Medieval Studies at the Movies

Medieval Film Now in Paperback

2012-02-28T23:47:00.001-05:00

Published late last year in a new paperback edition (though the publisher's web site mysteriously only lists the hardcover):

Medieval Film

Edited by Anke Bernau and Bettina Bildhauer
Pb. ISBN 978-0719086472
$24.95

This book examines why and how cinematic representations of the Middle Ages remain a popular, mainstream phenomenon.

Instead of taking the usual approach of focusing on the issue of historical accuracy, this collection explores wider theoretical questions about the ideological, artistic, emotional and financial investments inhering in cinematic renditions of the medieval period. What does it mean to create and watch a ‘medieval film’? What is a medieval film and why are they successful? This is the first work that attempts to answer these questions, drawing, for instance, on film theory, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and the growing body of work on medievalism. Contributors investigate British, German, Italian, Australian, French, Swedish and American film, exploring topics such translation, temporality, film noir, framing and period film – and find the medieval lurking in unexpected corners. In addition it provides in-depth studies of individual films from different countries; these range from The Birth of a Nation to Nosferatu, from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves to Kingdom of Heaven. This interdisciplinary collection should become essential reading for all those interested in cinema’s complex relationship to history.

*Medieval film* will be of part interest to medievalists working in a range of disciplines including literature, history, art history; to scholars working on medievalism; as well as to scholars working on film and in cultural studies. This book will also be of interest to undergraduates at all levels, as well as to postgraduates and to an informed lay enthusiast in film or/and medieval culture.

Contents
List of figures
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
The a-chronology of medieval film (Bettina Bildhauer and Anke Bernau)
1. Cinematic authenticity-effects and medieval art: a paradox (Sarah Salih)
2. Forward into the past: film as a medieval medium (Bettina Bildhauer)
3. A time of translation: linguistic difference and cinematic medievalism (Carol O’Sullivan)
4. ‘Poison to the infant, but tonic to the man’: timing The Birth of a Nation (Anke Bernau)
5. The medieval imaginary in Italian films (Marcia Landy)
6. Towards a theory of medieval film music (Alison Tara Walker)
7. Border skirmishes: weaving around the Bayeux Tapestry and cinema in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves and El Cid (Richard Burt)
8. Medieval noir: anatomy of a metaphor (John Ganim)
9. ‘Medievalism’, the period film and the British past in contemporary cinema (Andrew Higson)
Further reading

Dr Anke Bernau is Lecturer in Medieval Literature and Culture at the University of Manchester. Dr Bettina Bildhauer is Lecturer in German at the University of St. Andrews.

SyFy February 2012

2012-02-22T00:32:00.001-05:00

This month on SyFy. Note that Season 4 of Merlin continues this month.

FRI, 3 FEB
05:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: Arthur's Mantle
10:00 PM
Merlin: His Father's Son

SAT., 4 FEB
12:00 AM
Merlin: His Father's Son
6:30 pm
Movie: Outlander
11:30 PM
Movie: Outlander

MON., 6 FEB
04:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: Crusade

TUES., 7 FEB
02:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: Camelot

THURS., 9 FEB
02:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: Morpheus
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Witchville
05:00 PM
Stargate SG-1: The Pegasus Project

FRI., 10 FEB
10:00 PM
Merlin: A Servant Of Two Masters

SAT., 11 FEB
12:00 AM
Merlin: A Servant Of Two Masters

TUES., 14 FEB
08:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Grendel (Wikipedia)

FRI., 17 FEB
03:30 AM
Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 1
04:30 AM
Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 2
10:00 PM
Merlin: The Secret Sharer [Intriguing episode.]

SAT., 18 FEB
12:00 AM
Merlin: The Secret Sharer

MON., 20 FEB
09:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Dynasty [Marco Polo and dragons!]

[I think I missed the film Gryphon (see Wikipedia).]

FRI., 24 FEB
01:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Rise Of The Gargoyles
10:00 PM
Merlin: Lamia

SAT., 25 FEB
12:00 AM
Merlin: Lamia
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Reign Of The Gargoyles
09:00 AM
Movie: Enchanted [the Disney film]
11:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest (watch on Hulu)
01:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Rock Monster
05:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Red: Werewolf Hunter
07:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Black Forest
09:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Gretl: Witch Hunter
11:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Black Forest

SUN., 26 FEB
01:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Gretl: Witch Hunter
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Sword [St. George]

Chiller February 2012

2012-02-22T00:18:00.001-05:00

Another late set of belated posts. Here are the all-Arthurian listings for Chiller this month:

WEDNES., 8 FEB
09:00 A ET
Supernatural Science: King Arthur (on YouTube)

THURS. 9 FEB
12:30 P ET
The Twilight Zone (1985): The Last Defender Of Camelot (Wikipedia)

MON., 27 FEB
11:00 P ET
The Outer Limits: The Tipping Point (Wikipedia and watch on Hulu.com)

New and Recent from SMART

2012-01-22T00:12:00.000-05:00

I've lately been catching up on recent issues of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching, and the following essay are of interest:

Adams, Jenny. “Breaking theWaves: Margery Kempe Goes South.” Studiesin Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 18.1 (Spring 2011): 96-109. [Breakingthe Waves (1996)]

Cook, Alexandra. “ ‘Why Study theMiddle Ages?’ On Re-Imagining the Medieval Literature Survey.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching18.2 (Fall 2011): 117-30.

Stevenson, Barbara. “Representationof Saladin in the (New) Middle Ages.” Studiesin Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 18.2 (Fall 2011): 23-34. [Kingdom ofHeaven]

Syfy January 2012

2012-01-18T23:53:00.000-05:00

Late again. Note especially the return of Merlin this month.

TUES., 3 JAN
06:30 PM
Movie
Outlander

FRI., JAN. 6
(Merlin Season Three marathon)
08:00 AM
Merlin: The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 1
09:00 AM
Merlin: The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 2
10:00 AM
Merlin: Goblin's Gold
11:00 AM
Merlin: The Crystal Cave
12:00 PM
Merlin: The Changeling
01:00 PM
Merlin: The Castle Of Fyrien
02:00 PM
Merlin: The Eye Of The Phoenix
03:00 PM
Merlin: Love In The Time Of Dragons
04:00 PM
Merlin: Queen Of Hearts
05:00 PM
Merlin: The Sorcerer's Shadow
06:00 PM
Merlin: The Coming Of Arthur - Part 1
07:00 PM
Merlin: The Coming Of Arthur - Part 2

(Merlin Season Four Premiere)
10:00 PM
Merlin: The Darkest Hour - Part 1

SAT., 7 JAN.
12:00 AM
Merlin: The Darkest Hour - Part 1

SUN., 8 JAN
09:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Dark Relic

TUES., 10 JAN
02:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: Avalon - Pt 1

FRI., 13 JAN
10:00 PM
Merlin: The Darkest Hour - Part 2

SAT., 14 JAN.
12:00 AM
Merlin: The Darkest Hour - Part 2

THURS., 19 JAN.
09:00 PM
Movie: Constantine [Spear of Destiny]

FRI., 20 JAN.
02:00 PM
The Twilight Zone: The Bard

05:30 PM
Movie: Constantine

10:00 PM
Merlin: The Wicked Day

SAT., 21 JAN.
12:00 AM
Merlin: The Wicked Day

07:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Wyvern [ties into Norse myth]

SUN., 22 JAN.
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Rise Of The Gargoyles

TUES., 24 JAN.
09:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International: The Spirit Of Robin Hood

FRI., 27 JAN.
10:00 PM
Merlin: Aithusa

SAT., 28 JAN.
12:00 AM
Merlin: Aithusa

SUN., 29 JAN.
04:30 PM
Movie: Constantine

09:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

MON., 30 JAN.
01:30 PM
Movie: Constantine

06:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

Chiller Jan 2012

2012-01-18T23:34:00.001-05:00

Another belated posting, I'm afraid. Chiller listings of relevance are light this month:

MON., JAN 9
06:30 A ET
The Twilight Zone: The Last Defender Of Camelot
06:30 P ET
The Twilight Zone: The Last Defender Of Camelot

Trailer Jack the Giant Killer

2011-12-29T22:44:00.002-05:00

Coming next summer:

The Hobbit Trailer!

2011-12-29T22:14:00.001-05:00

Here's the first trailer for The Hobbit released just last week. The film is due out in December 2012.

Chiller December 2011

2011-12-11T22:54:00.001-05:00

And this month on Chiller:

THURS, 1 DEC
10:00 P ET
Movie: Vlad

FRI, 2 DEC
02:00 A ET
Movie: Vlad

SUN., 11 DEC
04:00 P ET
Movie Vlad

MON., 12 DEC
09:00 A ET
Forever Knight: Dark Knight
10:00 A ET
Forever Knight: Dark Knight: The Second Chapter
11:00 A ET
Forever Knight: For I Have Sinned
12:00 P ET
Forever Knight: Last Act
01:00 P ET
Forever Knight: Dance By The Light Of The Moon
02:00 P ET
Forever Knight: Dying To Know You
03:00 P ET
Forever Knight: False Witness

TUES., 20 DEC
02:00 P ET
Supernatural Science: King Arthur

SyFy December 2011

2011-12-11T22:52:00.001-05:00

Catching up:

Here are the relevant listings this month for SyFy.

