Thursday, April 16, 2009

Forthcoming book: Queer Movie Medievalisms


Queer Movie Medievalisms
Edited by Kathleen Coyne Kelly, Northeastern University, USA and Tison Pugh, University of Central Florida, USA

Imprint: Ashgate
Series : Queer Interventions
Illustrations: Includes 3 figures
Published: July 2009
Format: 234 x 156 mm
Extent: 258 pages
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 978-0-7546-7592-1
Price : $99.95 » Online: $89.96
BL Reference: 791.4'36358207-dc22
LoC Control No: 2009003421

How is history even possible, since it involves recapturing a past already lost? It is through this urge to understand, feel and experience, that films based on medieval history are made. They attempt to re-create the past, but can only do so through a queer re-visioning that inevitably replicates modernity. In these mediations between past and present, history becomes misty, and so, too, do constructions of gender and sexuality leading to the impossibility of heterosexuality, or of any sexuality, predicated upon cinematic medievalism. Queer Movie Medievalisms is the first book of its kind to grapple with the ways in which mediations between past and present, as registered on the silver screen, queerly undercut assumptions about sexuality throughout time. It will be of great interest to scholars of Gender and Sexuality, Cultural and Media Studies, Film Studies and Medieval History.

Contents:
Introduction: queer history, cinematic medievalism, and the impossibility of sexuality, Kathleen Coyne Kelly and Tison Pugh
The law of the daughter: queer family politics in Bertrand Tavernier's La Passion Béatrice, Lisa Manter
Queering the Lionheart: Richard I in The Lion in Winter on stage and screen, R. Barton Palmer
'He's not a ardent suitor, is he, brother?': Richard the Lionheart's ambiguous sexuality in Cecil B. DeMille's 1935 The Crusades, Lorraine Kochanske Stock
'In the company of orcs': Peter Jackson's queer Tolkein, Jane Chance
The Eastern Western: camp as a response to cultural failure in The Conqueror, Anna Klosowska
'In my own idiom': social critique, campy gender, and queer performance in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Susan Aronstein
Performance, camp, and queering history in Luc Besson's Jeanne d'Arc, Susan Hayward
Sean Connery's star persona and the queer Middle Ages, Tison Pugh
Will Rogers' pink spot: A Connecticut Yankee, Kathleen Coyne Kelly
Danny Kaye and the 'fairy tale' of queerness in The Court Jester, Martha Bayless
Mourning and sexual difference in Hans-Jürgen Syberbergs's Parsifal, Michelle Bolduc
Superficial medievalism and the queer futures of film, Cary Howie
Afterword, Glenn Burger and Steven F. Kruger
Index

About the Editor: Kathleen Coyne Kelly is Professor of English at Northeastern University, USA
Tison Pugh is Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Florida, USA

Reviews:
'Through readings of films familiar and obscure, foreign and domestic, recent and classic, Queer Movie Medievalisms challenges us to think deeply about how heterosexuality works and how it inevitably fails, about how a film offers not just multiple points of audience identification but multiple cohabitating times. A superb collection of essays, with an especially provocative afterword by Glenn Burger and Steve Kruger. I commend Tison Pugh and Kathleen Coyne Kelly for producing so valuable and timely a volume.'
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, George Washington University, USA

'Queer Movie Medievalisms stands alone in the intense and far-ranging (pink) spotlight it deploys to examine cinematic encounters with the so-called "Dark Ages." Combining impeccable scholarship and enthusiastic engagement, the essays in this volume consider how "the medieval" becomes a destabilizing queer space for a range of American and European stars and films.'
Alex Doty, Indiana University, USA

Source: Ashgate website; WorldCat

Forthcoming book: Cinematic illuminations : The Middle Ages on film

I meant to post this earlier. The book is due out in December in time for MLA:

Finke, Laurie, and Martin B. Shichtman. Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages on Film. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

Contents:
Theory and methods of cinematic medievalism. Traverse the fantasy: screening the Middle Ages -- Signs of the medieval -- Celluloid history -- The politics of cinematic medievalism. Mirror of princes: representations of political authority in medieval films -- Politics of hagiography: Joan of Arc on the screen -- Hagiography of politics: mourning in America -- The Crusades: war of the cross or God's own bloodbath -- Cinematic medievalism and the anxieties of modernity -- Looking awry at the grail: mourning becomes modernity -- Rape and disease as figures for social anomie -- Forever young: the teen Middle Ages.

Source: WorldCat. (Thanks to Marty for confirming the publication date).

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Resources for Teaching the Middle Ages (RTMA): New issue of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (aka SMART)

The latest volume (15 for 2008) of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (aka SMART) is now available for order. Contents are as follows:

Spring 2008 (Volume 15, Issue 1)
TEACHING THE MIDDLE AGES AT SMALL COLLEGES (guest edited by William Hodapp)
WILIAM F. HODAPP Introduction
BRENT A PITTS Jump-Starting a Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at a Small Comprehensive College
RICK MCDONALD Enthusiasm and A'muse'ment: Making Students Crazy for Medieval Classes
DOMINIQUE BATTLES and PAUL BATTLES Building a Better Introduction to a Medieval English Literature Course
MICKEY SWEENEY Generating Enthusiasm: Performing Chaucer in the Small Liberal Arts College Classroom
ANDREA SCHUTZ No Tidal Bore at All: Teaching The Seafarer to Maritimers
JOHN D. COTTS Was Bernard of Clairvaux a Republican? The Middle Ages and the Liberal Liberal Arts College
WILLIAM F. HODAPP and TODD WHITE From Scriptorium to Press: The Book as Focus in a Small College Medieval and Renaissance Studies Seminar
***************************
SHANNON GAYK Teaching Chaucer's Legacy
ALEXANDER L. KAUFMAN Teaching Medieval Outlaws
***************************
DAVID J. DUNCAN Book Review: Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923, by Caroline Finkel
ANNETTE LEZOTTE Book Review: Saints in Medieval Manuscripts, by Greg Buzwell
KATHRYN L. REYERSON Book Review: Housing the Stranger in the Mediterranean World--Lodging, Trade, and Travel in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, by Olivia Remie Constable
SISTER MARY CLEMENTE DAVLIN, OP Book Review: A Guidebook to Piers Plowman, by Anna Baldwin
RICHARD L. HARRIS Book Review: Einarr Skulason's "Geisli": A Critical Edition, edited by Martin Chase


