[Note: If you are concerned about spoilers, I recommend seeing The Northman first, however I do not spoil anything here that wasn’t already revealed in the trailer or in scenes that were released online before the film came out.]
Excellent post! It's interesting that among mainstream Mormons there is a backlash against polygamy, which makes them more ardently opposed than most WEIRD. See the Deseret News's reaction to the Short Creek Raid against fundamentalist polygamists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Creek_raid
The SLC Mormon owned newspaper was one of the only outlets that supported the feds breaking up polygamist families. Narcissism of small differences, and all that. Displaying disgust to demonstrate they really were done with the polygamy business.
Larger point still stands, of course, as there are hundreds of thousands of fundamentalists who still support polygamy.
I would instead say that Eggers' story emphasizes war over love. Amleth has to explicitly choose between them in the last act, opting for the former. With barely enough focus for one wife, he's certainly not going to get a second.
Very excited for the more in-depth discussion of the ritual use & ASC's in the film!
Excellent post! It's interesting that among mainstream Mormons there is a backlash against polygamy, which makes them more ardently opposed than most WEIRD. See the Deseret News's reaction to the Short Creek Raid against fundamentalist polygamists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Creek_raid
The SLC Mormon owned newspaper was one of the only outlets that supported the feds breaking up polygamist families. Narcissism of small differences, and all that. Displaying disgust to demonstrate they really were done with the polygamy business.
Larger point still stands, of course, as there are hundreds of thousands of fundamentalists who still support polygamy.
I would instead say that Eggers' story emphasizes war over love. Amleth has to explicitly choose between them in the last act, opting for the former. With barely enough focus for one wife, he's certainly not going to get a second.
Explaining head collecting doesn't require fancy symbolism. It's just the kind of thing young men like to do.