FRI, 2 DEC
04:00 AM
Movie
7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The
08:30 AM
Movie: Merlin And The War Of The Dragons

SAT, 3 DEC
06:00 PM
Movie: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

SUN, 4 DEC
03:00 PM
Movie: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

MON., 5 DEC
08:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Book Of Beasts, The
10:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Fire And Ice
12:30 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Grendel
02:30 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
04:30 PM
Movie: Brothers Grimm, The

TUES., DEC 6
09:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Sword

WEDNES., DEC 7
11:00 AM
Ghost Hunters, Season 7: Knights Of The Living Dead

THURS., DEC 8
06:00 PM
Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

FRI., DEC 9
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Beauty And The Beasts: A Dark Tale

MON, 12 DEC
02:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
09:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Evolution

TUES, 13 DEC
12:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International
Hamlet's Castle: Denmark
07:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Evolution
09:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

WEDNES., 14 DEC
05:00 PM
Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

FRI., 16 DEC
03:00 AM
Movie: Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire

THURS., 22 DEC
02:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Rock Monster
04:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Ogre
06:00 PM
Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian
11:30 PM
Movie: Brothers Grimm, The

FRI., 23 DEC
12:00 PM
Movie: Brothers Grimm, The
02:30 PM
Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

SAT., 24 DEC
04:00 PM
Movie Marathon: Outlander

SUN., 25 DEC
11:00 PM
Merlin: The Eye Of The Phoenix

MON., 26 DEC
01:00 AM
Merlin: Queen Of Hearts
02:00 AM
Merlin: The Sorcerer's Shadow
03:00 AM
Merlin: The Coming Of Arthur - Part 1
04:00 AM
Merlin: The Coming Of Arthur - Part 2
08:00 AM
Movie: Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire

Coming Soon from Pixar: Brave

2011-12-11T22:35:00.001-05:00

I keep forgetting to post this:

Picturing Tolkien from McFarland

2011-11-28T01:11:00.001-05:00

Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy

Edited by Janice M. Bogstad and Philip E. Kaveny

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4636-0
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8473-7
3 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
309pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $35.00

About the Book
This group of new critical essays offers multidisciplinary analysis of director Peter Jackson’s spectacularly successful adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). Part One of the collection, "Techniques of Structure and Story," compares and contrasts the organizational principles of the books and films. Part Two, "Techniques of Character and Culture," focuses on the methods used to transform the characters and settings of Tolkien’s narrative into the personalities and places visualized on screen. Each of the sixteen essays includes extensive notes and a separate bibliography.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi
Preface by Janice M. Bogstad and Philip E. Kaveny 1
Introduction 5

I. Techniques of Story and Structure
Gollum Talks to Himself: Problems and Solutions in Peter Jackson’s Film Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings
KRISTIN THOMPSON 25
Sometimes One Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures
VERLYN FLIEGER 46
Two Kinds of Absence: Elision and Exclusion in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings
JOHN D. RATELIFF 54
Tolkien’s Resistance to Linearity: Narrating The Lord of the Rings in Fiction and Film
E.L. RISDEN 70
Filming Folklore: Adapting Fantasy for the Big Screen through Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings
DIMITRA FIMI 84
Making the Connection on Page and Screen in Tolkien’s and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings
YVETTE KISOR 102
“It’s Alive!”: Tolkien’s Monster on the Screen
SHARIN SCHROEDER 116
The Matériel of Middle- earth: Arms and Armor in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy
ROBERT C. WOOSNAM- SAVAGE 139

II. Techniques of Character and Culture
Into the West: Far Green Country or Shadow on the Waters?
JUDY ANN FORD and ROBIN ANNE REID 169
Frodo Lives but Gollum Redeems the Blood of Kings
PHILIP E. KAVENY 183
The Grey Pilgrim: Gandalf and the Challenges of Characterization in Middle- earth
BRIAN D. WALTER 194
Jackson’s Aragorn and the American Superhero Monomyth
JANET BRENNAN CROFT 216
Neither the Shadow nor the Twilight: The Love Story of Aragorn and Arwen in Literature and Film
RICHARD C. WEST 227
Concerning Horses: Establishing Cultural Settings from Tolkien to Jackson
JANICE M. BOGSTAD 238
The Rohirrim, the Anglo- Saxons, and the Problem of Appendix F : Ambiguity, Analogy and Reference in Tolkien’s Books and Jackson’s Films
MICHAEL D.C. DROUT 248
Filming the Numinous: The Fate of Lothlórien in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings
JOSEPH RICKE and CATHERINE BARNETT 264

About the Contributors 287
Index 291

About the Author
Janice M. Bogstad is a professor of women’s studies and English and is head of technical services at the McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Her written work has appeared in more than 60 reference books. University of Wisconsin-Madison Emeritus Philip E. Kaveny is an independent scholar, author, playwright, poet and lecturer. In 1976 he cofounded Madison’s Feminist Oriented Conference.

Chiller November 2011 Updated

2011-11-07T14:26:00.001-05:00

As of at least today, this month's listings for Chiller are now accessible. They are more complete than usual (including details on all, instead of only some, series), but there is sparse medieval content this month, as follows:

Mon., 14 Nov.
10:00 A ET

The Twilight Zone (1985): The Last Defender Of Camelot

Tues., 15 Nov.

09:00 A ET

Forever Knight: Dark Knight: The Second Chapter
10:00 A ET

Forever Knight: For I Have Sinned
11:00 A ET

Forever Knight: Last Act
12:00 P ET

Forever Knight: Dance By The Light Of The Moon
01:00 P ET

Forever Knight: Dying To Know You
02:00 P ET

Forever Knight: False Witness
03:00 P ET

Forever Knight: Cherry Blossoms

Wednes., 23 Nov.

12:00 P ET

Monsters: Sleeping Dragon

CFP Medieval Magic, Myths, and Legends in Film and Television

2011-11-05T01:33:00.001-04:00

I had hoped to put together something on Arthurian film but, due to scheduling conflicts, realized I could not attend (again), so I am grateful to see that another medievalist has stepped up to the plate:

CALL FOR PAPERS (download CFP)

“Medieval Magic, Myths, and Legends in Film and Television”

An area of multiple panels for the Film & History Conference on “Film and Myth”

September 26-30, 2012

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

www.filmandhistory.org

Deadline: June 1, 2012

The Middle Ages have inspired some of the most enduring myths and legends of Western
culture. Whether painted, on screen, in the bright colors of Camelot and The Adventures of Robin
Hood or the drab grays and browns of Robin and Marian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
they represent a world in which right and wrong, love and honor, heroism and villainy were
clearly defined. Tales of larger-than-life medieval characters – whether adapted from original
sources, or set in a wholly imagined middle ages – have been staples of film and television for
generations. These medieval-themed narratives, featuring historical figures like Joan of Arc,
beloved folk heroes such as Robin Hood, and worlds where dragons and other mythical beasts
roam the Earth, have retold and adapted familiar stories of adventure, conquest, magic, and
romance, while adding new ones to the ancient tradition.

This area, comprising multiple panels, will treat all aspects of the myth and legend in films and
television programs. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Arthurian Legends and Myths
Legendary Heroes Fictional and Factual (Robin Hood, Beowulf, Sigfried, William Wallace,
Alexander Nevsky, El Cid, etc.)
Legendary Saints and Sinners (Joan of Arc, St. Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Pope Joan, Abelard
and Heloise, etc.)
Norse Gods and Heroes (The Vikings, The Long Ships, Thor)
Dragons and Other Members of the Medieval Bestiary (Dragonslayer, Gargoyles, How to Train
Your Dragon)
The Imagined Middle Ages (Tolkein, Monty Python, Ladyhawke, The Name of the Rose, The
Princess Bride, The Seventh Seal)

Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also welcome, but they must
include an abstract and contact information, including an e-mail address, for each presenter.
Please e-mail your 200-word proposal by June 1, 2012:

L. Larson, Area Chair, 2012 Film & History Conference
“Medieval Magic, Myth, and Legend in Film and Television”
Our Lady of the Lake University
Email: llarson@ollusa.edu

SyFy Listings for November 2011

2011-11-02T21:15:00.002-04:00

A mixed bag this month on SyFY:

Tues., Nov 1
08:00 PM
Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

Wednes., Nov 2
03:00 AM
Movie: 7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The
10:00 AM
Movie: 7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The
04:00 PM
Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

Thurs., Nov 3
11:00 AM
The Twilight Zone: The Bard

Sat., Nov 5
09:00 PM
Movie: Outlander

Sun., Nov 6
04:00 PM
Movie: Outlander
11:30 PM
Movie: Highlander: The Source

Mon., 7 Nov.
01:00 PM
Movie: Highlander: The Source

Tues., 22 Nov.
08:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 1
09:00 AM
Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 2
11:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Grendel

Wednes., 23 Nov.
01:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Beauty And The Beasts: A Dark Tale

Mon., 28 Nov.
09:00 AM
Movie: Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire

Tues., 29 Nov.
02:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International: The Spirit Of Robin Hood

Chiller for November 2011

2011-11-01T21:56:00.000-04:00

There is problem at the moment in accessing this month's schedule of programming from Chiller. I will endeavor to post an update by the weekend.

Wagner and Cinema

2011-10-19T13:13:00.001-04:00

I found this in my draft posts from July. I'm not sure why it was not uploaded to the blog at that time.

Wagner and Cinema
Edited by Jeongwon Joe and Sander L. Gilman
Foreword by Tony Palmer
Interview with Bill Viola

Publication date: 2/2/2010
Format: paper 504 pages, 28 b&w illus., 35 musical exx.
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-253-22163-6
PAPERBACK $29.95

The work of Richard Wagner is a continuing source of artistic inspiration and ideological controversy in literature, philosophy, and music, as well as cinema. In Wagner and Cinema, a diverse group of established and emerging scholars examines Wagner's influence on cinema from the silent era to the present. The essays in this collection engage in a critical dialogue with existing studies—extending and renovating current theories related to the topic—and propose unexplored topics and new methodological perspectives. The contributors discuss films ranging from the 1913 biopic of Wagner to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, with essays on silent cinema, film scoring, Wagner in Hollywood, German cinema, and Wagner beyond the soundtrack.

