How to make a movie out of a national epic (and how you should rather not do that)

Example 1 (the version that is pretty good):

"Dark Kingdom - The Dragon King" (2006): This movie was directed by the German director Uli Edel and features both American and German actors. It incorporates elements of the Middle High German epic and the different Nordic legends. What is particularly interesting about this movie is that Siegfried and Brunhild are in love. Only with the help of a magic potion can Kriemhild trick him into falling in love with her. When Siegfried is killed, Brunhild is so desperate that she commits suicide upon his grave. What is particularly entertaining to me, is the choice of actors in that movie. The strong Brunhild is played by the same actress (Kristanna Loken) who also plays a cyborg in one of the Terminator movies. She also has these superhuman powers. Another funny fact is that Twilight-star Robert Pattinson plays Giselher, Kriemhild's younger brother in this movie. However, nobody knows that. If that became known, this fairly unsuccessful movie would become an instant success, even six years after its initial release.

Example 2 (the version mankind could have lived without):

"Siegfried" (2005): This is the trailer for the 2005 comedy "Siegfried" directed by Sven Unterwaldt. It features a bunch of German comedians such as Tom Gerhardt and Janine Kunze. It has been received poorly by critics due to the fact that the humor is just vulgar. It currently has an imdb rating of 3.7. So not just the critics consider this movie a failure but also the audience was very disappointed by the movie.

And here are some reasons why:

• Siegfried is a clumsy moron 
• Siegfried's companion throughout the movie is a talking pig (interesting connection to the Odyssey maybe?) 
• Kriemhild is a loud and annoying shrew 
• the movie bacially starts out with baby Siegfried throwing up (and the movie stays on that level of humor) 
• Gunther is portrayed as a gay king that is constantly playing tennis with his toyboy 

The plot differs considerably from the epic which is not necessarily a bad thing. The names have remained the same but major events have been omitted or changed e.g. Siegfried doesn't die in this movie (I apologize for spoiling the ending). The whole movie is just a farce on the same niveau as for instance "Date Movie" or something else nobody should never have to watch.

"The Ring of the Nibelung" by Richard Wagner:

This is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner. They are called "The Rhine Gold", "The Valkyrie", "Siegfried", and "Twilight of the Gods". The title "The Ring of the Nibelung" refers to the dwarf Alberich's ring. Wagner's whole interpretation of the epic is epic in itself. The story follows gods and heroes fighting over the magic ring of Alberich because it grants power over the entire world. It took him twenty six years to complete this work and it takes about SIXTEEN hours to perform the whole opera. A HUNDRED musicians are needed to perform the opera. Wagner clearly created something gigantic. His music is timeless and beautiful.

It is interesting that Wagner incorporates legends from the "Poetic Edda" and the "Volsunga Saga". Therefore, Brunhild and Siegfried love each other here and they even have a child. Perhaps the most famous part of the opera is "The Ride of the Valkyrie" which marks Brunhilds entrance. It sounds very heroic and dramatic and it tells about the Valkyries who come to pick up the fallen warriors to bring them to Walhalla. Today the excerpt is (mis)used in countless movies often in battle scenes. Moreover, Wagner's whole opera is still performed annually at the Bayreuth Festival which is supervised by descendants of the composer.

However, Richard Wagner has become quite a controversial figure since he was Adolf Hitler's favorite composer and he himself was an antisemite. The Nazis glorified his operas for they were considered "national music" and glorified Germanic heroism. Winifred Wagner, Richard's daughter-in-law even was a close friend of Hitler and the involvement with the Nazi-regime has cast a dark shadow on the Bayreuth Festival and Wagner's music itself ever since. Yet, one should not overlook the beauty of his artwork because of his personal life and the history behind his family.

The Valkyries are approaching

The Ride of the Valkyries

Today "The Ride of the Valkyries can be found in numerous movies and TV shows.


Apokalyse Now (1975)

Kill The Wabbit (1957)

Dragon Slayers (or "Why there are no more dragons in Europe")

Dragons play a prominent role in medieval literature. Siegfried is not the only one who has to overcome a beast like that. Tristan also has to slay a dragon in order to help out the Irish king. Slaying dragons, therefore, seems to be one of the basic skills that a Germanic hero has to have. In contrast to Sigfried, however, Tristan doesn't bathe in the dragon's blood, which -quite frankly- is disgusting, but he cuts out its tongue in order to prove his heroic deed.

To cut a long story short, this is why there are no dragons in Europe today. They have all been slain by some "heroes" who had to prove their masculinity by murdering an innocent creature living in the woods. Seriously, the dragons only hurt people when they try to steal the treasures they protect or when they come too close to them. So I guess if they had just left them alone, everything would have been fine. No need to kill those poor things.

Another example for a dragon in Germanic mythology is Níðhöggr who is the one that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil, the World tree. Okay, I have to admit that this is kind of a bad dragon since he is basically destroying the world. But he looks cute (see picture below).There is also the giant sea serpent which surrounds Midgard, the world of mortal men. And there is another kind of dragons which are called lindworms. The Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren, who also wrote Pippi Longstockings, mentions such a dangerous lindworm in "The Brothers Lionheart".

Siegfried and Fafnir

Níðhöggr

Linguistics

a) Names in "Das Nibelungenlied"

Siegfried
der Sieg n. =  victory in German
der Frieden n. = peace in German

Sieglind
der Sieg n. =see above
lindern v. = to ease, alleviate
lind adj. = mhg. soft, tender
but: die Linde n. =linden tree (the leave of a linden tree is responsible for Siegfried's vulnerability)

Siegmund
der Sieg n. = see above
der Mund n. = mouth

What is really interesting about the names of especially Siegfried's family is that his mother and his father as well have the German word for victory in their name. This word connects them as a family.

b) Die Nibelungentreue

This is a German noun that is used to express unconditional loyalty which is potentially fatal. When Kriemhild asks her brothers to give her Hagen who she blames for Siegfried's death, the kings refuse to do so because they have to remain faithful to Hagen because of the medieval honor code. This leads to their downfall. The expression "Nibelungentreue" has been in use since the early 20th century. It also was propagated by the Nazis since they demanded unconditional loyalty from their soldiers. Once again, the epic had been misused by them which is why the expression has a particularly negative connotation nowadays.