MovieChat Forums > The Green Knight (2021) Discussion > Ending parallels to <spoiler>

Ending parallels to <spoiler>

posted 3 years ago by lasteven (309)
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I was interested in how Gawain's final confrontation with the Green Knight seemed to parallel the crucifixion from The Last Temptation of Christ.

In TGK, we see Gawain run from what he sees as his death and final judgment. He goes back home and has what some would call a successful life, but it's all based on the lie of his having faced up to the challenge. He gets the kingship, an heir, what seems to be an advantageous marriage, more kids.... and then it all falls apart. Because, it would seem, it's all based on a lie and cowardice.

In TLToC (and I am speaking specifically of the movie and not any theological perspective), Jesus is offered a way out of his execution also, so he returns home, gets married, experiences loss, gets married again, has kids, and yet everything falls apart as people believe in a Messiah that he knows to be a lie. Jerusalem burns.

And in both films, in that moment of seeing how horribly it all turns out, both lead characters return to the point of sacrifice and declare that they want to fulfill the obligation. Even though both films end really in that moment, there's a sense that the path of the world is set right again by that voluntary act.

It feels that the underlying point is that sacrifice must, by its nature, be sacrificial. It has to be willing, even in the face of uncertainty and fear. One can't simply say, "Oh yeah, I did that" but dodge facing up to it because that introduces a fatal flaw, a deadly crack in the foundation of all that will follow.

It's an interesting idea.

[–] FilmBuff (7234) 3 years ago

Good observation. I think in both cases, the awareness of "what might be" is shown because it does to a large extent validate the sacrifice. Had Gawain simply knelt and thought "I have no choice," it would have been less a sacrifice and more an acquiescence, but by playing out what could have been, he shows he's fully cognizant of the fact that he can opt out.

As all of his post-fleeing life was playing out, I was convinced it was a "what if," primarily because of the foreshadowing when we saw his bound skeleton, but his removal of his protective sash was a nice final touch. We'd spent the entire film focused on that belt-- it was stolen, returned, perhaps about to be given away, and will it work if he manages to hold onto it???-- and to have him cast it aside in such cavalier fashion was simultaneously hilarious and shocking. Of course he had to remove it! And then the wonderful climax to the film, which already felt well-earned, became a thousandfold more powerful because of that action.

[–] lasteven (309) 3 years ago

Bingo. I felt that the future scenario was pretty clearly framed, if only by the relative lack of dialogue, the (even more) dreamlike scenes, and and time jumps, and I felt that each step built solidly. It reminded me of the carpentry principle that you always measure each cut by itself, instead of cutting a two-foot board, then using that as the length to cut the next, and so on, because any error, however small, once introduced will throw off the next decision and the next....

If Gawain had presented himself as honorable (i.e., successful in light of the chivalric code and expectations), there would've been a crack in the foundation. The removal of the belt, as you noted, is crucial to the sacrifice because it was a conscious choice.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

i've never seen ltoc, but your analysis sounds spot on, and it's one that one of my favourite movie writers, sonny bunch, made in his own review, though he didn't go into details due to spoilers.

"From the episodic structure of the storytelling to the symbolic and mythos-laden nature of the episodes themselves to the questions of duty and honor and sacrifice to the final moments, when our hero, Gawain (Dev Patel), is confronted with the notion of what it means to live without the honor he has sought, The Green Knight most reminded me of The Last Temptation of Christ."

https://screentime.thebulwark.com/p/the-green-knight-review

[–] lasteven (309) 3 years ago

Thank you for sharing that link! While everyone's experience would be somewhat different, just because we're different as people, that review is a pretty perfect summation of what I had thought. :-)

[–] joej2923 (3021) 3 years ago

How does the ending compare to the two previous green knight films? In those two films, Gawain wrapped the scarf around his neck and the green knight's strike did not connect. Gawain then wounded the knight and he faded into the ground. The two movies I watched were Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the early seventies and Sword of the Valiant from the early eighties. Both of these films featured Sir Gawain going on a quest to solve the green knight's riddle before confronting him.

[–] lasteven (309) 3 years ago

From that information/description, the two previous films departed from the original poem's ending somewhat.

In the original text, Gawain has the sash tied around his waist, and the Green Knight tests him three times, never landing a killing blow but it seems clear that GK is testing his courage and nerve, not truly intending a killing blow. More information is revealed about the Green Knight, his identity, and purpose.

The current film is much more in keeping with that ending, although Gawain makes himself even more vulnerable by removing the protective sash entirely after a few false starts, accepting his fate without trying to avoid it in any way.

The film doesn't continue past that point, so the poem's resolution, which covers how Gawain is received back at court, aren't covered.