Friday, May 18, 2012

Television Medievalisms CFP (10/1/12)

Courtesy of the International Studies in Medievalism(s) listserv:

Call for Submissions
Television Medievalisms

Desperate cries that Medieval Studies is a dying field can often be heard from medievalists these days.  Yet the Middle Ages seems to be thriving in popular culture.  In particular, television presents us with a wide and diverse array of “medieval” offerings.  Shows such as Merlin, Game of Thrones, and Camelot, amongst others, address a variety of audiences.  Many of these programs target younger audiences--for example, both Merlin and the made-for-TV movie Avalon High appeal to adolescents.  In the next few years, we can expect a revival of interest in Medieval Studies, a discipline to which our students will have been introduced primarily through television medievalisms.  Because this creates a need to examine these popular products in light of their focus on the Middle Ages, we welcome contributions to a collection of essays that explore television medievalisms.  Contributions dealing with television programs in English and/or other languages are welcome.  Scholars interested in the following areas are particularly encouraged to contribute:

?       Literary Studies
?       History
?       Communications
?       Gender Studies
?       Art History
?       Music History
?       Film History
?       Cultural Studies
?       Pedagogy

Abstracts of approximately 500 words and a brief academic bio should be sent to Dr. Meriem Pagès at mpages@keene.edu by October 1, 2012.  Authors will be notified of the status of their abstracts by November 15, 2012.  Acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee inclusion in the volume.

Upon preliminary acceptance, contributors will be asked to submit articles of approximately 7,000 words by June 1, 2013. Editors reserve the right to reject articles that do not meet editorial standards. We anticipate a Winter 2014 publication date.

Brave Update

Disney now has a wealth of information available at the website for Brave, the latest Disney-Pixar co-production, set to be released on 22 June. Set in medieval Scotland, Brave appears to be Pixar's version of the "princess" movie, and it will be interesting to see whether they stick to the traditional Disney formula or, as usual, go their own way to create something fresh.

A number of videos are available from Pixar's YouTube Channel including the following:



Two that offer further details:



One clip


And, last but not least, some humor:

Monday, April 23, 2012

DeVries on Game of Thrones

A recent issue of the Medieval News blog features a link to an article by Kelly DeVries on Game of Thrones (a series I need to post more about). The full piece can be accessed at: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137363/kelly-devries/game-of-thrones-as-history?page=show.

Thoughts on Kalamazoo 2013

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages is now preparing our session proposal for the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies and is contemplating a session on medieval-themed television. If this might be of interest to you, send us an email.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Neo-medievalism in the Media (At Last)

My thanks to Richard Utz for the head's up on the imminent release of this long-awaited collection:

Neo-medievalism in the Media: Essays on Film, Television, and Electronic Games
Edited by Robinson, Carol L. , & Clements, Pamela

Imprint: Edwin Mellen Press
USA List Price: $169.95; UK List Price: £109.95
ISBN10: 0-7734-2662-0;   ISBN13: 978-0-7734-2662-7
Pages: 452 
Year: 2012

Subject Areas: Cultural Studies, Film Studies, General Literature & Art -- Medieval, Literature - Medieval, Medieval & Renaissance - History, Popular Culture.


Description

This is a collection of essays that study the contemporary cultural depictions of medievalism. The book attempts to unravel distortions that tend to domesticate the era and represent it as an extension of modern life. Several authors claim that modernity is so radically different to medieval life that we can only view the past as an extension of the present, rather than as radically different. The present distorts, and often politicizes the past, and these essays explore how everything from commercials, and video games, to the war on terror can contain elements of neo-medieval revisionism. Some authors argue that even though nobody alive today has a lived experience of the period, and holding an authentic medieval experience is almost impossible, there seems to be a sort of nostalgia about medieval times that indicates dissatisfaction with contemporary life.

Table of Contents

Preface: A Moveable Feast: Repositionings of “the Medieval” in Medieval Studies, Medievalism, and Neo-Medievalism by Richard Utz

Introduction: Neomedievalism in a Vortext of Discourse: Film, Television, and Digital Games by Carol L. Robinson

1. Remembering Dismembering: Reading the Violated Body Medievally by Leslie A. Coote

2. NeoMedieval Trauma: The Cinematic Hyperreality of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales by Pamela Clements

3. The Use of Nature: Representing Religion in Medieval Film by Christopher Roman

4. Neo-Bushido: NeoMedieval Anime and Japanese Essence by Jennifer de Winter

5. “You’re Still Living in the Middle Ages!”: Time Travel in Doctor Who and Pseudo-Historical, Neo-Medieval, Alternate Realities by Dave Rolinson

6. “What do we do? Hop on a Bus to Medieval Times?”: The Use of Medievalism in Television Fiction by Roderick W. McDonald

7. “What’s in your wallet?”: How to Construct an “Authentic” Middle Ages by Alison Tara Walker

8. The New Scriptoria: NeoMedievalism and Online Textual Communities by Lauryn Mayer

9. Gaming with Odin: Myth, Context, and Reconstruction of Hnefa-tafl, an Old Norse Board Game by Leon Wild

10. The Name of the Game: Misuses of Neo-Medievalism in Computerized Role-Playing Games by Clay Kinchen Smith

11. Commodifying the Medieval in Magic Online by Kelly Ann Fitzpatrick

12. Blood Will Out: Genealogy as Destiny in Medieval(ist) Gaming by Amy S. Kaufman and Cory Grewell

13. “For Your Labor I Will Give You Treasure Enough”: Labor and the Third-Estate in Medieval-Themed Role-Playing Games by Kevin Moberly and Brent Moberly

14. Neo-Tolkienism: Plays upon Playing with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Playing With Language by Carol L. Robinson and Pamela Clements

15. “I’m Not Dead Yet!” – Tracing the Pythonesque in Neo-Medievalist Media by Carol L. Robinson

Epilogue: Recreating the Medieval World by Terry Jones

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Medieval Film Now in Paperback

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.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

SyFy February 2012


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

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)

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