Foreword by Tony Palmer

Introduction: Why Wagner and Cinema? Tolkien Was Wrong \ Jeongwon Joe

Part 1. Wagner and the Silent Film
1. Wagnerian Motives: Narrative Integration and the Development of Silent Film Accompaniment, 1908—1913 \ James Buhler
2. Underscoring Drama—Picturing Music \ Peter Franklin
3. The Life and Works of Richard Wagner (1913): Becce, Froelich, and Messter \ Paul Fryer
4. Listening for Wagner in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen \ Adeline Mueller

Part 2. Wagnerian Resonance in Film Scoring
5. The Resonances of Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth-Century Melodrama in the Film Scores of Max Steiner \ David Neumeyer
6. Wagner's Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood Film \ Eva Rieger
7. The Penumbra of Wagner's Ombra in Two Science Fiction Films from 1951: The Thing from Another World and The Day the Earth Stood Still \ William H. Rosar

Part 3. Wagner in Hollywood
8. "Soll ich lauschen?": Love-Death in Humoresque \ Marcia J. Citron
9. Hollywood's German Fantasy: Ridley Scott's Gladiator \ Marc A. Weiner
10. Reading Wagner in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) \ Neil Lerner
11. Piercing Wagner: The Ring in Golden Earrings \ Scott D. Paulin

Part 4. Wagner in German Cinema
12. Wagner as Leitmotif: The New German Cinema and Beyond \ Roger Hillman
13. The Power of Emotion: Wagner and Film \ Jeremy Tambling
14. Wagner in East Germany: Joachim Herz's Der fliegende Holländer (1964) \ Joy H. Calico

Part 5. Wagner beyond the Soundtrack
15. Nocturnal Wagner: The Cultural Survival of Tristan und Isolde in Hollywood \ Elisabeth Bronfen
16. Ludwig's Wagner and Visconti's Ludwig \ Giorgio Biancorosso
17. The Tristan Project: Time in Wagner and Viola \ Jeongwon Joe
18. "The Threshold of the Visible World": Wagner, Bill Viola, and Tristan \ Lawrence Kramer

Postlude: Looking for Richard: An Archival Search for Wagner \ Warren M. Sherk
Epilogue: Some Thoughts about Wagner and Cinema; Opera and Politics; Style and Reception \ Sander L. Gilman
Interview with Bill Viola \ Jeongwon Joe

Filmography \ Jeongwon Joe, Warren M. Sherk, and Scott D. Paulin
List of Contributors
Index

Jeongwon Joe is Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Cincinnati. She is editor of Between Opera and Cinema (with Rose Theresa) and has published articles on Milos Forman’s Amadeus, Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Gérard Corbiau’s Farinelli, and other works related to opera and film music.

Sander L. Gilman is Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences at Emory University. He is author of Fat: A Cultural History of Obesity; Multiculturalism and the Jews; Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery; Freud, Race, and Gender; and Jewish Self-Hatred: Anti-Semitism and the Hidden Language of the Jews.

Chiller for October

2011-10-19T13:04:00.001-04:00

More so than SyFy, medieval-themed listings on Chiller are virtually nonexistent this month. Here are the relevant programs from the October 2nd through 31st schedule.

THURS., 20 OCT
10:00P ET
Movie: Vlad

FRI., 21 OCT
02:00A ET
Movie: Vlad

MON., 24 OCT
12:00P ET
Supernatural Science: King Arthur

SyFy Listings for October

2011-10-19T12:57:00.002-04:00

SyFy's medieval-themed listings have been sparse so far this month (as the days are filled mostly with movies in celebration of the "31 Days of Halloween"), but things pick up with gargoyles and medieval vampires, as we get closer to Halloween. This listing was compiled based on programming from October 2nd through 31st.

Sat, 15 Oct.
7:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

Sun., 16 Oct
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Reign Of The Gargoyles
05:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

Fri., 21 Oct
02:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Reign Of The Gargoyles
04:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie: Rise Of The Gargoyles

Sat., 22 Oct.
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie: Witchville

Sun., 23 Oct
10:30 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Dark Prince: The True Story Of Dracula

Mon., 24 Oct
01:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Dark Prince: The True Story Of Dracula
03:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Dracula 3000: Infinite Darkness

Wednes., 26 Oct.
03:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire

Thurs., 27 Oct
02:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International: Dracula's Castle

Sun., 30 Oct
05:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Evolution
07:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
11:30 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Evolution

Mon., 31 Oct.
01:30 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

Kalamazoo Roundtable on Arthurian Film and TV

2011-09-25T19:20:00.000-04:00

Finalized details on our co-sponsored roundtable on Arthurian film and television can now be viewed at the Are Your From Camelot? blog.

SyFy Listings for September 2011

2011-09-11T01:45:00.001-04:00

The following represent this month's medieval-themed listings for SyFy, a particularly Merlin heavy month. As with the Chiller post, I am sorry for the lateness in posting, and readers should be advised that listings from 9/1 to 9/5 were no longer accessible when this was compiled.

In addition to these items, the series First Wave, which is centered around prophecies made by Nostradamus regarding alien invasion of the Earth, has several mini-marathons this month.

TUES., 6 SEPT
05:00 PMMovieUnderworld: Evolution
07:00 PMMovieUnderworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)

SAT., 10 SEPT
11:00 AMSyfy Original MovieGrendel
01:00 PMSyfy Original MovieBeyond Sherwood Forest
03:00 PMSyfy Original MovieRock Monster
09:00 PMSyfy Original MovieJabberwock [PREMIERE]

SUN., 11 SEPT
01:00 AMSyfy Original MovieJabberwock
03:00 AMSyfy Original MovieBeauty And The Beasts: A Dark Tale
08:00 PMMovieChronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian (2008)
11:00 PMMovieMerlin - Part One

MON., 12 SEPT
01:00 AMMovieMerlin - Part Two
03:00 AMMovieMerlin And The War Of The Dragons
02:30 PMMovieChronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian (2008)
05:30 PMMovieLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The [airs multiple times this month; includes a brief appearance (via a portrait) of a medieval league]

WEDNES., 14 SEPT
10:00 AMGhost Hunters InternationalFrankenstein's Castle
11:00 AMGhost Hunters InternationalLarnach Castle
04:00 PMGhost Hunters InternationalCastle Of The Damned

FRI., 16 SEPT
08:00 AMMerlinThe Dragon's Call
09:00 AMMerlinValiant
10:00 AMMerlinThe Mark Of Nimueh
11:00 AMMerlinThe Poison Chalice
12:00 PMMerlinLancelot
01:00 PMMerlinA Remedy To Cure All Ills
02:00 PMMerlinThe Gates Of Avalon
03:00 PMMerlinThe Beginning Of The End

SUN., 18 SEPT
09:00 AMMovieLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The

MON., 19 SEPT
08:30 AMMovieDungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God

TUES., 20 SEPT
06:30 PMMovieLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The

THURS., 22 SEPT
03:00 AMMovieDragonquest

SAT., 24 SEPT 03:00 AM
MovieDungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God

TUES., 27 SEPT
08:00 AMMerlinThe Curse Of Cornelius Sigan
09:00 AMMerlinThe Once And Future Queen
10:00 AMMerlinThe Nightmare Begins
11:00 AMMerlinLancelot And Guinevere
12:00 PMMerlinBeauty And The Beast - Part 1
01:00 PMMerlinBeauty And The Beast - Part 2
02:00 PMMerlinThe Witchfinder
03:00 PMMerlinThe Sins Of The Father
04:00 PMMerlinThe Lady Of The Lake

Chiller Listings for September 2011

2011-09-11T01:19:00.002-04:00

The following represent this month's medieval-themed listings for Chiller. Once again, I am sorry for the lateness in posting. Readers should be advised that listings from 9/1 to 9/5 were no longer accessible when this was compiled.

WEDNES., 7 SEPT
10:00A ET
Monsters: Sleeping Dragon

TUES., 20 SEPT
9:00 A ET to 4:00 P ET
7 episodes of Forever Knight [no details provded]

SUN., 25 SEPT
09:00A ET Supernatural Science King Arthur
12:00P ETSupernatural Science King Arthur

MON., 26 SEPT
10:00A ETSupernatural Science King Arthur

THURS., 29 SEPT
10:00A ETThe Twilight Zone (1985) The Last Defender Of Camelot

Chiller August 2011 Listings

2011-08-07T23:53:00.000-04:00

It is apparently King Arthur month at Chiller with airings of Arthurian-themed episodes of Sanctuary, Supernatural Science, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits.

The following represents this month's medieval-themed listings for Chiller. Be advised that due to the late date, listings for August 1-6 are no longer accessible.

TUES, 16 AUG
10:00P ET
Sanctuary Fata Morgana [see details at Wikipedia]

WEDNES, 17 AUG
02:00A ET
Sanctuary Fata Morgana

SAT., 20 AUG
01:00P ET
Supernatural Science King Arthur

TUES., 23 AUG
08:00P ET
Sanctuary Fata Morgana

WEDNES., 24 AUG
12:00A ET
Sanctuary Fata Morgana
06:00A ET
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot [see details at Wikipedia]
06:00P ET
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot

TUES., 30 AUG
07:00P ET
The Outer Limits The Tipping Point [see details on Wikipedia]

SyFy August 2011 Listings

2011-08-07T23:36:00.000-04:00

My sincerest apologies for the delay in posting. I totally forgot about this. Chiller postings to follow ASAP.

