The 13th Warrior (1999)

This week, Abigail, Helen and Sara are your favourite exposition crones, as we take a wild ride through The 13th Warrior (1999) - a film that probably would have made a better amusement park ride. Based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel, The Eaters of the Dead, 13th Warrior tells the story of Arab ambassador, Ahmad Ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) who joins forces with a band of Viking warriors to defeat an ancient, mysterious evil. As part of our ongoing series on Viking adaptations, we talk about Beowulf and its legacy, 90s 'post-racial' weirdness, cultural appropriation, and how exactly the Venus of Willendorf fits into all this.



Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.



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Abigail is on Twitter at @onceuponafine, Helen is at @HelenVMurray and Sara is at @tinyredbook



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