Fall 2008 (Volume 15, Issue 2)
PEDAGOGY OF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (guest edited by K. Aaron Smith and Susan M. Kim)
K. AARON SMITH and SUSAN M. KIM Introduction
HARUKO MOMMA Prefatory Remarks by the Roundtable Organizer: How the Project Began and Where It Might Go from Here
MICHAEL MATTO Standard English and Standards of English: Where HEL Meets Composition Studies
ROBERT STANTON Reaching High School Teachers and Students in the HEL Classroom
EDWIN DUNCAN Reaching Out: The Web as a Learning Tool
ROBERT D. STEVICK Seasoned Suggestions for Teaching the History of English
MOIRA FITZGIBBONS Using Gullah as a Focal Point in an HEL Course
K. AARON SMITH and SUSAN M. KIM Fighting in Public: Approaches to Team Teaching HEL and Bridging English Studies
***********************
MAIRI COWAN Teaching the English Reformation to History Students Through the Music of Thomas Tallis
MARCIA SMITH MARZEC Reading the Cross: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching The Dream of the Rood
ERIN MULLALLY The New Girl in School: Teaching Judith in a Survey Course
***********************
ANNA DRONZEK Book Review: Necessary Conjunctions: The Social Self in Medieval England, by David Gary Shaw
JAY RUUD Book Review: Chaucer and the City, edited by Ardis Butterfield
SIAN ECHARD Book Review: Print Culture and the Medieval Author--Chaucer, Lydgate, and Their Books 1473-1557, by Alexandra Gillespie
C. DAVID BENSON Book Review: Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: A Casebook, edited by Lee Patterson
SANDY FEINSTEIN Book Review: Horse and Man in Early Modern England, by Peter Edwards

SMART publishes articles related to teaching medieval and early modern topics at the high school and undergraduate level. Most issues include some discussion of using popular culture in the classroom. The journal is published twice a year. Individual subscriptions are $20, and single issues are $10. Further details and complete contents of all volumes can be found at their web site, where they also offer back issues of another journal, now defunct, called Teaching the Middle Ages (aka TMA).

Friday, April 10, 2009

GMTV: Arthurian Twilight Zone on Chiller today and tomorrow

My apologies for not having caught this sooner; there are no further medieval-related programs this month. (Of note, The Twilight Zone episode "Once and Future King," despite its promising title is about Elvis, not King Arthur.)

Chiller, a sibling network to The SciFi Channel, aired "The Last Defender of Camelot" (1986) earlier today. It will repeat early tomorrow morning. The episode is part of The Twilight Zone revival series of the 1980s and is available on DVD. The story is based on a 1979 short story by Roger Zelazny and features Merlin, Lancelot, and Morgan le Fay in a futuristic setting. There is a detailed summary of the television adaptation on TV.com.


FRIDAY, 10 April
7:30 AM THE TWILIGHT ZONE THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT
6:30 PM THE TWILIGHT ZONE THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT

SATURDAY, 11 April
5:30 AM THE TWILIGHT ZONE THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT


All times EST; source: Chiller Schedule.

GMTV: Medieval film/TV offerings on the SciFi Channel (April 2009)

The following air the remainder of this month on The SciFi Channel:

Saturday, 11 April
09:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MOVIE THOR: HAMMER OF THE GODS
(see previous blog entry)

Sunday, 12 April
01:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MOVIE THOR: HAMMER OF THE GODS
11:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MOVIE DRAGON SWORD
(a retelling of the St George legend; on DVD; see Wikipedia)
01:00 PM MOVIE MERLIN'S APPRENTICE - PART ONE
03:00 PM MOVIE MERLIN'S APPRENTICE - PART TWO
(sequel to NBC miniseries from 1998; on DVD; see Wikipedia)

Monday, 13 April
06:00 PM STARGATE SG-1 (SEASON 10) THE QUEST - PT 1
(SG-1 continues their search for the Sangraal and meet Merlin in the flesh; on DVD; see Stargate Wiki)

Tuesday, 14 April
12:00 PM MOVIE ARABIAN NIGHTS - PART ONE
02:00 PM MOVIE ARABIAN NIGHTS - PART TWO
(originally aired on ABC in 2000; on DVD; see Wikipedia)
06:00 PM STARGATE SG-1 (SEASON 10) THE QUEST - PT 2
(more Merlin stuff; see Stargate Wiki)

Wednesday, 15 April
10:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES TRIANGLE, THE - PART 1
12:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES TRIANGLE, THE - PART 2
02:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES TRIANGLE, THE - PART 3
(with Christopher Columbus; on DVD; see Wikipedia)

Thursday, 16 April
12:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES DARK KINGDOM: THE DRAGON KING - PART ONE
02:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES DARK KINGDOM: THE DRAGON KING - PART TWO
(based on the Nibelungenlied; on DVD; see Wikipedia)
06:00 PM STARGATE SG-1 (SEASON 10) THE SHROUD
(more Merlin stuff; see Stargate Wiki)

Friday, 17 April
08:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES LEGEND OF EARTHSEA - PART 1
10:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES LEGEND OF EARTHSEA - PART 2
(based on Ursula K. Le Guinn's series; on DVD; see Wikipedia)

Sunday, 19 April
09:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT ONE
11:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT ONE
(see previous blog)

Monday, 20 April
07:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT ONE 09:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT TWO 11:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT TWO
(see Sunday night)

Tuesday, 21 April
07:00 PM SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES KNIGHTS OF BLOODSTEEL - NIGHT TWO
(see Sunday night)

Thusday, 23 April
06:00 PM STARGATE SG-1 (SEASON 10) DOMINION
(details on the Sangraal, continued in DVD film Stargate: The Ark of Truth; on DVD; see Stargate Wiki)

Friday, 24 April
08:00 AM MOVIE MERLIN - PART ONE
10:00 AM MOVIE MERLIN - PART TWO
(NBC miniseries from 1998; see Wikipedia)
12:00 PM MOVIE MERLIN'S APPRENTICE - PART ONE
02:00 PM MOVIE MERLIN'S APPRENTICE - PART TWO
(sequel to above; also airs earlier in the month)

Saturday, 25 April
11:00 AM SCI FI ORIGINAL MOVIE GRENDEL
(retelling of Beowulf; see Wikipedia)
01:00 PM MOVIE BEOWULF (1999)
(science fictional retelling of Beowulf; on DVD; see Wikipedia)



Source: SciFi.com On Air Schedule

GMTV: Coming soon--Knights of the Bloodsteel (2009)



The SciFi Channel will air a two-part miniseries from director Philip Spink and RHI Entertainment called Knights of the Bloodsteel, originally titled Dragons of Black Rock, on Sunday, 19 April and Monday, 20 April 2009 at 9 PM EST and repeating at 11 PM EST. Both parts air on Monday, 20 April from 7-11 PM EST, opposite SciFi's sibling network's own genre programming, Chuck and Heroes.

The series is set in medieval-like secondary world, like Middle-earth or Alagaësia.

The following information is included on SciFi.com's page for the series:

On the island continent of Mirabilis, in a faraway time, the most coveted element is bloodsteel, a sorcery grade ore that imparts potent magical abilities to anyone who is able to draw it from the earth. The desire for untold wealth and power has drawn much of Mirabilis' vast and disparate populace-humans, elves, dwarves and goblins-to the old port mining town of Black Roc Keep. It has also enticed the evil Dragon Eye (Mark Gibbon) and his ruthless cadre of Brood soldiers, who'll stop at nothing to possess the ore for the purpose of total world domination. Enlisted to save Mirabilis from this lethal insurgency is the venerable sorcerer elf Tesselink (Christopher Lloyd), who has been given a vital directive by the Oracle of the land. He must find the legendary magical Crucible, which is the source of bloodsteel.

