How are the people tasked with the Herculian effort of bringing Thor and all his fellow Asgardians to life going to get the characters to look presentable on screen? How can they make the movie appear believable? This question seems to rear its ugly little head whenever somebody mentions any of the news that is good and right about the movie Thor.
I stumbled on this article on boston.com about the Up Helly Aa Festival that is held every year. In my opinion these costumes, outfits, styles of clothing look fantastic. They appear to be authentic, beutiful, intimidating and timeless.
I doubt Thors costume designers are looking at this Festival for inspiration but in my opinion they should.
Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian vikings in the Shetland Islands, marking the end of the yule season, and has employed this theme in the festival since 1870. The event culminates with up to 1,000 'guizers' (men in costume) throwing flaming torches into a Viking longship. The event happens all over Shetland, but it is only the Lerwick galley which is not sent seaward. Everywhere else, the flaming galley is sent into the sea, in an echo of actual Viking sea burials.
Check out these pictures and let me know if they convince any nay sayers that Thor can look fantastic on film. When I first looked at them all I could say was WOW!
In a misty fog, a member of the Viking Jarl Squad prepares for the start of the Up Helly Aa Festival on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
Members of the Viking Jarl Squad are lit by burning torches as they march during the Up Helly Aa Festival in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
Members of the Viking Jarl Squad surround their leader or "Guizer Jarl" on a Viking galley ship on the Shetland Islands, on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
A member of the Viking Jarl Squad wearing a winged helment is illuminated by burning torches during the Up Helly Aa Festival on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
The "Jarl Squad" all dressed in Viking costume gather around a Viking ship as they take part in the traditional Up Helly Aa festival on Tuesday Jan. 26, 2010. (AP Photo / Danny Lawson, PA) #
Members of the Viking Jarl Squad are illuminated by flares as they light burning torches on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
A helmeted member of the Viking Jarl Squad is silhouetted in front of a burning viking galley ship on January 26, 2010 in Lerwick, Scotland. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
A member of the Jarl viking squad holds up his axe as he is silhouetted by a burning viking longship during the Up Helly Aa Festival on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
A viking galley ship goes up in flames, surrounded by the Viking Jarl Squad in Lerwick, on Scotland's Shetland Islands, on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
The Guizer Jarl or Chief of the Jarl viking squad stands before the burning viking longship during Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Scotland on January 26, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #
I'm sure some of you will read this and wonder what it has to do with CBM's. I think it has everything to do with them. This is how Vikings and Norsemen can and should look.
If Branagh can bring this look to the big screen, I have no doubt in my mind that Thor will be EPIC indeed.
What do you think?