Remaking the Middle Ages--New from McFarland

Here's another recent book from McFarland. My apologies for not posting on it sooner. (I'm usually the most current when it comes to movie medievalism, and I'm not sure when it first appeared in their online catalog, as it is not linked to their "Medieval Studies" list.) Its author, Andrew Elliott, was a presenter at our medieval TV panels in 2007 and does interesting work on filmic and televisual medievalisms, and, besides the book, he also has an essay on medieval themes in the Monk television series in the collection Monk and Philosophy (Open Court, 2010) and reviewed Martha Driver and Sid Ray's collection Shakespeare and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Performance and Adaptation of the Plays with Medieval Sources or Settings for the next number of Arthuriana. In addition, Elliott has an essay on Asterix and the Vikings in Kevin J. Harty's forthcoming collection  Reel Vikings: Cinematic Depictions of Medieval Scandinavia.

Michael



Remaking the Middle Ages: The Methods of Cinema and History in Portraying the Medieval World
Andrew B.R. Elliott

ISBN 978-0-7864-4624-7
glossary, notes, bibliography, filmography, index
286pp. softcover 2011
Price: $38.00

Description

Proposing a fresh theoretical approach to the study of cinematic portrayals of the Middle Ages, this book uses both semiotics and historiography to demonstrate how contemporary filmmakers have attempted to recreate the past in a way that, while largely imagined, is also logical, meaningful, and as truthful as possible. Carrying out this critical approach, the author analyzes a wide range of films depicting the Middle Ages, arguing that most of these films either reflect the past through a series of visual signs (a concept he has called "iconic recreation") or by comparing the past to a modern equivalent (called "paradigmatic representation").


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix
Preface      1

PART I : PROBLEMS
1. History, Historiography and Film      9
2. “One Big Medieval Mess”: Accessing the Middle Ages      35

PART II : PEOPLE
3. When Knights Were Bold: Those Who Fight      53
4. The Power and the Glory: Those Who Rule      83
5. Clergy and Saints: Those Who Pray      113
6. …Everybody Not Sitting on a Cushion: Those Who Work      146

PART III : WORLDS
7. Constructing Medieval Worlds: Conventions, Inventions and Images      177
8. Guides to the Medieval Worlds      192
9. Authenticity and Accuracy in Medieval Worlds      206

Glossary      223
Notes      229
Bibliography      257
Filmography      269
Index      273

About the Author
Andrew B.R. Elliott is a senior lecturer in media and cultural studies at the University of Lincoln in the UK. He has published articles and essays on a wide range of topics and is a contributor to a television documentary on the "real" King Arthur.