Documentary Analysis: The Dark Ages

Cue fighting with fire in the background with a deep dark voice booming “after the fall of ancient Rome” and you get the opening seconds of the History Channel’s documentary the Dark Ages. This documentary focuses on Europe during the time frame of 500-1000 CE after the decentralization of the western half of the Roman Empire. The documentary portrays the early Middle Ages as very dark and somber. This is contrary to the readings and lectures with the portrayal of the events, but similar with the Catholic Church, in order to St. Benedict and Charlemagne. The documentary is different from the lecture as it portrays this time period as dark and gloomy while in lecture the time period contained lots of miracles and growing of the church. According to historians, the real “dark ages” happened in ancient Greece during 1100-750 BCE when there wasn’t any writings or artifacts left behind (“Marriage of Monks and Barbarians”). While there was some killing during this time period, in lecture
The documentary and lecture are similar in how the empire was split between him and his brother and then his brother turned up dead. Charlemagne is referred to as “one of the most illuminating figure of the dark ages” (Dark Ages). The documentary aligned with the lecture when it talked about how Charlemagne would convert Pagans to Christianity, was the spearhead for education and amassed a huge empire (“Marriage of Monk and Barbarians”). While the History Channel’s documentary the Dark Ages really captured the essence of a time being dark, it faulted in picking a time in history that was actually dark. The Early Middle Ages was a time of development in Europe. The documentary depicts the Early Middle Ages as this time full of terror and darkness. Which is contrary to the readings and lectures with how the time period wasn’t “dark”, but similar with the portrayal of the Catholic Church, in order to St. Benedict and