To execute this perilous quest, Tesselink gathers an unlikely band of freedom fighters: two humans, Serragoth (David James Elliott), the sworn enemy of the Brood, and Adric (Christopher Jacot), a charming con-man; the imposing goblin Ber-Lak (Dru Viergever); and lastly, the beautiful and fearless warrior elf, Perfidia (Natassia Malthe). Together, this motley, but supremely talented, Knights of Bloodsteel, embark on their dangerous mission. They must fight against the Brood - the dreaded assassins and soldiers of Dragon Eye who are led by the deadly goblin Azenhawke (Gardiner Millar) and his ruthless lieutenant Swope (Peter Bryant). And if that is not enough, Dragon Eye has also unleashed lethal dragons and other horrendous creatures to find the source of the bloodsteel and to obliterate anything that stands in his way.

The future of Mirabilis is in the hands of four brave knights and their courage is tested in ways they could never have imagined.

Knights of Bloodsteel is produced by Reunion Pictures (Lisa Richardson, Matthew O'Connor, Tom Rowe) with RHI Entertainment, (Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr.) distributing the project internationally. Emmy-nominated Sam Egan (Sanctuary, Jeremiah, The Outer Limits) wrote the script.

Similar information (and a still) was posted on SCI FI Wire on 25 February 2009, which notes that the series was originally to air on consecutuve Mondays. There is also the following information, slightly more detailed than that at SciFi.com, at RHI Entertainment's website, which also has a trailer for the film and additional stills:

A magnificent world of human and mythical creatures. A precious ore that makes true magic possible. A band of freedom fighters enlisted to find a legendary Crucible. An evil emerging more powerful than anyone dared to fear. Lethal dragons haunting the skies. A fantasy epic like no other is about to begin

In the mystical land of Mirabilis, in a faraway time, the most coveted element is bloodsteel, a sorcery grade ore that imparts potent magical abilities to anyone who is able to draw it from the earth. The desire for untold wealth and power has drawn much of Mirabilis vast and disparate populace humans, elves, dwarves and goblins to the old port mining town of Black Roc Keep. It has also enticed the evil Dragon-Eye (Mark Gibbon, The Chronicles of Riddick) and his ruthless Brood soldiers, who ll stop at nothing to possess the ore for the purpose of total world domination. Enlisted to save Mirabilis from this lethal insurgency is the venerable sorcerer elf Tesselink (Emmy winner Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future), who has been given a vital directive by the Oracle of the land (Julian Christopher, Smallville). He must find the legendary magical Crucible which is the source of Bloodsteel.

To execute this perilous quest, Tesselink gathers an unlikely band of freedom fighters: two humans, Sarragoth (David James Elliott, JAG), the sworn enemy of the Brood, and Adric (Christopher Jacot, Eureka), a charming con-man; the goblin Ber-Lak (Dru Viergever, Covert One: The Hades Factor); and lastly, the beautiful and fearless warrior elf, Perfidia (Natassia Malthe, Elektra) . Together, this motley, but supremely talented, Order of the Bloodsteel Knights, embark on their dangerous mission. Dragon-Eye has unleashed lethal dragons and other horrendous creatures to find the source of the bloodsteel and to obliterate anything that stands in his way. The extraordinary adventures of the Order have begun.

A marvel of imagination that creates an awe-inspiring new mythology, Knights of Bloodsteel is a grand new sword-and-sorcery adventure for the ages.

I append below a copy of the trailer posted on Youtube.com.

GMTV: Thor: Hammer of the Gods (2009)


According to The SciFi Channel's online schedule, the telefilm Thor: Hammer of the Gods (a.k.a Hammer of the Gods) will premiere tomorrow night (11 April 2009) as part of "SciFi Saturday: The Most Dangerous Night of Television" at 9 PM EST. There is practically nothing online about the plot of the film. The entry on TV Guide.com states "A Viking wages war against supernatural foes," while SciFi.com offers a little more details: "When an army of Vikings clashes with a pack of werewolves, a young warrior becomes a legendary hero." The most extensive description of the film, an online posting from 9 January 2008 from MovieWeb.com, is over a year out of date and offers the following information:

Daz Crawford Goes Into Battle with the Hammer of the Gods!Daz Crawford has come aboard the Sci Fi Channel original film Hammer of the Gods. According to Variety, the film was originally intended for theatrical release.

The epic saga focuses on a Viking boy, Modi, who is cursed to never touch a weapon lest he lose his soul. Modi is a frustrated Viking, angry with the world and the Gods themselves. His quest against the Gods forces him into hand-to-hand battles with giants, trolls, demons and even beautiful Valkyries.

The film is currently shooting in Bulgaria.

The only post at Variety.com about the film is dated 9 January 2008; it does not include any information about the plot but does note Crawford has joining the cast. In addition, the cast list on The Internet Movie Database does not include anyone named Modi. Instead, we have Thor, Baldur, Ulfrich, Hodur, Sif, Heimdall, Freyja, Aegir, and Vali; most of these are the names of gods from Norse mythology.

The film is directed by Todor Chapkanov, who has worked on a number of films for the network, and is written by Rafael Jordan, another veteran of The SciFi Channel, from a screenplay by Steve Bevilacqua. Zachary Bryan, perhaps best known as one of Tim Allen's sons on the Home Improvement sitcom, stars as Thor. Other notable members are the cast include Mac Brandt, from Prison Break, as Baldur; and Mellisa Leigh, from Runaway Stars, is Freyja; and, of course, Crawford, Diesel on the original American Gladiators, is the mysterious Ulfrich. The remainder have appeared in numerous productions for the network.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Updated CFP: Medieval TV Collection (proposals by 7/15/09)

ESSAYS ARE STILL BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE FOLLOWING:

GETTING MEDIEVAL ON TV: TELEVISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MEDIEVAL THEMES FROM ROAR TO THE TUDORS
ORGANIZED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF POPULAR CULTURE AND THE MIDDLE AGES
PROPOSALS BY 7/15/09

Television, like feature films, has a long history of representing medieval themes, yet, unlike film, these televisual medievalisms remain largely unexplored by medievalists. The intent of this collection is to expand knowledge of these ephemeral examples of the medieval, and we invite proposals that explore the corpus from the late antiquity of FOX-TV’s Roar to the late Middle Ages of Showcase’s The Tudors. We are especially interested in discussions of productions created outside of North America.

