Sunday, January 22, 2012

New and Recent from SMART

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 the Waves: Margery Kempe Goes South.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 18.1 (Spring 2011): 96-109. [Breaking the Waves (1996)]



Cook, Alexandra. “ ‘Why Study the Middle Ages?’ On Re-Imagining the Medieval Literature Survey.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 18.2 (Fall 2011): 117-30.

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

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Syfy January 2012

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

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

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Trailer Jack the Giant Killer

Coming next summer:


The Hobbit Trailer!

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


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Chiller December 2011

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

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

I keep forgetting to post this:

Monday, November 28, 2011

Picturing Tolkien from McFarland

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.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Chiller November 2011 Updated

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

Saturday, November 5, 2011

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

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

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

SyFy Listings for November 2011

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

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Chiller for November 2011

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.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wagner and Cinema

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

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