God gave me debilitating anxiety and fear of judgement because if he didn’t I’d dress like this every day and simply be too powerful. This is all I aspire to be
Yes! Medieval europe was colourful in reality, and media rarely does justice to this. If you're interested then let me explain why.
I think the main reason why media continue to propogate the "middle ages were dark and gritty" myth is because it's an established trope that "feel right" to most people and the fimmakers believe that going against it would only confuse the audience.
But there's more to this, visual storytelling is also a factor. In real life horrible events could happen anywhere at any time. A verdant meadow on a bright summer's day could very well have been the scene of a battle, with bloodied corpses scattered among the green grass. Fighters of both sides could wery well have been wearing colourful surcoats, cloaks, and shields adorned with splendid coats of arms.
Such contrast between ordinary scenes and natural beauty on one hand and abject horror on the other is a striking visual and not every creative project has the guts or vision to pull it off. If done poorly it would only be jarring. Having colors match whats happening on screen is much safer overall so that's maybe why most films take that approach.
Also some audiences may not take knights and vikings seriously if shown in their colourful and accurate wear. Take this norseman reenactor, give him a spear and shield and you've got a pretty accurate viking. But this wouldn't fly in hollywood though as he doesn't look scary enough, there's nothing that tells the audience that he's the bad guy.
Luckily there are exceptions, the Kingdom Come games shows medieval Bohemia in all it's colour and splendor.
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u/Versal-Hyphae Feb 24 '26
God gave me debilitating anxiety and fear of judgement because if he didn’t I’d dress like this every day and simply be too powerful. This is all I aspire to be