Dragonheart - The Knight's Critical Code

In the beginning of the movie a boy named Einon is trained in the ways of knighthood, at first I thought that maybe the main hero/heroine in this movie would have been him, turns out that the actual hero is actually the knight who trained him. After Einon's father dies after an uprising, Eion goes to save his father and in turn gets injured. To save Einon (and to also save the future king) his adversaries go to the dragon called Draco. This dragon gives Einon half of his dragon heart to heal him however this comes with a catch. Einon and Draco's hearts become one, and giving Einon his heart makes him essentially immortal, only to be killed if Draco were to be killed first.  He is crowned as king years later, which is where the story kicks off.

Draco killed by Bowen

The knight who trained Einon, who is named Bowen, in the beginning of the movie comes filled with hate for dragon because they poisoned Einon's heart. Because of this goes on a rampage to slay every dragon in the kingdom. However, as "fate" would have it Bowen befriends Draco, and they plot to kill and take down King Einon promising that they keep the old code sacred, though in doing so they also tarnish the code by lying to villages in the kingdom about Bowen being a dragon slayer. The movie in short is all about Bowen finding his place as a knight and restoring order and the old code to the kingdom                                                                        


This film has some of the classic details that portray what audiences believe the Medieval time period was like, including knights, dragons, the code of chivalry, etc. With these details Dragonheart leads to some pretty cliched, and also critical to the beliefs of the period. To the audience of the movie, some themes that are present within the movie include staying alive means to fight for life and honor, greed and lust for power easily wins over the ruler and having "good moral values" is harder to choose, and that the time period saw women as weak and submissive if they were not nobility. This is evident when King Einon tries to seduce Kara, who is women that is taken hostage by the King.The time period according to the presentation of Dragonheart was a time of valuing code, no matter how corrupted the ruler of the kingdom became.

Einon's obsession with Kara

           Both of these images slightly show the greenery of the environment.

Some assumptions that the movie makes about the place, people, customs, values, and traditions that the film is reflecting on to viewers include the environment of the time period was pretty much all grasslands and forests. As well as lesser people on the government system are treated with disdain, even ones that serve the king and queen. Another assumption the movie makes is that virtue is most important and it is the driving force behind the knights code, Fourthly, knights have long hair, while monks have little to no hair upon their heads, which according to the movie correlates to the fact that knights value vanity, whereas monks value knowledge. A critical assumption about the time period that the movie makes is that throughout the first half of the movie, women are treated as objects, but in the second half of the movie women are treated as equals, and fight against the tarnished code to regain pace in the kingdom.

Bowen (left) the knight and Brother Gilbert (right) the monk

My reception of the film was that although the film definitely had cliched depictions of the time period, it is also critical of the time period. I thought the film as a film was good overall though.This is because normally the king in medieval tales are the good guys, much like King Arthur, but the king in this story is corrupt. This says that the medieval time period is fickle with how they run their world, and also that the time period was corrupt and that the code of chivalry is dead. This also goes with the detail that for Bowen to actually overthrow the king he has to lie to townsfolk about being a virtuous knight and dragon slayer. Once again the code is thrown out the window and almost forgotten, until the very end of the movie when Bowen becomes a knight of the old code again, but this time he follows through with the code.

Bowen follows the old code again

As viewers come to the end of the movie, they begin to find out that the medieval time period had a lot to do with keeping the moral code, as well as the advantages and pitfalls of the feudal system. The time period was fantastical, but it also has some universal ideas that make the time period relatable. This mostly involves the fight between good and evil, In all, the movie takes a twist on how audiences see the medieval time period as something that can apply to today's generation.

(Any clips or pictures in this blog are solely for the purpose of education, and are from youtube, anyclips, and fanpop (pictures and clips), along with wordpress.com (pictures). I do not own any of these pictures or clips.