The following represents this month's medieval-themed listings for SyFy. Be advised that due to the late date, listings for August 1-6 are no longer accessible.

SUNDAY, 7 AUGUST
09:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie
Witchville
11:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie
Dragon Sword
01:30 PM
Syfy Original Movie
Fire And Ice
03:30 PM
Movie
Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God
08:00 PM
Movie
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
11:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie
Beyond Sherwood Forest

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST
01:00 AM
Movie
Merlin - Part One
03:00 AM
Movie
Merlin - Part Two
08:00 AM
Legend Quest
Staff Of Moses/the Stone Of Destiny
01:00 PM
Movie
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

WEDNESDAY, 10 AUG
01:00 AM
Legend Quest
Staff Of Moses/the Stone Of Destiny
03:00 PM
The Twilight Zone
The Bard
09:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International
Murders And Mysteries: England And New Zealand
10:00 PM
Legend Quest
King Solomon's Ring/merlin's Magical Treaures
11:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International
Murders And Mysteries: England And New Zealand

THURS., 11 AUG
12:00 AM
Legend Quest
King Solomon's Ring/merlin's Magical Treaures
07:00 PM
Movie
Underworld: Evolution
09:00 PM
Movie
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
11:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie
Thor: Hammer Of The Gods

FRI, 12 AUG
01:00 PM
Sarah Connor Chronicles
Dungeons & Dragons [medieval content unkown]
04:00 PM
Movie
Underworld: Evolution
06:00 PM
Movie
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

TUES, 16 AUG
12:00 PM
Legend Quest
Excalibur/lost Cintamani Stone
01:00 PM
Legend Quest
Holy Lance/incan Golden Sun Disc
02:00 PM
Legend Quest
Staff Of Moses/the Stone Of Destiny
03:00 PM
Legend Quest
King Solomon's Ring/merlin's Magical Treaures

WEDNES., 17 AUG
10:00 PM
Legend Quest
The Holy Grail

THURS., 18 AUG
12:00 AM
Legend Quest
The Holy Grail
03:00 PM
Syfy Original Movie
Beyond Sherwood Forest
05:00 PM
Movie
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

FRI., 19 AUG
09:30 AM
Movie
7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The
01:30 PM
Movie
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

TUES., 23 AUG
11:30 PM
Movie
Highlander: The Source

WEDNES., 24 AUG
01:00 PM
Ghost Hunters, Season 7
Knights Of The Living Dead [hauntings at Higgins Armory Museuem]

TUES., 30 AUG
05:00 PM
Movie
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

THURS., 1 SEPT
12:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International
Witches Castle [medieval content unknown]

CFP Filming Shakespeare (NeMLA) (9/30/11)

2011-07-18T21:35:00.000-04:00

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/41734

Filming Shakespeare(s) NeMLA 2012
full name / name of organization: Phillip Zapkin / NEMLA
contact email: pzapkin@mix.wvu.edu

This panel seeks papers about modernist and/or postmodernist film versions or adaptations of Shakespearean or Renaissance plays. We will examine how these films negotiate between contemporary cultural/ideological concerns (expressed in the films) and those of Shakespeare’s time (expressed in the plays). Papers about non-Anglophone film adaptations are also welcome, especially if they deal with (post)modern concerns. Please send 200-300 word abstracts to Phillip Zapkin, , by 30 Sept. 2011.

NeMLA 2012 will be hosted by St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, from 15-18 March. The conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Rochester.

CFP The Fringes of Adaptation Conference (UK) (12/2/11)

2011-07-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

Of potential interest

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/41841

The Fringes of Adaptation
full name / name of organization: De Montfort University
contact email: djc@dmu.ac.uk

The Fringes of Adaptation
Postgraduate Conference
De Montfort University, Leicester
1 March 2012

Papers are invited for a one-day conference at De Montfort University on ‘fringe areas’ of adaptations, elements often overlooked in the study of screen adaptations. We welcome papers on areas such as costume, music, soundtracks, gaming, franchising, merchandising, casting, locations, promotions, authorial interventions, or anything else that has normally been forgotten in mainstream work in adaptation studies.

Proposals should be sent to
Deborah Cartmell
djc@dmu.ac.uk
by December 2, 2011.

SyFy Listings for July

2011-07-15T00:12:00.000-04:00

Again, the much belated listings for SyFy this month:

Please note the appearance of Legend Quest, a new show with two Arthurian-themed episodes this month.

WEDNES., 7/6
09:00 AM Destination Truth: Issie/icelandic Elves

THURS., 7/7
10:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Rock Monster
09:00 PM Movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

FRI., 7/8
05:30 PM Movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

SAT., 7/9
06:00 PM Movie: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

SUN., 7/10
03:00 PM Movie: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
09:00 PM Movie: National Treasure: Book Of Secrets

MON., 7/11
03:00 PM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons
05:30 PM Movie: National Treasure: Book Of Secrets

WEDNES., 7/13
12:00 PM Ghost Hunters International: Hamlet's Castle: Denmark

SUN., JULY 17
11:30 PM Syfy Original Movie: Sinbad And The Minotaur

MON., JULY 18
01:30 AM Movie: 7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The

TUES., JULY 19
07:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Evolution
09:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

WEDNES., JULY 20
02:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Dark Relic
10:00 PM Legend Quest: Excalibur/lost Cintamani Stone

THURS., JULY 21
12:00 AM Legend Quest: Excalibur/lost Cintamani Stone

WEDNES., JULY 27
03:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Beauty And The Beasts: A Dark Tale

10:00 PM Legend Quest: Holy Lance/incan Golden Sun Disc

THURS., JULY 28
12:00 AM Legend Quest: Holy Lance/incan Golden Sun Disc

FRI., JULY 29
12:00 AM Legend Quest: Excalibur/lost Cintamani Stone
01:00 AM Legend Quest: Holy Lance/incan Golden Sun Disc

SAT., JULY 30
09:30 AM Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
11:30 AM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
02:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Sword
04:00 PM Movie: Brothers Grimm, The
06:30 PM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons

SUN., JULY 31
03:00 AM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God
05:00 PM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons

July Listings for Chiller

2011-07-14T23:50:00.002-04:00

The much belated listings for Chiller this month:

WEDNES., 7/6
11:00A ET
Supernatural Science King Arthur

FRI., 7/8
06:30A ET
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot
06:30P ET
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot

FRI., 7/15
10:00P ET
Chiller Premiere Vlad

SAT., 7/16
02:00A ET
Chiller Premiere Vlad

WEDNES., 7/20
10:00A ET
The Twilight Zone (1985) The Last Defender Of Camelot
08:00P ET
Chiller Premiere Vlad
10:00P ET
Movie Dracula's Curse

THURS., 7/21
12:30A ET
Chiller Premiere Vlad
02:30A ET
Movie Dracula's Curse

SAT., 7/23
03:30P ET
Movie Dracula's Curse
06:00P ET
Movie Vlad

SUN., 7/24
03:30A ET
Movie Dracula's Curse

SUN., 7/31
02:00P ET
Movie Vlad

Lord of the Films

2011-07-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

I just posted a bunch of books related to fantasy films (including some discussion of the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy) on the SF, Fantasy, and Legend blog, but this seemed most appropriate here. I have not yet seen the book, but it has been favorably reviewed.

Michael

Lord of the Films: The Unofficial Guide to Tolkiens Middle-Earth on the Big Screen
By J.W. Braun

details
Published: September 2009
ISBN-10: 1-55022-890-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-55022-890-8
General / trade - 236 pages
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in
Format: Paperback (BC)
$21.95 CAD

First popularized in Tolkien’s classic and bestselling series, The Lord of The Rings has garnered millions of fans around the world. The stunning film trilogy by Peter Jackson was groundbreaking, beautiful, and, as expected, hugely successful. The Lord of the Films is a unique scene-by-scene guide to all of the Lord of the Rings movies, with lots of games, puzzles, and interviews with the filmmakers tossed in.

In this book, each scene in each movie is tackled on four different fronts: a closer look at the plot and the action, a look behind the scenes, a reveal of mistakes that slipped through, and audiences’ reactions. In addition to the famous live-action trilogy, other related films (such as the animated adaptations) are covered as well.

As an added bonus, the author reveals details about the prequel films currently in production and due out in theatres in 2011 and 2012.

After reading this book, fans will feel like they’re watching The Lord of the Rings for the first time all over again!

Wagner and Cinema

2011-07-08T22:38:00.000-04:00

Wagner and Cinema
Edited by Jeongwon Joe and Sander L. Gilman
Foreword by Tony Palmer
Interview with Bill Viola

Publication date: 2/2/2010
Format: paper 504 pages, 28 b&w illus., 35 musical exx.
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-253-22163-6
PAPERBACK $29.95

The work of Richard Wagner is a continuing source of artistic inspiration and ideological controversy in literature, philosophy, and music, as well as cinema. In Wagner and Cinema, a diverse group of established and emerging scholars examines Wagner's influence on cinema from the silent era to the present. The essays in this collection engage in a critical dialogue with existing studies—extending and renovating current theories related to the topic—and propose unexplored topics and new methodological perspectives. The contributors discuss films ranging from the 1913 biopic of Wagner to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, with essays on silent cinema, film scoring, Wagner in Hollywood, German cinema, and Wagner beyond the soundtrack.

