Really? Care to be more of a muppet? I figured this little rant must have been a one off. So I checked some of your other ignorant, functionally illiterate scribblings before degenerating the thread I started to sling your insults back at you.
First, let us start out with source material. You did not bring up source material here, but I did mention it, and you did criticize someone for using the term.
"What source material? Other than the name (a name) this is not based on any "source material"."
That shows how little you understood about the subject and how you would not allow that to stop you from speaking on it anyway. You are wrong.
Now it automatically draws comparisons to the epic poem due to the usage of the name. However it is far more complex than just that.
For example, look at some of the production material.
http://www.impawards.com/tv/posters/beowulf.jpg
"A Legend Reclaimed"
That illustrates an undeniable link between the series and the source material. However it goes further.
From the IMDB page. "Set in Scandinavia. " That tells you its setting. "Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes" That again reinforces the setting and asserts both the culture and historical context of the narrative.
Now with this being a "reimagining" of the legend it is plausible there could be something that constitutes deviation from the source material. They could have had the character simply been named after the character of the poem. Yet nothing is established to differentiate it. It is still yet again reinforced in the first episode during the intro scenes when Young Beowulf meets Hrothgar. Hrothgar makes more cultural references such as "Halls of the dead". At no point does the production, hypothetical setting, and narrative try to distance itself from the epic poem basically cementing what the source material is. So if that is in fact the source material where this draws inspiration from and it effectively reuses those elements from the source material, then there is an obligation to remain faithful to the elements it intentionally sets forth.
Hence the issues with the geography. If you had no context to what Europe is geographically like or what climates it encompasses, and were only using this series as a point of reference, you would get the impression that Sweden and Denmark "shield lands" are filled with extensive gentle loping plains, brilliantly sunny coastal beaches and extensive deciduous forests, but we both know that is not an apt description of the borderline boreal landscape of Scandinavia. That is why I used the terminology that I used when I said "Entirely too Mediterranean look and feel to it. Great locations, but completely out of context to the source material." The operative word being "too" to denote it consistently portrays the climate of the setting as one that is much more temperate and mild than the cool and rocky Scandinavian setting.
Now onto the whole race issue. If you had exhibited a tiny little bit of reading comprehension you would have understood that what I said on race was intended to derail from over reacting about race as it relates to this show. Forgive me for not anticipating the likes of someone jumping off the deep end in the complete opposite direction.
The setting is established here. It is that of the poem, around 6th century. I bring up the moors because it was around that point in history that the moors started appearing in southern Europe. That is why the presence of more diverse actors is not entirely out of place. There was some plausible historical context for it.
Which brings us to why your utterly chavtastic freakout about it is out of place.
"...doesn't have anything to do with anything."
If all things are equal it most certainly does have something to do with it. It is a symptom of a mediocre show that does not understand what it is, or what it is trying to be. It appropriates the name of something and then blatantly disregards the source material around that name in the most ham fisted ways possible. Again I do not inherently have a problem with the main cast, but this is a matter that plagues the entire production. As has been repeatedly been established, The setting dictates, and while there might logically be a few diverse faces in the cast, it shows flippant disregard for history to place entire distinct tribes (plural) of dark skinned people in what was historically one of the most remote reaches of the whitest people on earth. Sure you might have had a few pockets of migrant north Africans on the continent at the time, there is no logical reason to think they would be whole cultures of peoples that pre date the series period so far that they are considered part of the native culture to be long standing members of the structure of government.
It makes no logical sense. It is clearly set on Earth, in the time of the Beowulf epic but disregards most of the content of the epic, and in turn introduces elements that even within the confines of a fantasy would not logically occur. It disrespects the source material, it disrespects history, It even disrespects simple biology as there is a biological reason why those with darker skin tone have a heritage from people who more recently lived closer to the equator.
Now the mistake that most people are thinking of here is that it is completely due to inclusivity. While that is without question present, it is not really at the forefront driving the reason of its presence, and that is hacks are running the production. It is a symptom of a greater problem. If you are not putting enough thought into logically presenting your production on base levels, then it stands to reason your production is going to be shitte, because you are not paying attention to what you are doing.
Further still, the (I am assuming you said costumes and not customes) costumes are not the least bit impressive. In fact they are all over the place. Aesthetic wise they are over done for the period in question. For example Beowulf/s Tunic of Belts People of that time period would never fashion something so impractical and pointlessly ornate. Another problem is the stylization seems like who ever was deciding the costume choices had been playing some sort of RTS and decided to make the people of each region stylistically similar or colour co-ordinated. Like Rheda and her subjects tend to be in more red hues while her brothers people who make their livelihood through fishing just happen to be sporting blues, while the bandits are clad in black, so on and so forth. Then there are the humanoid mud born who look like extras from Mad Max: Fury road with their eyes made out of goggles that are the last season of Star Trek TOS alien of the week bad.
Then there is the CGI which honestly looks quite below the entry point for this type of show. If they didn't have the budget to make it look visually as good as the visually God awful Olympus, then they probably should have not bothered making it at all.
Now truth be told I have not addressed all the wrongs in your response. I have already wasted more than enough time correcting you and really, with such a hate filled, ignorant and downright bigoted response does not deserve the energy I would expend in educating you right proper. Maybe you will learn not to speak on things you do not understand before you start ranting online next time. Most likely not.
Something tells me you are just the typical internet pillock that I will not think about again after I hit REPLY regardless of what ill tempered bile you want to spew in response.
Have yourself the most wonderful morning.
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