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CRITICAL ANALYSIS

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Critical Analysis

Michaela King

Red Rocks Community College

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

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Critical Analysis

This paper evaluates the use mythic symbolism, myth usage, myth imitation or

adaptation, and particular reference to myths in the film, Conan the Barbarian. The film bases on

the life of a young boy who is born during the war, and how he seeks to avenge the death of his

father as well as the burning down of his village.

As the film starts, Cimmeria, the village where Conan was born, is under attack. He is

taken on the battlefield, and his mother sacrifices her life for him. As later, told by Conan’s

soldier friend, instead of feeding on breast milk Conan first tasted the blood of his mother. The

blood stands for the hardship that Conan will face later on. At birth, his mother is cut with her

sword by his father for his delivery. His mother’s death symbolizes her as a mythic hero. He

grows without maternal affection, and this shows his manly stature (XMovies, 2011).

The narrator of the film, Morgan Freeman, states that in the ancient times the kings wore

a mask on their head, which summoned the power of the evils. At war, the mask was destroyed,

and each of the barbarian tribes kept a piece so that no man should ever rule using its power and

create chaos in the world. The scattering of the pieces showed that the different tribes wanted to

coexist in a peaceful universe (Das, 2015).

At the beginning of the film, the viewers see Conan and his father moulding a sword. The

sword, later displayed by his father holding it high above his head symbolizes manhood or

masculinity or sexuality. In the development process, his father explains to him that both ice and

fire are critical in the forging of a sword. The two elements are mythical symbols of what a

warrior should possess. Later, when Conan and his father are out in the snow practising, His

father announces to him that he was not ready for the sword, and to stop him, he cuts a piece of

ice on the ground. The ice makes Conan fall down, and the viewers can probably guess that