Foreword by Tony Palmer

Introduction: Why Wagner and Cinema? Tolkien Was Wrong \ Jeongwon Joe

Part 1. Wagner and the Silent Film
1. Wagnerian Motives: Narrative Integration and the Development of Silent Film Accompaniment, 1908—1913 \ James Buhler
2. Underscoring Drama—Picturing Music \ Peter Franklin
3. The Life and Works of Richard Wagner (1913): Becce, Froelich, and Messter \ Paul Fryer
4. Listening for Wagner in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen \ Adeline Mueller

Part 2. Wagnerian Resonance in Film Scoring
5. The Resonances of Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth-Century Melodrama in the Film Scores of Max Steiner \ David Neumeyer
6. Wagner's Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood Film \ Eva Rieger
7. The Penumbra of Wagner's Ombra in Two Science Fiction Films from 1951: The Thing from Another World and The Day the Earth Stood Still \ William H. Rosar

Part 3. Wagner in Hollywood
8. "Soll ich lauschen?": Love-Death in Humoresque \ Marcia J. Citron
9. Hollywood's German Fantasy: Ridley Scott's Gladiator \ Marc A. Weiner
10. Reading Wagner in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) \ Neil Lerner
11. Piercing Wagner: The Ring in Golden Earrings \ Scott D. Paulin

Part 4. Wagner in German Cinema
12. Wagner as Leitmotif: The New German Cinema and Beyond \ Roger Hillman
13. The Power of Emotion: Wagner and Film \ Jeremy Tambling
14. Wagner in East Germany: Joachim Herz's Der fliegende Holländer (1964) \ Joy H. Calico

Part 5. Wagner beyond the Soundtrack
15. Nocturnal Wagner: The Cultural Survival of Tristan und Isolde in Hollywood \ Elisabeth Bronfen
16. Ludwig's Wagner and Visconti's Ludwig \ Giorgio Biancorosso
17. The Tristan Project: Time in Wagner and Viola \ Jeongwon Joe
18. "The Threshold of the Visible World": Wagner, Bill Viola, and Tristan \ Lawrence Kramer

Postlude: Looking for Richard: An Archival Search for Wagner \ Warren M. Sherk
Epilogue: Some Thoughts about Wagner and Cinema; Opera and Politics; Style and Reception \ Sander L. Gilman
Interview with Bill Viola \ Jeongwon Joe

Filmography \ Jeongwon Joe, Warren M. Sherk, and Scott D. Paulin
List of Contributors
Index

Jeongwon Joe is Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Cincinnati. She is editor of Between Opera and Cinema (with Rose Theresa) and has published articles on Milos Forman’s Amadeus, Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Gérard Corbiau’s Farinelli, and other works related to opera and film music.

Sander L. Gilman is Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences at Emory University. He is author of Fat: A Cultural History of Obesity; Multiculturalism and the Jews; Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery; Freud, Race, and Gender; and Jewish Self-Hatred: Anti-Semitism and the Hidden Language of the Jews.

New on Joan of Arc

2011-07-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

The Religious Film: Christianity and the Hagiopic
Pamela Grace

ISBN: 978-1-4051-6026-1
Paperback
192 pages
May 2009, Wiley-Blackwell
US $33.95

From The Gospel According to Matthew to Jesus Christ Superstar, from The Passion of Joan of Arc to The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus of Montreal, The Religious Film captures the glory, gore, and centrality of this important genre.
A short, accessible introduction to religious film, exploring the genre as spectacle, as musical, and as controversy
Examines the historical, cultural and critical background for religious films from the silent era through to the present day
Introduces the complexities and characteristics of this iconic genre of film, including common sounds and images, and the values that most traditional films of this kind uphold

List of Figures.
Acknowledgments.

1. Introduction: The Religious Film and the Hagiopic.

2. Historical Overview.

3. Critical Overview.

4. King of Kings (1961): Spectacle and Anti-Spectacle.

5. The Song of Bernadette (1943): The Religious Comfort Film.

6. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and Jesus Christ Superstar (2000): The Religious Musical.

7. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) and Jesus of Montreal (1989): The Alternative Hagiopic.

8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999): Transcendence and Exploitation.

9. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Passion of the Christ (2004): The Sacrificial Hagiopic.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Pamela Grace teaches at Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Season of the Witch Now Available

2011-07-08T17:10:00.000-04:00

The recent film Season of the Witch is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. A detailed synopsis can be accessed at Wikipedia.

New Book on Elizabeth I in Film and Television

2011-06-16T14:48:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth I in Film and Television: A Study of the Major Portrayals

Bethany Latham

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-3718-4
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8514-7
11 photos, notes, bibliography, index
298pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $45.00

About the Book
This analysis of how filmmakers have portrayed England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), and the audience’s perception of Elizabeth based upon these portrayals, examines key representations of the Tudor monarch in various motion pictures from the Silent era on and in television miniseries.

Actresses who have portrayed Elizabeth include Bette Davis, Glenda Jackson, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren; Quentin Crisp appeared as the Queen in Orlando (1992).

The text focuses on the historical context of the period in which each film or miniseries was made and1the extent of the portrayals of Elizabeth.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
PREFACE 1

1. Why Elizabeth I? A Look at the Life and Times of the Historical Elizabeth 3

2. The Silent Era: Divas and Aristocrats 16
Les Amours de la Reine Élisabeth (1912): Sarah Bernhardt 16
The Virgin Queen (1923): Diana Manners 34

3. Hollywood’s Golden Age: Bette Davis and Big- Budget Historicals 40
Mary of Scotland (1936): Florence Eldridge 41
Fire Over England (1937): Flora Robson 65
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939): Bette Davis 76
The Sea Hawk (1940): Flora Robson 90
Young Bess (1953): Jean Simmons 101
The Virgin Queen (1955): Bette Davis 113

4. Hollywood, A.D.: Elizabethan Career Woman to Pop Culture 130
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971): Glenda Jackson 130
Elizabeth (1998): Cate Blanchett 148
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007): Cate Blanchett 165

5. Glimpses of Elizabeth: The Bit Parts 179
Orlando (1992): Quentin Crisp 179
Shakespeare in Love (1998): Judi Dench 183
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Helena Bonham Carter 186

6. Serialized Elizabeth: The Miniseries 191
Elizabeth R (1971): Glenda Jackson 191
Blackadder II (1986): Miranda Richardson 216
Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen (2005): Anne- Marie Duff 220
Elizabeth I (2005): Helen Mirren 239

7. Semper Eadem: The Evolving Elizabeth 267

CHAPTER NOTES 273
BIBLIOGRAPHY 277
INDEX 283

About the Author
Bethany Latham is an associate professor and electronic resources/documents librarian at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Her articles have appeared in such publications as Reference Reviews and Library Journal. She is managing editor of The Historical Novels Review.

Black Death FF (2010) Now on DVD

2011-06-01T00:49:00.002-04:00

The feature film Black Death (2010) is now available on DVD and BluRay.

According to Amazon.com extras include the following:

Deleted Scenes
Bringing Black Death to Life
Interviews with Cast and Crew
Behind the Scenes Footage
HDNet: A Look at Black Death
Theatrical Trailer

Plus Digital Copy

New from the Shrekverse

2011-05-30T22:39:00.000-04:00

Coming Soon Anonymous FF

2011-05-30T22:07:00.000-04:00

Seems to offer an alternate history of Shakespeare:

Chiller Listings for June

2011-05-30T20:25:00.001-04:00

Chiller's medieval-themed listings are fairly light this month (though there are incomplete specifics at present for the airings of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Outer Limits, and The Twilight Zone).

TUES, 14 JUNE

09:00A ET
Supernatural Science: King Arthur

TUES, 28 JUNE

03:30P ET
Monsters: Sleeping Dragon

SyFy June Listings

2011-05-30T01:31:00.000-04:00

Relevant listings for SyFy in June. Be sure to check out the marathon on June 24.

WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE

02:00 AM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

06:00 PM Ghost Hunters, Season 7: Knights Of The Living Dead

SUN, 5 JUNE

01:30 PM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

WEDNES., 8 JUNE

12:00 PM Ghost Hunters International (season 1.5): Dracula's Castle

SAT., 11 JUNE

03:00 AM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God

SUN., 19 JUNE

11:00 PM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

MON., 20 JUNE

01:30 AM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God

THURS., 23 JUNE

06:00 PM Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

FRI., 24 JUNE

08:30 AM Syfy Original Movie: Book Of Beasts, The
10:30 AM Syfy Original Movie: Grendel
12:30 PM Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
02:30 PM Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

CFP All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming (Collection)

2011-05-09T21:19:00.002-04:00

All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming

CFP: All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming

The Middle Ages remains a vibrant presence in contemporary culture, and while cinematic medievalism has been intensively investigated in the last decade, digital gaming has received relatively little attention despite its widespread cultural impact. For example, the video game market now grosses more domestically than Hollywood, and World of Warcraft boasts more than 12 million monthly paying subscribers (25 million total units). Gaming theory too has seen its share of innovation, and digital technologies are now a regular feature of higher education and cultural studies. Medievalism, in its various guises, has also been the subject of intense scrutiny in anthologies by Anke Bernau and Bettina Bildhauer, Medieval Film (2009); Karl Fugelso, Memory and Medievalism (2007); and David Marshall, Mass Market Medieval Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture (2007). Further, the turn toward speculative medievalisms, object-oriented philosophy, and Actor-Network Theory has initiated new methodologies, raised new questions, and offered new possibilities for understanding actor-actant networks and overcoming the subject-object distinction, all of which enrich our understanding of digital and historical realities and problematize traditional understandings of subjectivity, temporality, and textuality.