Please submit proposals by 15 July 2009; we anticipate that completed papers will be due by December 2009/January 2010. By 15 July 2009, please submit full contact information (name, address, phone/cell, and email), titles, c.v., and abstracts of 300-500 words to the organizers. Address all inquiries and proposals to the organizers at the following address:

Michael A. Torregrossa
Co-founder, The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
34 2nd Street Smithfield, RI 02917-3627
Popular.Culture.and.the.Middle.Ages-at-gmail-dot-com

http://PopularCultureandtheMiddleAges.blogspot.com
http://PopularCultureandtheMiddleAges.org

Updated CFP: Beowulf on Film/TV/Electronic Games Collection (proposals by 12/15/09)

ESSAYS ARE STILL BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE FOLLOWING:

REEL WORLDS OF BEOWULF: REPRESENTATIONS OF BEOWULFIANA ON ELECTRONIC MULTIMEDIA
ORGANIZED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF POPULAR CULTURE AND THE MIDDLE AGES
PROPOSALS BY 12/15/09

The Beowulf story has a long (though neglected) history on film and television, beginning with a broadcast in the 1960s on the BBC’s Jackanory. For this collection, we are interested in expanding knowledge about these filmic retellings and adaptations of Beowulf. We would be especially delighted to consider discussions of material in video and computer games and of productions created outside of North America. Please submit proposals by 15 December 2009; we anticipate that completed papers will be due by 1 May 2010.

By 15 December 2009, please submit full contact information (name, address, phone/cell, and email), titles, c.v., and abstracts of 300-500 words to the organizers. Address all inquiries and proposals to the organizers at the following address:

Michael A. Torregrossa
Co-founder, The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
34 2nd Street Smithfield, RI 02917-3627
Popular.Culture.and.the.Middle.Ages-at-gmail-dot-com

http://PopularCultureandtheMiddleAges.blogspot.com http://PopularCultureandtheMiddleAges.org

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Call for papers now online for the International Congress on Medievalism

Studies in Medievalism, which has updated its website, has recently posted its call for papers for the 2009 International Congress on Medievalism to be held at Sienna College, Loudonville, NY, from 8-11 October 2009. Details are available online at the conference website. The theme for this year's conference is "Medievalism and Religion."


Medievalism Sessions/Papers at 2009 Popular/American Culture Associations Meeting (New Oreleans 4/8-11/09)

MEDIEVALISM-THEMED SESSIONS AND/OR PANELS
2009 JOINT CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL POPULAR CULTURE AND AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATIONS
NEW ORLEANS MARRIOTT, NEW ORLEANS, LA
8-11 APRIL 2009

The annual meetings of PCA and ACA offer a number of opportunities to explore the medieval in popular culture. Most sessions on medievalism are sponsored by the Arthurian Legends and Medieval Popular Culture areas, but other areas (as noted below) also continue to offer an additional assortment. In addition, the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages usually sponsors a session on the general topic of "The Comics Get Medieval" (hosted originally by the Arthurian Legends Area but now moved to the Medieval Popular Culture Area since its revival under the current area chait, Kate Laity), but this year, as in some past years, we did not have enough proposals to warrant an entire session.

I have noted below all sessions/panels with genuine medievalism-related content as well as those that seem to relate or address aspects of the Gothic that might be of interest to medievalists.

The complete program (405 pp) and registration information can be found online at the PCA/ACA website. This listing is based on the online version posted on 3 April 2009, which is (or was) scheduled for at least one more update on 7 April 2009.


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Regent (4th Floor): 1010 Mythology in Contemporary Culture I: Men and Mythology: Thieves, Tricksters, and (of course) Beer
Chair: Kate Rittenhouse, Pacifica Graduate Institute
PAPER 1 OF 4: From Green Shores to Green Beers: The Mythstory of Ireland‘s Saint Patrick
Kevin Michael Visconti, University of Miami



WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
La Galerie 5 (2nd Floor): 1029 Film Adaptation I: Canonical Classics in Film Adaptation
Chair: Andrew MacDonald, Loyola University
PAPER 2 OF 3: 'Gently to hear, kindly to judge…': Olivier and Branaugh's Chorus in Henry V
Anthony LaPorte, University of South Florida


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
La Galerie 6 (2nd Floor): 1035 Shakespeare on Film and Television I: Backstory and Settings in Macbeth, Hamlet, and Henry V
Chair: Roberta N. Rude, University of South Dakota
No Hamlet, Two Hamlet: The Shakespearian Tragedy Directed By Carmel Bene and Celestino Coronado.
Armando Rotondi, University of Strathclyde
Diachronic Design in Olivier‘s Henry V
Howard Schmitt, University of Southern California
Backstory in Some Recent Film Versions of Shakespeare's Plays
Richard Vela, University of North Carolina-Pembroke


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
Balcony L (4th Floor): 1049 Science Fiction & Fantasy II: Technological Tensions With and Among Humanity and the Natural World
Chair: Keith Dorwick, University of Louisiana, Lafayette
PAPER 3 OF 4: 'Reclaiming' Middle-Earth: Tolkien's Illustrations for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Susana Brower, University of California, Riverside



WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 1053 Medieval Popular Culture I: Medieval Movies
Chair: K. A. Laity, College of Saint Rose
The Hero‘s Hard Body and Monstrous Sex: Sons and Lovers, or Re-visioning Heroic Masculinity in Zemeckis' Beowulf
Jennifer Ash, Loyola University Chicago
'Perhaps you lust for what you cannot have': Excalibur and the Quest for Neopagan Authenticity
Peg Aloi, Emerson College
The Virgin Spring: The Timeless World of Humanity
Catherine Dumas, College of Saint Rose
Nationalism in Popular Medievalism: Beowulf, Prince of Geats
R. Scott Nokes, Troy University


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Balcony K (4th Floor): 1056 The Vampire in Literature, Culture, & Film II: Male, Female and Bad Girl Vampires
Chair: Melissa Anyiwo, Curry College
The Evolution of the Male Vampire in Literature and Film
Megan Martin, University of Louisiana-Monroe
The Mythic and Potential Genetic Origins of the Female Vampire Warrior in Film
Marc Porter, West Virginia State University
Bad Girls: Selene and the Redeeming of the Female Vampire in the Underworld Series
Melissa Anyiwo


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
La Galerie 6 (2nd Floor): 1068 Shakespeare on Film and Television II: Post-modern and Gender Issues in The Tempest, As You Like It, Othello and Macbeth
Chair: Roberta N. Rude, University of South Dakota
PAPER 1 OF 5 (?): Coppola, Mazursky and the 18 Year Gap
Peter Babiak, York University
PAPER 3 OF 5: 'Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play': The Representation of Olivier and Branagh's Chorus in HENRY V
Anthony LaPorte, University of South Florida
PAPER 4 0F 5 (?): The Adaptive Journey to Meaning.
Meenakshi Bharat, University of Delhi


WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Balcony L (4th Floor); 1085 Science Fiction & Fantasy III: Video and Role-Playing Games
Chair: Sarah Lynne Bowman, University of Texas, Dallas
PAPER 3 OF 3: The Evolution of the Character Concept in Fantasy Role-playing Games
Sarah Lynne Bowman






THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 2002 Arthurian Legends I: In the Margins
Chair: James Noble, University of New Brunswick
Lancelot‘s Ecocriticism: The Healing Power of Nature in Arthurian Legend
Randall S. Frederick, Northwestern State University
A Suited Knight: The Quest of Eli Stone
Christina Francis, Bloomsburg University
The Paracinematic Uses of the Arthurian Legend
Samuel J. Umland, University of Nebraska at Kearney
The Sword in the Stone in Fringe Arthuriana
Carl Pyrdum, Yale University


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
Iberville (4th Floor): 2017 American Literature II: Influences of Early to 19th Century American Literature
Chair: Sue Richardson, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
PAPER 3 OF 3: Emerson and the Gothic Mode
Jason Richards, Rhodes College


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
La Galerie 4 (2nd Floor): 2024 Game Studies III: Gaming Communities
Chair: Kelly Bergstrom, University of Calgary
PAPER 2 OF 3 (?): Quixote‘s Ludic Hero-Quest as a Precursor to G4M3R S7UDI3S
Jimmy Butts, Winthrop University


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
La Galerie 6 (2nd Floor): 2037 Theatre & Drama II: The Dark Side
Chair: Kayla Wiggins, Martin Methodist College
PAPER 2 OF 3: Macbeth[noir]
Dennis Rendleman, University of Illinois, Springfield



THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
La Galerie 2 (2nd Floor): 2047 Radio I: Golden Age of Radio: Orson Welles, Radio Noir, & This American Life
Chair: Frank Chorba, Washburn University
PAPER 3 OF 4 (?): Inmate Performance of Hamlet & a Warrior Queen: Outgroup Radio Narratives from 'This American Life' Subvert Ingroup Definitions of Cultural Normality
Jessica Savalla, California State University, San Marcos


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 2052 Arthurian Legends II: The King on Stage and Screen
Chair: Jeremy Adams, Southern Methodist University
Translating Spamalot: From Broadway to the West End
Susan Aronstein, University of Wyoming and Laurie Finke, Kenyon College
Reinventing an Iconic Arthurian Moment: The Sword in the Stone in Films and Television
Lorraine K. Stock, University of Houston
Remediating Arthur
Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan University
The Best Arthurian Cartoon You‘ve Never Seen: Hugh Harman‘s Unfinished 'King Arthur's Knights ' (c. 1941)
Michael Salda, University of Southern Mississippi


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
La Galerie 6 (2nd Floor): 2067 Film VII: The Politics of International Cinema: Kurosawa's Rashomon, Italian "Peplum," & Almodovar's Volver
Chair: Marco O. Íñiguez-Alba, Texas A&M University, Kingsville
PAPER 1 OF 4: Rashomon in Context
Bill Cook, Columbus State Community College



THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 2092 Arthurian Legends III: Arthur in Contemporary Culture
Chair: Elizabeth S. Sklar, Wayne State University and Donald L. Hoffman
Round Table Tactics: Arthurian Strategies and Contemporary Corporations
Bonnie Wheeler, Southern Methodist University
Runescape, or Athena meets the Lady of the Lake: Arthurian Legend in the Electronic Era
Rebecca Umland, University of Nebraska at Kearney
When it‘s the end of the world as we know it: Arthur at the Apocalypse
Ann F. Howey, Brock University
King Arthur Goes to Parliament: Quixotic Arthurian Figures in Contemporary Political Culture
Christine Neufeld, Eastern Michigan University


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
La Galerie 4 (2nd Floor): 2099 Game Studies IV: Structures and Identities
Chair: Angela Winand, University of Illinois-Springfield
PAPER 1 OF 4 (?): Doin' the (Post-Modern) Dance: Representations of Race and Gender in the Dances of World of Warcraft
Regina McMenomy, Washington State University
PAPER 2 OF 4 (?): Scantily Clad and Well Proportioned: Sexism and Gender Stereotyping in the Gaming Worlds of TSR and Dungeons & Dragons
Chris Danielson, Benedict College
PAPER 3 OF 4 (?): Farmer, Why Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways: Subject/Object Politics within World of Warcraft
Douglas Schules, University of Iowa



THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
Bacchus (4th Floor): 2150 Mystery & Detective Fiction V: Literary Borrowings
Chair: John V. Halbrooks, University of South Alabama
PAPER 4 OF 4: P.D. James Reads Beowulf
John Halbrooks


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
Balcony L (4th Floor): 2157 Science Fiction & Fantasy IX: What It Means to Be Human
Chair: Bonnie Jo Noonan, Xavier University
PAPER 1 OF 3: The Virgin, the Swine, and the Author: Evangeline Walton‘s Fantastic Mabinogion
Kristin Noone, University of California, Riverside



THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 2186 Medieval Popular Culture II: Transforming the Medieval
Chair: Constance Wagner, Saint Peter's College
Impure Songs: Music and Morality in Early Medieval Christianity and Islam
Lisa Nielson, University of Maine, Orono
Beowulf and the (Sequential) Art of War
David W. Marshall, California State University
Putting the Grail Back in Grrl Power: How a Girl Saved Camelot (without even getting medieval on anyone‘s ass) and Why It Matters
Katherine Allocco, Western Connecticut State University
Arresting Strangeness: Fantasy Fulfilled in The Lord of the Rings Onstage
Constance Wagner


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Galvez (5th Floor): 2187 Festivals & Faires I: Where There are No Footlights: Participants as Performers
Chair: Kimberly Tony Korol-Evans, University of Arizona
PAPER 3 OF 4: That‘s Ren-tertainment: Role-playing, Renaissance Festivals, and American Nostalgia for an Idealized English Past
Audrey Becker, Marygrove College



THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:30-10:00 PM
Regent (4th Floor): 2201 Gothic in Literature, Film, & Culture I: Televised Versions
Chair: Michelle Kay Hansen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
My ugly came out‘: True Crime TV and Suburban Gothic
Judith Broome, William Paterson University
The Rage of Willow: Witchcraft Fantasy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lisa Vetere, Monmouth University
Saving Grace: The Glimmer of Redemption in the American Gothic
Michelle Kay Hansen


THURSDAY, 9 APRIL: 8:30-10:00 PM
Bacchus (4th Floor): 2227 Eros, Pornography & Popular Culture II: Eros and Porn on the Fringe
Chair: Ken Muir, Appalachian State University
PAPER 2 OF 3: History and Misogyny: 'For Her Pleasure': The Tudors, The Other Boleyn Girl, and the Paradox of Women's Pornography
Melissa Jones, Eastern Michigan University






FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 3012 Arthurian Legends IV: Refiguring Arthurian Personae
Chair: Jo Goyne, Southern Methodist University
Quest of the Eternal Adolescent: The Percival of Chrétien de Troyes and Jim Hunter
Jane Minogue, California State University, Northridge
Percival Munn's Grail Quest: Robert Penn Warren and Arthurian Literature
Leverett Butts, Georgia Military College
'Tis Folly to be Wise': Merlin and Vivian in E.A. Robinson's Merlin
Thomas Hoberg, Northeastern Illinois University
Bearing the Royal Seed: The Body of Mordred‘s Mother in Feminist Fiction
Amy S. Kaufman, Wesleyan College


