Abstract – why do we enjoy the weird and absurd in films?

We watch absurd movies all the time.

Today, in this age, we can’t understand the abstract. It’s not graspable. Rules are held as concrete, and when we break them we can’t even break them in a pleasant, artsy way. Philosophy is construed as a science instead of an over arching ideology that can’t be fully explained. We try to take life and make sense of it, which is the most senseless and ridiculous thing that a human could think of. Make sense of life? That’s foolish. Life is organic, and evolutionary, and no one can make sense of that.

John Locke had some decent points. In his Essay On Human Understanding, which is quite the mouthful to read, he says that man’s knowledge cannot extend beyond his experience. I would have to disagree on it a bit, since there is a fundamental innateness that all humans seem to have, but essentially it is a common truth. How can we expect to grasp and determine a full understanding of the universe if we can’t even experience a miniscule fraction of it? All we can do is imagine it, and express that muted consciousness in art poetry dreams movies books songs and black & white photography.

That’s fruity. I can’t deny it. But…maybe the world is fruity.

I love movies.

I love weird, absurd films that make no practical sense. That’s why this blog is about sword and sorcery.

Good resource for S&S films

Sword and sorcery films are a small niche, not many people love these films, but that’s what is great about cult movies. When we do love them, we LOVE them.

I found a great site, Cult Celebrities, which although they have lots of different genres of B movies like horror, sci fi, and other genres, have a very solid section of sword & sorcery films.

You can take a look at their sword & sorcery movie category which is a good start to learn more about these fantasy films.

Love it – now go tell me other resources you’ve found for sword and sorcery/sword and sandal films!

Leave a message in the comments!

Best sword and sorcery movies of all time

I love sword and sorcery movies!

What are they, you say?

Well, they’re cheese. They’re mostly 80s. They have sweaty muscular guys running around with swords or axes killing monsters and saving beautiful women from the grips of death.

Other things? Dragons. Poison. Dungeons. Trolls. Witches. Sorcery.

I’ll list a few of my favorite movies.

  1. Conan the Barbarian. It’s an obvious favorite, the one that started them all, a retelling of books from the early 20th century!
  2. Red Sonja. It’s the female version of Conan, even starring Arnold as a sidekick!
  3. Deathstalker. These movies (there are four of them) are absolutely low budget but also classically sword and sorcery.
  4. Beastmaster. These 3 movies make one awesome trilogy about a barbarian who can speak to animals.

Anything else I missed?