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[KrakenIPA]

I actually ordered a collection of Robert E. Howard's tales this morning, never read the original Conan books before now. Time to fix that!

OP redemption incoming!

RC, let us know what you think of his prose, for real!

 

[INC]

Red Sonja was better

 

[Reality Czar]

Red Sonja was better

 

[Reality Czar]

I never noticed this before. This movie has so many layers. It really is about these conflicting ideologies.

• Doom as a representative of the flesh versus Conan as a representative of steel (alloy and discipline). Related to this, it is interesting to note that Doom uses his fist to show the strength of the flesh before Conan’s crucifixion. Similarly, after awakening among the dead, Conan closes his fist in the same way. The difference is that his mind is kept on his blade; he understands what Doom meant, but sees beyond the materialism of the flesh (naturally linked with the supernatural experience he just lived, of life and death). Thus, Doom represents a form of “objectivism” (he subjects others to the power of the flesh, as is shown by both the cannibalism and the women he forces to plunge towards their deaths) and materialism, whereas Conan represents a more idealistic (in the Platonic or philosophical sense) perspective.

"Steel isn't strong, boy" Thulsa Doom tells Conan. "What is steel, compared to the hand that wields it?"

Conan immediately following rebirth after his death at the Tree of Woe

Conan reaffirms his trust in steel, which will lead him to victory

 

[j0hnnix]

2/5

 

[Hnjohngalt]

Super cool symbolic analysis of the movie below. The whole thing is well worth a read. Very fascinating.

The Symbolic Structure of Movies – Conan the Barbarian (1986) – TSW

So Eloquent and well written.

Anyone who disagrees with Conan as a great movie deserves to be driven forth with the women and Children.

 

[Reality Czar]

I love the inclusion of Atlantean lore, and how Conan frees himself from slavery and acquires the sword from the old Antediluvian kings. Thulsa Doom's cult is modern, it seeks to destroy the old gods, to make a twisted utopia of suicide. Conan, who inherited the respect for steel from his father, finds strength in tradition and in survival.

His first act is to use the sword to defend himself against the wild dogs who chased him to the Atlantean cave in the first place. This is important because wild dogs were used earlier by Thulsa Doom to kill his father when he was a child, so this whole sequence shows his ascent to self competence and adulthood. So cool that the steel is almost stumbled upon. He is trying to escape the same fate as his father and in a way the sword itself saves him. The steel shows up, a flashing literal light in the darkness, and it helps him defend himself against animals as well as free himself from his chains.

The storytelling in this movie is off the charts.