A few of the more popular medievally-inflected gaming titles (and series) include:

• Age of Empires: Age of Kings
• Diablo
• MediEvil
• Arthur: Quest for Excalibur
• Dragon Age
• Medieval Total War
• Assassin's Creed
• Dungeon Siege
• Morrowind
• Baldur's Gate
• Dynasty Warriors
• Oblivion
• Beowulf
• Elder Scrolls
• Sims Medieval
• Civilization
• Fable
• Shogun Total War
• Dante's Inferno
• Jeanne d'Arc
• Stronghold
• Dark Age of Camelot
• Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
• Warcraft & World of Warcraft

I am soliciting 500 word proposals for a volume dealing with the Middle Ages, medievalism, and contemporary digital gaming, broadly defined. Some possibilities include:

• Gaming and medieval texts; medieval texts and digital textualities
• Gaming genres (Sword and sorcery/fantasy games, etc.), game types (MMORPG, FPS, RPG, RTS, stealth, survival/horror, etc.), single-player/cooperative/multiplayer games
• Gaming, speculative medievalisms, and counterfactual history
• Gaming, secret societies, arcane religions, and the 'templarization' of history (Dead Space, Mass Effect, and others)
• Gaming, digital sociologies, and electronic epistemologies
• Gaming, object-oriented philosophy, complexity, and Actor-Network Theory
• Gaming, digital communities, and electronic subjectivities
• Gaming, gender, sexuality, class, age; trans-developmental and trans-temporal subjectivities
• Gaming and race and nation; digital orientalism and postcolonialism; space-based societies
• Gaming and cross-platform media (games and/as film tie-ins)
• Gaming and pedagogy
• Gaming, discursive/symbolic violence, and ethics
• Gaming, social simulations, LARPing and LARPers (Live-Action Role Playing & Players)
• Gaming and cheats, glitches, hacks, mods
• Gaming, the academy, medievalism, and generational divides.

Please send your proposals (and any questions) to Dan Kline, University of Alaska, Department of English, 3211 Providence Drive, ADM 101-H, Anchorage, AK 99508 at afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu by May 1, 2011.

Please cross-post freely

Comics Get Medieval 2012 Call for Papers

2011-05-08T02:06:00.000-04:00

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages is pleased to announce our sponsorship of sessions under the theme of "The Comics Get Medieval 2012: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant" for the 2012 Joint Meeting of the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, from 4-7 April 2012.

Complete details can be accessed at The Medieval Comics Project Blog at http://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2011/05/comics-get-medieval-2012-call-for.html.

SyFy Listings for May 2011

2011-04-26T22:59:00.002-04:00

The following represent the upcoming month's medieval-themed listings for SyFy:

TUESDAY, 3 MAY

03:30 PM Stargate SG-1: Avalon - Pt 1
04:30 PM Stargate SG-1: Avalon - Pt 2
05:30 PM Stargate SG-1: Origin

WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY

08:00 AM Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 1
09:00 AM Stargate SG-1: The Quest - Pt 2
06:00 PM Stargate SG-1: Camelot

THURSDAY, 5 MAY

11:00 AM Stargate SG-1: Thor's Hammer
12:00 PM Stargate SG-1: Thor's Chariot
03:00 PM Stargate SG-1: The Pegasus Project

SATURDAY, 7 MAY

10:30 AM Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest
12:30 PM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

09:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Almighty Thor [PREMIERE EVENT]

11:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Thor: Hammer Of The Gods

SUNDAY, 8 MAY

01:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Almighty Thor
03:00 AM Movie: Highlander: The Source

TUESDAY, 10 MAY

08:00 PM Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian
11:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Beauty And The Beasts: A Dark Tale

THURSDAY, 12 MAY

08:00 AM Invasion: The Nest
09:00 AM Invasion: The Fittest
10:00 AM Invasion: The Key
11:00 AM Invasion: Re-evolution
12:00 PM Invasion: The Son Also Rises
01:00 PM Invasion: Run And Gun
02:00 PM Invasion; Round Up

WEDNESDAY, 18 MAY

09:00 AM Scariest Places On Earth: Charleville Castle
11:00 AM Scariest Places On Earth: Cursed Italian Monastery
03:00 PM Scariest Places On Earth: Return To Romania

SATURDAY, 21 MAY
07:00 PM Movie: Reign Of Fire
09:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Sinbad And The Minotaur [PREMIERE EVENT]

11:00 PM Movie: 7 Adventures Of Sinbad, The

SUNDAY, 22 MAY

01:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Sinbad And The Minotaur
01:30 PM Movie: Reign Of Fire

MONDAY, 23 MAY

03:30 AM Movie: Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire

MONDAY, 30 MAY

07:00 PM Movie Marathon: Underworld
09:30 PM Movie Marathon: Underworld: Evolution

TUESDAY, 31 MAY

10:30 AM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God
01:00 PM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
03:30 PM Movie: Underworld
06:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Evolution

WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE

02:00 AM Movie: In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Chiller Listings for May 2011

2011-04-26T22:47:00.001-04:00

The following represent next month's medieval-themed listings from Chiller:

TUESDAY, 3 MAY

06:00 AM The Twilight Zone--The Last Defender Of Camelot
06:00 PM The Twilight Zone--The Last Defender Of Camelot

SUNDAY, 15 MAY

10:00 AM Beast Legends--Dragon
01:00 PM Beast Legends--Dragon

TUESDAY, 17 MAY

08:00 PM Movie--The Forsaken

WEDNESDAY, 18 MAY

12:00 AM Movie--The Forsaken

Film and Myth: Call for Area Chairs (8/1/11)

2011-04-24T00:42:00.001-04:00

Film and Myth
CALL for AREA CHAIRS (organizers of multiple panels)
Deadline: August 1, 2011

The 2012 Film & History Conference (Sept. 26-30, Hyatt Regency, Milwaukee, USA) will examine the power of myth in film, television, and the other moving-image arts. As a collective pattern, myth transcends the individual, yet it provides structure to our most personal feelings and assumptions. It can be subtle or obvious, shallow or complex. It can move nations to attack each other—or to reconcile. It can induce affection or ridicule or longing. Myth operates somewhere between the waking consciousness of history and drowsy consciousness of mystery. Often it is both narrative and meta-narrative, trying to tell us what we know and how we might know it. And film is the most vibrant stage of mythmaking today. How do films exploit or succumb to certain myths? Why do audiences embrace one mythic pattern over another—in romance or tragedy or comedy? Who or what controls mythmaking in film and television? How do certain historical characters or events become legendary? How do they become mythic? What historical mutations have myths undergone in film? What myths are on the horizon?

Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal invites proposals to chair an area of multiple panels. Please send a brief description of your area (100-200 words) to FilmandHistory@uwosh.edu by August 1, 2011.

The deadline to be listed on your Call for Papers will be August 1, 2012. There will be no rolling deadlines before that date. The areas listed below are suggestions; you are welcome to modify an area or to propose an area of your own.

Mythmaking and Marketing: The Money Trail On and Off the Screen
Storytelling 101: History or Mythology
Innocence and Experience: Children, the Elderly, and Myth
Naught-I Movies: Untangling Sex and Gender Myths
Myths R Us: Nationality in Film
Music, Motifs, and Mythmaking
Archetype and Ego Psychology in Film
Natives and Primitives: The Myths of Oral Cultures
The Classic Myths of Classical History on Film
Facing Race: Film, Television, and Myth
Dwelling on Myth: The City, The Suburb, and The Farm
Heroes and Villains: Iconography, Narrative, and Film
Marriage and Family Myths in Film
Mythologies of Travel in Film and Television
Literature, Genre, and Myth: Structures, Texts, Films
West/East: Hollywood/Bollywood
Crime and Punishment: Mythologizing the Law
Beast or Human: Animal Myths in Film and Television
Ecology Mythology: The Natural Environment on Film
Myths of Time: Future Myths, Mythic Futures
Chalk It Up to Myth: Education on Film
Mything God: Religious Desire in Film and Television
The Myths of Science and Scientists
Cowboy Mythology: Frontier Myths
Sir Dude and Madame Chick: Mythologizing Class in Film
Legend or Myth: Anthropological Entanglements in Film
Evil, Sin, Death, Doom: Mythologizing the Underworld in Film
Myth, Inc.: The Business World in Film and Television
Doctored Reality: The Myths of Medicine in Film

Representations of Love in Film & History CFP (5/1/11)

2011-04-24T00:38:00.000-04:00

Call for Papers
Deadline: May 1, 2011
for a specially themed issue of Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, to be published in the fall of 2011 (41.2):
“Representations of Love in Film and Television”

This issue (41.2) will consider how love, in all its historical manifestations, has been represented thematically, structurally, philosophically, and culturally in film and television. Presenters at the 2010 Film & History conference are encouraged to submit their papers, but submissions outside the conference pool are welcome and will be given equal consideration. All manuscripts submitted should be revised for scholarly peer review. Length: 4000-7000 words.