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
Regent (4th Floor): 3014 Gothic in Literature, Film, & Culture II: Contemporary Stylings
Chair: Richard Keitel, Point Park University
The Gothic Subtext in Housseini's The Kite Runner
Rehana Whatley, Oakwood University
Deathdream's Hybrid Horror: The Soldier as Vampire and Living Dead
Joyce Thomas, Castleton State College
Conservative Gothicism: The Effect of Creolization
James Callahan, Northwestern State University
Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein: The Musical
Richard Keitel


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 8:00-9:30 AM
Balcony J (4th Floor): 3032 Literature & Science II: Scintersections
Chair: Zachary Umstead, University of Northern Iowa
PAPER 3 OF 3: Nineteenth Century Up-to-date with a Vengeance: Fin-de-siècle Science and Mysticism in Dracula
Zachary Umstead



FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 3045 Arthurian Legends V: The Once and Present King (Special Undergraduate Session)
Chair: Richard Scott Nokes, Troy University
The Magician: The Journey of Merlin from his Childhood in The Lost Years of Merlin to his Mature Character in The Once and Future King
Eric Anderson, Troy University
King Arthur for the Millennial Audience: Faith in Antonio Fuqua and Chretien de Troyes
Erin Warde, Troy University
Reversing the Polarity: Arthurian Science and Politics in Doctor Who
Joel Norman, Troy University
'She look'd down to Camelot': The Lady of Shallot, Elaine of Ascolat, and Lorena McKennitt
Jessica Williams, Troy University
Tristan and Isolde: From the Nineteenth Century through the Twenty-First Century
Rebecca Jordan, Troy University


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Balcony K (4th Floor): 3067 The Vampire in Literature, Culture, & Film—Buffy II: Fear and Loving in BTVS
Chair: Jennifer M. Santos, Virginia Military Institute
PAPER 3 OF 3: Gender Re-gendered: How Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revitalizes Gothic
Jennifer Santos



FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Balcony N (4th Floor)
3078 Animation I: Animation and Gender
Chair: Amy Davis, University of Ulster, Coleraine
PAPER 3 OF 3: On Wooden Boys and Assistant Pig-Keepers: Depictions of Boyhood in Disney Feature Animation
Amy Davis


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Regent (4th Floor)
3086 Gothic in Literature, Film, & Culture III: British Variations
Chair: Mary Goodwin, National Taiwan Normal University
Sending Religion to the Devil: The Inquisition in the Gothic Novel of the Romantic Era
Laura Kremmel, Lehigh University
Stranger Fiction: The Asian Ghost Tales of Rudyard Kipling and Lafcadio Hearn
Mary Goodwin


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 3102 Medieval Popular Culture III: Appropriating the Medieval
Chair: Laurel LaCroix, Houston Community College Southwest
Re-generating the Fisher King through Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry Books
Christine M. Havens, University of Northern Iowa
From the Medieval Black Plague to 1980s Technological Terror: Alterity, Vision, and Faith in THE NAVIGATOR
Robert J. Blanch, Northeastern University
Reality Cites: Why TRISTAN + ISOLDE Imitates Art Rather Than Life
Marc Guidry, Stephen F. Austin State University
A Gest of Robyn Hode.com: How Fan Fiction and Youtube Videos Based on the Current BBC ROBIN HOOD Carry on the Ballad Tradition
Leah Larson, Our Lady of the Lake University



FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Preservation Hall Studio 9: 3170B Visual & Verbal Culture III: Cinema
Chair: Carol Samson, University of Denver
PAPER 3 OF 4 (?): Pop Shakespeare: Representations of William Shakespeare in Popular Culture
Rebecca Gorman, Metropolitan State College of Denver


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Bacchus (4th Floor): 3175 Popular American Authors III:
Chair: Michael Alleman, Louisiana State University, Eunice
PAPER 1 OF 4: Befriending Botticelli: The Life and Art of the Italian Renaissance Painter in Anne Rice's Blood and Gold
Deborah Cibelli, Nicholls State University



FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Preservation Hall Studio 1 (2nd Floor): 3176 Adaptation (Film, TV, Lit., & Electronic Gaming) VII: Shakespeare, Xenophon, and Palahniuk
Chair: Phillip Block, University of South Dakota
PAPER 1 OF 3: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Hamlet Two: Bringing Shakespeare to a Whole New Audience in a Whole New Way
Margaret Mishoe, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
PAPER 2 OF 3: The Queering of Our Discontent: My Kingdom for a… Queen in Richard III
Stephen Tompkins, Montgomery County Community College


FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Balcony J (4th Floor): 3194 Stephen King V: Ghosts, Gunslingers, and God?
Chair: Patrick McAleer, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
PAPER 2 0F 3: From the Dark Tower to the Dark Tower: Cyclical Narrative in Stephen King's Dark Tower and Robert Browning‘s 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'
Evdokia Valiou, University of Delaware




FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 6:30-8:00 PM
Regent (4th Floor): 3230 Film XXII: Shifting Cinematic Representations of Women: A Celluloid
Century of Social Evolution
Chair: Ashley York, University of Arizona
Susana, Viridiana, & Tristana: Patriarchal Submission to Desire in Three Films by
Bunuel
Camilo Gomides, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus



FRIDAY, 10 APRIL: 8:30-10:00 PM
Mardi Gras F (3rd Floor): 3238 The Vampire in Literature, Culture, & Film—Buffy Roundtable
Discussion 2: Science and Sorcery in BTVS
Chair: Tiffany Knoell, Bowling Green State University
This roundtable will discuss the elements, uses, and nature of science and sorcery in BTVS.
Derek Sweet, Luther College
Tiffany Knoell






SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Bonaparte (4th Floor): 4042 Festivals & Faires V: All Across America: Celebrations in the City and the Country
Chair: Colleen Reilly, Yale University
PAPER 4 OF 4: The Power of Parsifal: Urban Spaces and Festivalized Places
Colleen Reilly, Yale University


SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Napoleon Suite (41st Floor): 4047 Film & History X: Larger than Life: The Real and Imagined Lives of Historic Figures
Chair: A. Bowdoin Van Riper, Southern Polytechnic State University
PAPER 2 OF 3: Blanchett and the Bandit Queen: Shekhar Kapur's Representations of Female Authority
Grant Moss, Utah Valley University
PAPER 3 OF 3: The Noblest Roman: Rewriting History in Antoine Fuqua's KING ARTHUR (2004)
A. Bowdoin Van Riper


SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 10:00-11:30 AM
Balcony L (4th Floor): 4053 Science Fiction & Fantasy XXII: A SF/F Potpourri: Lord of the Rings and (Dis)Embodiment
Chair: Anne Savage, McMaster University
PAPER 1 OF 3: What a Bitch: The Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
Mali Stanforth, Northeast Lakeview College




SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Regent (4th Floor): 4060 Gothic in Literature, Film, & Culture IV: American Iterations
Chair: Louis H. Palmer, III, Castleton State College
Across the Boundaries: Liminality and Haunted Space in Richard Matheson's A Stir of Echoes
Rebecca Janicker, University of Nottingham
'The Repository of Secrets': Villains and Tricksters in The Bondwoman‘s Narrative
Jeffrey Pusch, University of Southern Mississippi
The Miltonic Satan in Poe‘s 'The Cask of Amontillado'
Laura Reeder, University of Northern Iowa
Gothic Masculinity: A Regional Genealogy
Louis Palmer


SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 12:30-2:00 PM
Preservation Hall Studio 6 (2nd Floor)
4083 Visual Culture IX: Visual Culture and Narrativity
Chair: Royce W. Smith, Wichita State University
PAPER 5 OF 5 (?): Icons of Irishness: Contemporary 'Celtic' Imagery in Jewelry, Body Art, and Souvenirs
Maggie Williams, William Paterson University



SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 2:30-4:00 PM
La Galerie 4 (2nd Floor): 4096 Game Studies IX: Processing/Performing Identity
Chair: Gerald Voorhees, Highpoint University
PAPER 3 OF 4 (?): Baptism by Firing Squad: Crusades, Conversion, and Coercion in Left Behind: Eternal Forces Strategy Gaming
Deborah Wills, Mount Allison University



SATURDAY, 11 APRIL: 4:30-6:00 PM
Balcony J (4th Floor): 4135 Literature & Science VI: Sci-ontology
Chair: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
PAPER 3 OF 3: Lions and Hobbits and Science: Oh My! Using J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in the Science Classroom
Kristine Larsen


Mission statement and history

This blog has been live since February, and I just realized that I never posted our mission statement.

What follows is a slightly revised version of what was originally posted to our homepage, which is in limbo at present. The bulk of the text has not been revised since early 2008 and does not reference any of the excellent studies on medievalism that have appeared in the past year and a half.



INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIETY AND ITS MISSION

Encompassing the period of human history from approximately 400 to 1500 AD (roughly from Augustine of Hippo to Martin Luther), the Middle Ages can appear to the unenlightened to be part of the distant past with little or no relevance to our contemporary concerns, especially in countries, like the United States, that never experienced the period. In truth, the medieval, represented, as Heather Arden explains, through the “survival, revival, or re-creation” of some aspect of the Middle Ages, continues to have an enormous impact on our lives (consider the power of the Crusading rhetoric with relation to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East).[1] These medievalisms (a term we adapt from Leslie J. Workman’s work on medievalism to refer to post-medieval reflections on the Middle Ages and/or on the medieval in general) are important features of post-medieval culture, and, of Arden’s three categories, re-creation of the medieval remains especially prevalent in our post-medieval world, although our conception of the medieval is extremely mutable.[2] Film scholar, A. Keith Kelly captures some of this variety, when he writes:

The Middle Ages succeeds in being many things for a modern audience: a mythic world where archetypal individuals or even archetypal cultures can take believable form, a realm where spirituality and even magic can be accepted without question, a time of uncomplicated heroism, of visceral violence, of injustice, of moral rigor and of depraved fanaticism.[3]


Thus, we find the medieval and medieval themes proliferating in works of popular entertainment (such as comics, digital and video games, films, music and musical theater, mysteries, novels, poetry, television programming, and various works of fantasy and science fiction), while our imaginative worlds are also deeply indebted to the medieval motifs (e.g. the questing knight, the damsel in distress, and the wise wizard) that provide the basis for many of the mythic stories that feature in these various media. Similarly, for many the medieval has become the site of nostalgia for a better time; the Matter of Britain, in particular, has for over a millennium inspired individuals with its promise of a Golden Age where Arthur, the fabled rex quondam rexque futurus, will return to save them from their troubled times, be these crises caused by royal politics (as in the reigns of Henry II, Henry VII, or James I), warfare (such as the American Civil War and World War Two), or national occasions of mourning (as when presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were assassinated). Further spreading interest in the medieval, courses in Medieval Studies are mainstays in colleges and universities worldwide, and re-enactment groups proliferate internationally. These pursuits, engaged by professional and recreational scholars devoted to the re-creation of medieval matter, simultaneously merge serious attempts to study the survivals of the medieval world with efforts to revive aspects--be it its language, culture, cuisine, or modes of combat--of it. Professional critics (be they scholars or, in earlier eras, antiquarians) have long been interested in literature based on medieval subjects, and the twentieth century also saw the birth of the field of medieval cinema studies. This discipline blossomed in the latter third of the century and continues to expand into the new millennium, where filmic representations of the medieval, such as A Knight’s Tale (2001), King Arthur (2004), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Beowulf & Grendel (2005), and the Science Fiction Channel’s Grendel (2007), have inspired much debate about the disparity between the “reel Middle Ages” of Hollywood and the realities of medieval history and literature. Released earlier in the decade, the success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) has led to a renaissance in Tolkien studies at all levels and prompted countless students to take their first classes in medieval literature or history in order to discover more about the era that so fascinated J. R. R. Tolkien and his twenty-first century adapters. Currently in the spotlight, the appearance of Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf (2007), a computer-animated retelling of the Old English epic, bodes well for both studies of the cinematic Middle Ages as well as the future of Anglo-Saxon Studies, while the release of the BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-) and Merlin (2008-), both live-action series, and Shrek the Third (2007), another computer-animated film, this one featuring Justin Timberlake as the future King Arthur, promises to introduce a new generation to the medieval legends of Sherwood Forest and Camelot.


The vitality of medieval matter, despite the passage of time, lends credence to Umberto Eco’s comment, “it seems that people like the Middle Ages.”[4] Further validating Eco’s remark, enthusiasts of the Middle Ages have long been fascinated by medievalisms, like those mentioned above. However, to date, there have been relatively few studies that explore how the medieval has been incorporated into popular culture, especially with regards to medieval themes in modern texts of popular music, fiction, and film; television programming; children’s toys; the comics medium; role-playing and computer/video/digital digital games. Some treatment of this material has appeared in the sibling journals Studies in Medievalism and The Year’s Work in Medievalism--both founded by Leslie J. Workman--and their European counterpart Mittelalter-Rezeption, and a number of studies, reference works, and other collections have appeared in recent decades--most recently David W. Marshall’s Mass Market Medieval: Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture (McFarland, 2007)--that do much to remedy this lack of scholarship, with students of Arthurian Studies being most active in this endeavor (a sample bibliography appears elsewhere on this site as “Making Medieval Studies Matter”). In an attempt to further such research, the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages (PCMA) was co-founded in the fall of 2004 by Carl James Grindley and Michael A. Torregrossa. In its present incarnation, PCMA merges and incorporates the various web sites and discussion lists formerly sponsored by the Society for Arthurian Popular Culture Studies, which was formally founded by Torregrossa in March 2003 to foster research on Arthurian popular culture from all periods in which representations of the Arthurian legend appear, though the genesis of this society’s mission originated in 2000.


