The Dark Ages: Documentary

So far on this blog I have only talked about TV shows, and for good reason. Isn't that the first thing you think about when someone mentions TV? But there was a time when places like the History channel didn't focus on reality TV and actually played documentaries. So what kind of effect do documentaries like "The Dark Ages" have on archaeology? Should we be worried that these kinds of productions aren't being made as frequently any more? Lets see.

The Dark Ages is, as the title implies, about the dark ages in Europe: the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. This was a time of plague, disorder, death and brutality. The documentary starts by showing the destruction of Rome and then moves on to describing a wide variety of features of the Dark Ages, from the systems of government, the power of religions, leaders and sicknesses. This is all relayed by a large number of (very violent) reenactments, animations and professors and professionals that are there to lend some credibility to the feature.

Isn't this what you want to see on a Saturday morning?

Right off the bat, there were many parallels with the documentary we watched in class ("Pyramids of Death"). There is foreboding music, a dramatic narrator, and the documentary is chock full of some odd, sometimes silly recreations. Many of them are violent, with plenty of blood and killing being shown. This is not a documentary for kids, but a documentary about one of the darkest periods of European history really shouldn't be. That being said, this is a really, REALLY violent documentary. There is gallons of blood on display, bodies everywhere, and they are not above showing a beheading or a guy sticking his hand in a vat of boiling oil. Seeing as these recreations are a majority of what the documentary is about, its obsession with darkness and death really alienates the audience. While the information may be interesting, the reenactments are violent enough that it may turn some people away.

I have an accent, a PhD and glasses, hear me.

Speaking of information, how are all the facts relayed to the audience? Well, the writing in the show isn't exactly top notch, in fact some of it is actually laughable. Right in the beginning of the show the narrator says "Rome... is invaded by a band of dirty, sweaty, smelly thugs" talking about the Visigoths. This kind of subjective writing is worrying in a documentary, but overall it doesn't do much harm. Though lines like this pop up from time to time to make the documentary seem more "dramatic", "The Dark Ages" features mountains of facts that are much less subjective. There are many, many talking heads in this documentary, much more so than  "Pyramids of Death" which does add some credibility to it. This is not the type of venue where you can really skew what the professors and experts are saying, so I felt as though the amount of professional input was perfect: they didn't make the documentary boring and they generally had something interesting to add to the discussion.

Overall, I had a similar reaction to "The Dark Ages" as I did to "Pyramids of Death". The show doesn't exactly distort anything about the study of the ancient world, but it doesn't do a great job of showing information. It's overly violent and focuses a little too much on "entertainment", but it had some decent facts and does bring in awareness for this time period. In the end, if even one person looks up the Dark Ages when the documentary is over, it's a win for archaeology. 

What's Right? 
Lots of talking heads (which is good here), a nice amount of facts, gives a good general overview of the time period. 
What's Wrong?
Way too overly violent, low production value and some iffy writing.
Grade: B