Send one manuscript (as a Word-compatible document) to FilmandHistory@uwosh.edu and one manuscript by postal service to
Editor, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal
Center for the Study of Film and History
Polk 305, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI 54901

[Also available as PDF file]

2010 Film & History Conference (Catching Up)

2011-04-24T00:33:00.001-04:00

The 2010 Film & History Conference was held this past November and included a number of sessions of interest to medievalists:

Thursday, 11 Nov.
Session 2 (2:45-4:15 PM)

118‐Love, Sex, and English Royalty (Medieval Love and Sexuality in Film and Television Area)
No American Gigolo in Camelot: Medieval Love and First Knight
Molly Martin, McNeese State University
“That, my angels, is the role of sex in history”: Text vs Film for Eleanor of Aquitaine and Heloise
Gwenllian Meredith, United Arab Emirates University
“To love is to obey: Shakespeare’s Henry Vth
Vivienne Westbrook, National Taiwan University
What Women Want Most: Peter Cook’s Pythonesque Sign/Mime for Video Adaption
Carol Robinson, Kent State University

Friday, 12 Nov.
Session 1 (8:30-10:00 AM)
200‐ Medieval Heroes and Outlaws on the Big Screen (Medieval Love and Sexuality in Film and Television Area)
Making Merry Men Manly: Securing a Masculine Identity for Robin in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood
Thomas Rowland, Saint Louis University
“I Wanna Do Bad Things with You”: Guy of Gisborne and Sexuality in the BBC Robin Hood
Leah J. Larson, Our Lady of the Lake University
Fatherless Creatures: Parentage in Twenty‐first Century BeowulfFilms
Justin T. Noetzel, Saint Louis University

Session 3 (12:45-2:15 PM)

231‐Love at the End of Life
Paper 3 of 3: Truth and Falsity in the Name of Love: King Lear and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Noel Sloboda, Penn State York

Session 5 (4:15-5:45 PM)
251‐Across Borders and Boundaries (Shakespeare in (and Out of) Love Area)
Paper 1 of 4: The Bard in Bollywood: Song‐Dance‐Romance in Macbeth‐Turned‐Maqbool
Samhita Sunya, Rice University
Paper 4 of 4: Speaking of Rosaline, Romeo is Out of Love
Howard Schmitt, School of Theatre, University of Southern California

Saturday, 13 Nov.
Session 2 (10:15-11:45 AM)

318‐Chastity and Pornography in Medieval Film (Medieval Love and Sexuality in Film and Television Area)
Love without Sex: Ladyhawke’s Exploration of Relational Love
Michael Elam, Saint Louis University
Belle Chose: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse Gets Acquainted with the Wife of Bath
Christina Francis, Bloomsburg University
“Thilke that sownen into synne”: Solaasas Sentencein the Pornographic Chaucer
Tim Miller, University of Notre Dame
The Wooing of Olga: Choosing between Loves in Alexander Nevsky
Kathleen McDonough, SUNY‐Fredonia

New Book: Bildhauer's Filming the Middle Ages

2011-04-20T01:06:00.002-04:00

This is apparently the decade of monographs on medievalism in film, and Reaktion Books has just published Bettina Bildhauer's Filming the Middle Ages. Details as follows:

Filming the Middle Ages
Bettina Bildhauer

234 x 140 mm
264 pages
100 illustrations

Hardback
978 1 86189 808 1
February 2011
£25.00

In this groundbreaking account of film history, Bettina Bildhauer shows how, from the earliest silent films to recent blockbusters, medieval topics and plots have played an important but overlooked role in the development of cinema.

Filming the Middle Ages is the first book to define medieval films as a group and trace their history from the silent films of Weimar Germany to Hollywood productions and then to recent European co-productions. Bildhauer provides incisive new interpretations of classics like Murnau’s Faust and Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky, and rediscovers some forgotten works, such as Douglas Sirk’s Sign of the Pagan and Asta Neilsen’s Hamlet. As Bildhauer explains, both art house films like The Seventh Seal and The Passion of Joan of Arc and popular films like Beowulf or The Da Vinci Code cleverly use the Middle Ages to challenge modern ideas of historical progress, to find alternatives to a print-dominated culture, and even to question what makes us human. Filming the Middle Ages pays special attention to medieval animated and detective films and provocatively demonstrates that the invention of cinema itself is considered a return to the Middle Ages by many film theorists and filmmakers.

Filming the Middle Ages is ideal reading for medievalists with a stake in the contemporary, and film scholars with an interest in the distant past.

Contents (from WorldCat):
What is Medieval Film? An Introduction Part I: Time's Bow 1. The Non-linear Time of Medieval Film (Faust, Destiny) 2. The Medieval Dead Reanimated (Golem, Waxworks, Seventh Seal, Hard to be a God, Siegfried) 3. Queer Time (Hamlet, Lady Venus and her Devil, Abelard, Dreamship Surprise, Pope Joan, Joan of Arc, Ferryman Maria, The Immortal Heart) Part II: Lethal Letters 4. The Dangerous Power of Writing (Sign of the Pagan, Pope Joan, Passion of Joan of Arc) 5. The Printing Press vs the Cathedral (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Don Quixote, Copernicus) 6. Detecting the Middle Ages (A Canterbury Tale, Name of the Rose; War of the Oxen, The Da Vinci Code) Part III: Human Limits 7. The Birth of the Leader from the Collective (Condottieri, Alexander Nevsky, Luther) 8. The Nation's Lost Past (Nibelungen films, 1924, 1966, 2004) 9. Animation and the Human between Animal and Cyborg (Beowulf, The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, Jester Till) Film's Reliance on Medievalism: a Conclusion

Bettina Bildhauer is Senior Lecturer in the Department of German, University of St Andrews. She is the author of Medieval Blood (2007), and co-editor of The Monstrous Middle Ages (2003) and Medieval Film (2009).

‘In this seriously smart book Bettina Bildhauer demonstrates that “medieval film” is a genre that, far from merely providing an escape hatch for a pressured and disillusioned modernity, takes up and meets head on the challenges modernity poses . . . In a series of brilliant readings Bildhauer opens up the strange temporalities and posthuman bodies of medieval film, situating them at the heart of twentieth- and twenty-first century concerns.’
– Carolyn Dinshaw, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and English, New York University

‘Filming the Middle Ages maps a cinematic landscape of surprising compass, directing our gaze from the Weimar films Faust and Destiny to the CGI spectacle of Beowulf. Space and time, the perennial subjects of film study, acquire a charged potential in this exceptional book, which marks a fresh beginning in genre analysis. With lucid intelligence, Bettina Bildhauer has created a brilliant, engaging work that will define the field.’
– Robert Burgoyne, Professor and Chair of Film Studies, University of St Andrews

Contents for The Vikings on Film

2011-04-20T00:49:00.000-04:00

McFarland has at last posted the contents for Kevin J. Harty's latest collection The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages. Complete details can be accessed at McFarland's website.

Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction: “Save Us, O Lord, from the Fury of the Northmen”; or, “Do You Know What’s in Your Wallet?” 3
KEVIN J. HARTY

The Trope of the Scopic in The Vikings (1958) 9
KATHLEEN COYNE KELLY
Guess Who’s Coming to Plunder? Or, Disorientation and Desire in The Long Ships (1964) 24
DONALD L. HOFFMAN
“To be, or not to be”—King: Clive Donner’s Alfred the Great (1969) 39
CHRISTOPHER A. SNYDER
Valiant and Villainous Vikings 46
ALAN LUPACK
Silly Vikings: Eichinger, Hickox, and Lorenz’s Anglo-German-Irish Production of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant (1997) 56
JOSEPH M. SULLIVAN
When Civilization Was Less Civilized: Erik the Viking (1989) 72
SUSAN ARONSTEIN
“The Love of All Mankind but Also the Love of One Woman Alone”: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s Shadow of the Raven (1988) 83
JOAN TASKER GRIMBERT and CLAUDIA BORNHOLDT
Different Pathfinders, Different Destinations 96
ROBERTA DAVIDSON
Who’s Savage Now?!—The Vikings in North America 106
KEVIN J. HARTY
Call of the Wild: Culture Shock and Viking Masculinities in The 13th Warrior (1999) 121
ELIZABETH S. SKLAR
Harrying an Infinite Horizon: The Ethics of Expansionism in Outlander (2008) 135
DAVID W. MARSHALL
Between Exploitation and Liberation: Viking Women and the Sexual Revolution 150
LAURIE A. FINKE and MARTIN B. SHICHTMAN
Time Out of Joint: Why a Gaul Fought the Normans in Astérix and the Vikings (2005) 165
ANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT
Northern Lite: A Brief History of Animated Vikings 178
MICHAEL N. SALDA
The Vikings on Film: A Filmography 193
KEVIN J. HARTY

About the Contributors 215
Index 219

Tangled Now on DVD

2011-04-10T22:30:00.000-04:00

Walt Disney Picture's Tangled, a re-imagining of the Rapunzel story is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. Details (from Amazon.com) follow the trailer below.

DVD
•2 original storybook openings
•50th Animated Countdown

2-Disc BD Combo Pack (BD+DVD)
•DVD features plus
•3 deleted scenes
•The Making of a Fairy Tale
•2 extended songs
•9 Theatrical Teasers

4-Disc BD Combo Pack (BD 3D+BD 2D+DVD+Digital Copy)
•DVD features plus
•3 deleted scenes
•The Making of a Fairy Tale
•2 extended songs
•9 Theatrical Teasers

CFP: All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming (5/1/11)

2011-04-10T19:18:00.001-04:00

I am grateful to Dan Kline for passing this along:

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/40747

All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming
full name / name of organization: Daniel T. Kline
contact email: afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu

CFP: All Your History Are Belong to Us: The Middle Ages, Medievalism, and Digital Gaming

The Middle Ages remains a vibrant presence in contemporary culture, and while cinematic medievalism has been intensively investigated in the last decade, digital gaming has received relatively little attention despite its widespread cultural impact. For example, the video game market now grosses more domestically than Hollywood, and World of Warcraft boasts more than 12 million monthly paying subscribers (25 million total units). Gaming theory too has seen its share of innovation, and digital technologies are now a regular feature of higher education and cultural studies. Medievalism, in its various guises, has also been the subject of intense scrutiny in anthologies by Anke Bernau and Bettina Bildhauer, Medieval Film (2009); Karl Fugelso, Memory and Medievalism (2007); and David Marshall, Mass Market Medieval Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture (2007). Further, the turn toward speculative medievalisms, object-oriented philosophy, and Actor-Network Theory has initiated new methodologies, raised new questions, and offered new possibilities for understanding actor-actant networks and overcoming the subject-object distinction, all of which enrich our understanding of digital and historical realities and problematize traditional understandings of subjectivity, temporality, and textuality.

