From the Mists of History to the High Resolution Screen: Barbarians Written by Elizabeth Coulter1,2,3,4 1 Department of English, 2Germanic Languages and 3Literatures 4 Fourth-year undergraduate of Victoria College, University of Toronto Netflix’s 2020 series Barbarians brings to life the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, transporting the viewer back 2000 years to the 1st century AD, Roman-occupied Germania. Despite the pivotal nature of the battle as a triumph for the early Germanic tribes against the Romans, our written sources exclusively tell the Roman perspective of the event, since the Germanic tribes of the time did not write anything down. And yet, it is the seemingly overwhelming task of providing the perspective of the Germanic peoples that the creators of Barbarians have taken on with their series. While it may be easy enough to use archaeological evidence to visually reconstruct the world of ancient tribes such as the Cherusci (their buildings and clothing and so on), it is ultimately through the screenwriting techniques employed that we the audience are immersed in the perspective of the Cherusci. The attempt to construct the outlook of the ancient Germanic tribes is vital in drawing the viewer into their world. It is achieved through such intangible, yet culturally defining elements of society: the language we use, the way we think, and the interactions we have with the people around us.
“Verstehst du, was er sagt? (“Do you understand what he’s saying?”) (“Wolf and Eagle”, 4:46-7) A framework for who the audience is to identify with is created in something as basic as the choice of language for the Germanic peoples and the Romans respectively. Reflecting the immense Roman literary output of the period, the Romans speak in meticulously reconstructed Classical Latin, creating a sense of realism by bringing to life the language of our dusty grammar books. The Latin is set in contrast to the modern German spoken by the Germanic peoples. As one may expect, the Proto-Germanic language of tribes such as the Cherusci is not fully known, but even if a masterful reconstruction were to be constructed to aid our time-travel, it would likely sound even more foreign to the audience than the Latin. By having the Germanic peoples speak Modern German, it associates the audience with the Germanic tribes in opposition to the Romans whose language “others” them. The film being German-made and covering a significant event in German history, the chosen language for the audience is naturally German, however even in the foreign language dubs the Romans’ lines are left in Latin. As common as Latin may be in written form today, it is not often heard spoken. Therefore, the choice of the ancient Roman language as opposed to a modern Romance language serves not only to give a sense of realism in the time period, but also to provide the Romans with a language that sounds particularly unfamiliar and therefore signals a very different culture. Screenwriters’ Perspectives Vol. 3 No. 1 2022
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