In addition to supporting work on more traditional aspects of the medieval in popular culture (and in the popular culture of the Middle Ages itself), PCMA is especially interested in the encouragement and promotion of scholarship that deals with topics traditionally seen as being “low brow” (especially subjects like television programming, popular music, juvenile literature, the comics medium, and gaming) and attempts to bring such studies into the mainstream, for as Clare Simmons has remarked, “Medievalism and medieval studies need no longer represent an opposition,” since “medieval studies cannot, at least in hindsight, be entirely free of Medievalism,” a field of study that Nadia Margolis has described as “a new transdisciplinary realm of cultural studies”.[5] Through our collective experience, we recognize that the study of popular culture is an important component of the modern academic world and provides a ready point of access for teachers, students, and enthusiasts to communicate the magic of the medieval world, as Lynn Bartholome explains: “Popular culture perpetually promotes discussion, participation, imagination, and evaluation,” because, “When a professor includes popular culture in the curriculum, it authenticates the culture that students already value. Utilizing it constructively produces an environment where students are involved, motivated, and willing to become engaged because they are already ‘experts’”.[6] Michael D. Meyer applies this approach to Medieval Studies and explains:

The history of the Middle Ages is, to a great extent, unknown in modern times, but its legends and images persist and form part of popular culture. The teacher must utilize popular culture and capitalize on it to enrich modern culture and to illuminate the medieval past. A comparison of themes found in the primary sources with themes found in popular culture introduces students to the tools and process of history, the function of legend, and the purpose of popular culture.[7]


Lee Ann Tobin makes a similar observation, when she notes,

our students now have a different background than students did twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. I believe that students today come to college with as much information as their predecessors, but it is information of a different sort. Rather than reading for entertainment and studying history and religion in fact-based ways, students have encountered process-oriented education and have spent much of their free time watching television and seeing movies. Rather than lamenting this situation, we need to take advantage of it by recognizing the value of popular medievalism as a base on which to build a stronger understanding of the medieval period and its literature.[8]


Guided by like sentiments, it is the intent of the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages to bring medievalists and popular culture specialists into contact, with the ultimate goal to make Medieval Studies a richer field for investigation.


Michael A. Torregrossa
April 2009



Endnotes:

[1] Heather Arden, “Editorial II,” in Medievalism in France, ed. Heather Arden, Studies in Medievalism, 2.2 (Akron: Ohio: Department of English, University of Akron for Studies in Medievalism, 1983), p. 5 [5-8].


[2] The definition is adapted from that provided by Workman in a 1993 essay “Medievalism and Romanticism,” were he declares, “In short, medievalism implies any aspect of the postmedieval response to the Middle Ages” (“Medievalism and Romanticism,” Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies (Tokyo) 39-40 (1993): 15 [1-44]). As the founder of both Studies in Medievalism and The Year’s Work in Medievalism (originally Year’s Work in Medievalism), Workman had many occasions to define medievalism in its forms as both an object of study (medievalisms, we propose) and field for academic work (Medievalism, we posit to further reflect the distinction). This quotation seems to represent his final thoughts on describing medievalisms and has been adopted, with some expansion, by the editors of Studies in Medievalism (though they do not distinguish between the two types of medievalism, as I have done), as attested by former editor T. A. Shippey’s statement on the journal’s website:

Medievalism is the study of responses to the Middle Ages at all periods since a sense of the mediaeval began to develop. Such responses include, but are not restricted to, the activities of scholars, historians and philologists in rediscovering medieval materials; the ways in which such materials were and are used by political groups intent on self-definition or self-legitimation; and artistic creations, whether literary, visual or musical, based on whatever has been or is thought to have been recovered from the medieval centuries” (“About,” Studies in Medievalism, <http://www.medievalism.net/about.html>, 16 August 2008).


[3] A. Keith Kelly, “Beyond Historical Accuracy: A Post Modern View of Movies and Medievalism,” Perspicuitas: Internet-Periodicum für Mediävistische Sprach-, Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft, web posted 6 February 2004, available at <http://www.perspicuitas.uni-essen.de/medievalism/articles/Kelly_BeyondHistoricalAccuracy.pdf>, p. 16 [19 pp.].


[4] Umberto Eco, "Dreaming of the Middle Ages," in Travels in Hyperreality, trans. William Weaver (San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1986), p. 61.


[5] Clare Simmons, “Introduction,” Prose Studies 23.2 (Aug. 2000): 12 [1-28]; rpt. in Medievalism and the Quest for the “Real” Middle Ages, ed. Clare Simmons (Portland, Or.: Frank Cass, 2001); Nadia Margolis, “Joan of Arc: Maneuverable Medievalism, Flexible Feminism,” Medieval Feminist Newsletter 22 (Fall 1996): 21 [21-25]. Simmons’s reflections on the relationship between Medieval Studies and medievalism are further developed by Stephanie Trigg, who remarks,

In terms of disciplinary positioning, [academic work on] medievalism can be seen as a subset, or an offshoot, of medieval studies; or alternatively, as an anomalous, secondary kind of field, with little more than thematic concerns to hold together its diverse subject matter across six or more centuries in a range of European and non-European contexts.

She later ventures the statement: “medieval studies (seen as the philological and scholarly reconstruction of the past), is necessarily a sub-branch of medievalism” (Rev. of James Gallant, ed., The Year’s Work in Medievalism: 1995, The Year’s Work in Medievalism 10 (for 1999) (Holland, Mich.: Studies in Medievalism, 2000), Prolepsis: The Tübingen Review of English Studies (posted 9 Nov. 2001) available at <http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/nes/prolepsis/01_06_tri.html>; and Prolepsis: The Heidelberg Review of English Studies (posted 9 Nov. 2001) available at ). Workman himself was more cautious about the interrelationship between the two disciplines and states,

What I think will happen is that medievalism will adopt more of the attitude if historicism and that medieval studies will adopt more of the approach and procedure of medievalism. I think medieval studies and medievalism are moving closer and will continue to do so, though not to the point of becoming one and the same thing (qtd. in Richard Utz, “Speaking of Medievalism: An Interview with Leslie J. Workman,” in Medievalism in the Modern World: Essays in Honour of Leslie J. Workman, ed. Richard Utz and Tom Shippey, Making the Middle Ages, 1, series eds. Geraldine Barnes and Margaret Clunies Ross (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), p. 444.


[6] Lynn Bartholome, “Guest Editorial: Is Community College Teaching the Road to Nowhere?,” The Journal of Popular Culture 39.1 (2006): 9, 7 [5-9].


[7] Michael D. Myers, “Teaching Medieval History Through Legend and Film,” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 5.2 (Fall 1997): 75 [65-76].


[8] Lee Ann Tobin, “Contemporary Medievalism as a Teaching Tool,” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 1.2 (Fall 1990): 19 [13-19].