A few of the more popular medievally-inflected gaming titles (and series) include:

• Age of Empires: Age of Kings
• Diablo
• MediEvil
• Arthur: Quest for Excalibur
• Dragon Age
• Medieval Total War
• Assassin's Creed
• Dungeon Siege
• Morrowind
• Baldur's Gate
• Dynasty Warriors
• Oblivion
• Beowulf
• Elder Scrolls
• Sims Medieval
• Civilization
• Fable
• Shogun Total War
• Dante's Inferno
• Jeanne d'Arc
• Stronghold
• Dark Age of Camelot
• Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
• Warcraft & World of Warcraft

I am soliciting 500 word proposals for a volume dealing with the Middle Ages, medievalism, and contemporary digital gaming, broadly defined. Some possibilities include:

• Gaming and medieval texts; medieval texts and digital textualities
• Gaming genres (Sword and sorcery/fantasy games, etc.), game types (MMORPG, FPS, RPG, RTS, stealth, survival/horror, etc.), single-player/cooperative/multiplayer games
• Gaming, speculative medievalisms, and counterfactual history
• Gaming, secret societies, arcane religions, and the 'templarization' of history (Dead Space, Mass Effect, and others)
• Gaming, digital sociologies, and electronic epistemologies
• Gaming, object-oriented philosophy, complexity, and Actor-Network Theory
• Gaming, digital communities, and electronic subjectivities
• Gaming, gender, sexuality, class, age; trans-developmental and trans-temporal subjectivities
• Gaming and race and nation; digital orientalism and postcolonialism; space-based societies
• Gaming and cross-platform media (games and/as film tie-ins)
• Gaming and pedagogy
• Gaming, discursive/symbolic violence, and ethics
• Gaming, social simulations, LARPing and LARPers (Live-Action Role Playing & Players)
• Gaming and cheats, glitches, hacks, mods
• Gaming, the academy, medievalism, and generational divides.

Please send your proposals (and any questions) to Dan Kline, University of Alaska, Department of English, 3211 Providence Drive, ADM 101-H, Anchorage, AK 99508 at afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu by May 1, 2011.

Please cross-post freely

Advance Notice Kalamazoo 2012

2011-04-06T22:53:00.002-04:00

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages has proposed the following sessions for the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies to be held from 10-13 May 2012. Further details on each session can be found by clicking the respective links.

Are You From Camelot? Recent Arthurian Film, Television, and Electronic Games as Innovators of the Arthurian Tradition and Their Impact (Roundtable)

The Comics Get Medieval at Kalamazoo: New Perspectives for Incorporating Comics into Medieval Studies Teaching and Research (Roundtable)

SyFy April 2011 Listings

2011-04-06T21:40:00.000-04:00

The following represent this month's medieval-themed listings for SyFy. Of note is the season finale on Merlin airing this Friday at 10 PM; it is preceded during the day by a mini-marathon beginning at 8 AM.

FRIDAY, 1 APR
10:30 AM Movie--Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God
01:00 PM Movie--Highlander: The Source

05:30 PM Movie--In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Coming Of Arthur - Part 1

SATURDAY, 2 APRIL
2:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--The Coming Of Arthur - Part 1

FRI, 8 APR
08:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 1
09:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 2
10:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--Gwaine
11:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--The Crystal Cave
12:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Changeling
01:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Castle Of Fyrien
02:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Eye Of The Phoenix
03:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--Love In The Time Of Dragons
04:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--Queen Of Hearts
05:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Sorcerer's Shadow
06:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Coming Of Arthur - Part 1

10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3--The Coming Of Arthur - Part 2 [season finale]

SAT, 9 APR
12:00 AM Merlin, Season 3--The Coming Of Arthur - Part 2

11:00 AM Syfy Original Movie--Wyvern

WEDNES, 13 APR
09:00 PM Ghost Hunters, Season 7--Knights Of The Living Dead
11:00 PM Ghost Hunters, Season 7--Knights Of The Living Dead

THURS, 14 APR
10:00 PM Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles--Dungeons & Dragons [medieval content dubious]

SUN, 17 APR
11:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Riverworld - Part One
01:00 PM Syfy Original Miniseries--Riverworld - Part Two

11:00 PM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 1

MON, 18 APR
01:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 2
03:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 3

WEDNES, 20 APR
08:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 1
10:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 2
12:00 PM Syfy Original Miniseries--Triangle, The - Part 3

THURS, 21 APR
08:00 AM Syfy Original Miniseries--Riverworld - Part One
10:00 AM Syfy Original Minseries--Riverworld - Part Two

SUN, 24 APR
09:00 AM Syfy Original Movie--Book Of Beasts, The

11:00 AM Movie--Merlin - Part One
01:00 PM Movie--Merlin - Part Two

WEDNES, 27 APR
12:00 PM Syfy Original Movie--Reign Of The Gargoyles
02:00 PM Syfy Original Movie--Rise Of The Gargoyles

SAT, 30 APR
04:30 PM Movie--Underworld
07:00 PM Movie--Underworld: Evolution
09:00 PM Movie--Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
11:00 PM Movie--Underworld

Chiller Listings for April 2011

2011-04-06T20:12:00.001-04:00

The following represent the (pithy) medieval-themed listings for this month on the Chiller network. I should have the listings for SyFy up by tomorrow.

WEDNES, 6 APR
10:00 AM
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot

TUES, 26 APR
08:00 PM
Movie The Forsaken

WEDNES, 27 APR
12:00 AM
Movie The Forsaken

SUN, 1 MAY
04:00 AM
The Forsaken

March Listings for SyFy

2011-03-19T01:29:00.001-04:00

As with the Chiller listings, the following represents an incomplete listing for this month's medieval-themed listings for SyFy. I was able to reconstruct listings for BBC1's Merlin but not for the remainder of the missing dates.

TUES, 1 MARCH
08:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Dynasty
10:00 AM Movie: Dragonquest
12:00 PM Movie: Dragon Wars
02:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Dragon Sword
04:00 PM Movie: Eragon

FRI, 4 MARCH
10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3: The Eye Of The Phoenix

SAT, 5 MARCH
12:00 AM Merlin, Season 3: The Eye Of The Phoenix
02:30 PM Syfy Original Movie: Thor: Hammer Of The Gods
04:30 PM Movie: Underworld
07:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Evolution
09:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

SUN, 6 MARCH
01:00 AM Movie: Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 3: Legacy
02:00 PM Movie: Underworld
04:30 PM Movie: Underworld: Evolution
06:30 PM Movie: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

MON, 7 MARCH
12:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Thor: Hammer Of The Gods
06:00 PM Movie: Underworld: Evolution

Listings for March 10 through 13 and 15 through 17 no longer available.

FRI, 11 MARCH
10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3: Love in the Time of Dragons

SAT, 12 MARCH
12:00 PM Merlin, Season 3: Love in the Time of Dragons

FRI, 18 MARCH
10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3: Queen Of Hearts

SAT, 19 MARCH
12:00 AM Merlin, Season 3: Queen Of Hearts

MON, 21 MARCH
08:00 AM Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God
10:00 AM Movie: Eragon

FRI, 25 MARCH
04:00 PM Syfy Original Movie: Wyvern [medieval content unknown]
10:00 PM Merlin, Season 3: The Sorcerer's Shadow

SAT, 26 MARCH
12:00 AM Merlin, Season 3: The Sorcerer's Shadow

SUN, 27 MARCH
09:00 PM Movie: Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian

MON, 28 MARCH
12:00 AM Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest

WEDNES, 30 MARCH
04:00 PM Movie: Highlander: The Source

THURS, 31 MARCH
04:30 PM Syfy Original Movie: Beyond Sherwood Forest

Coming in April: the season finale of Merlin and a Merlin mini-marathon.

March Listings for Chiller

2011-03-19T00:54:00.000-04:00

It has been a chaotic month, and I apologize for the delay in posting the following, which represents an incomplete listing of this month's medieval listings for Chiller. The listing is incomplete because Chiller, like its sibling network, SyFy purges their schedule for the month as each day passes.

TUES, 1 MARCH
08:00 PM
Movie The Forsaken

WEDNES, 2 MARCH
12:00 AM
Movie The Forsaken

Programming for March 9-17 no longer accessible.

SUN, 20 MARCH
10:00 AM
Beast Legends Dragon
01:00 PM
Beast Legends Dragon

Also airing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

New Reviews of Driver and Ray's Shakespeare and the Middle Ages

2011-02-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

The latest number of Arthuriana, 20.4 (Winter 2010), includes two favorable reviews by Andrew B. R. Elliott (pp. 103-04) and Susan Frye (pp. 104-05), respectively, on Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray's recent collection Shakespeare and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Performance and Adaptation of the Plays with Medieval Sources or Settings (McFarland, 2009). Both reviews can also be accessed at Project MUSE.

Welcome

2011-02-03T01:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to Medieval Studies at the Movies. The domain was inactive for a while, but, as the discussion list has outlived its usefulness, I have decided to revive the site as a blog. Visitors can expect updates on films and television shows (and electronic games when available) and details on new and recent scholarship devoted to the "Reel Middle Ages."

Michael Torregrossa
Blog Editor/Listserv Moderator
Co-Founder