuge in Audacity|Russian]]'' sushi shop. While definitely ''not'' impossible (Pushkin's great-grandfather, for example, was an African who came to Russia in the 18th Century), it is a very unlikely situation, mostly because there's simply aren't that many black Russians around. And then there's the fact that most Russian sushi shops are atrocious in the country, so a bunch of Russians successfully selling them ''in Tokyo'' is, again, unlikely. Though author seems to [[Shown Their Work|know]] all this and aims at the [[Rule of Funny]]. Explained by the fact that Semyon's parents were Americans who moved to Russia.

* In the film adaptation of ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', the character Don Pedro is the Prince of Aragon and played by [[Denzel Washington]]. While Spain was occupied for several centuries by the Moors, Medieval Spaniards were nearly obsessed with ''limpieza de sangre''—purity of blood, and the aristocratic class was the worst. It might have been a stylishic choice to make his illegimate brother's deep hatred for him more obvious. Otherwise, this would have to get across by [[Keanu Reeves]]'s acting ability.

* [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s version of ''[[Hamlet]]'' features a couple black people among the staff of the castle. Including one woman who was originally a "gentleman" in the play. In Denmark, in the 1600's. The film has a more 1800's style, but that doesn't change much.

* The 2011 film ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' has Idris Elba [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/12/20/ as one of the Norse gods.] So pretty much literal there. For extra irony points, he played Heimdall, who is often referred to as "White-god" and "Whitest of the Aesir". Similarly, the character Hogun is played by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, though as noted under Comics above the character was visually-Asian to begin with. In the movie, the idea is put forth that the Asgardians aren't really gods but [[Human Aliens|extradimensional beings]] that the Scandanavians mistook for deities after seeing them battle Frost Giants on Earth. It's also a manner of the Asgardians in the Marvel universe not actually being exactly the same as real-world Aesir mythology.

** If you examine the religious art of the Vikings, you may note that the symbols of Thor (such as the hammer) have particular prominence. If you look at the movie's Asgardians in that context, it seems that the Vikings liked Thor so much because he looked like them.