Back to the Middle Ages: Medieval Time Travel in the Movies
Looking at time travel films as a genre, there seem to be more medieval time travel films than those to all other periods combined.
Five Japanese Anime series inspired by Medieval Europe
In the realm of Japanese animation, medievalism also blossoms and flourishes. Here are five animation series that are inspired by Medieval Europe and, out of its myth, legend, and literature, have created something new.
The medieval world of Star Wars
Star Wars world has several connections to some very medieval ideas: (Jedi) knights and their swords, their code of conduct, Arthurian myth with the special boy who is unaware of his ancestry…
Genghis Khan on Film
How has the ruler of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, been depicted in film?
Medieval Movie Review: The Knight Before Christmas
No one who clicks on Netflix’s new movie The Knight Before Christmas is looking to find a realistic depiction of a medieval knight.
The Ahistoricism of Medieval Film
As many readers will know, the long debate among historians about the relevance and value of historiophoty – the creation of valid or useful historical narrative in film – has been “won”, for the moment at least, by the advocates of film.
Medieval Movie Review: The King
Netflix is continuing to feed viewers’ interest in the Middle Ages with a new movie: The King.
Playing Merlin: Authorship from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Neomedievalisms
Interestingly, the writers of each new version of the Arthurian legend have chosen Merlin as their avatar: he functions in each text as historian, author, and prophet.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
It may be the most famous medieval movie of all time. This week, Danièle talks with Peter Konieczny about Monty Python and the Holy Grail, its legacy, and some of their favourite moments.
Beowulf at the Movies: From Anglo-Saxon Poetry to Modern Cinema
Are there differences between the character’s portrayal in the poem and the cinematic adaptations? To what extent has cinema reinvented monstrosity in Beowulf? How does this reflect our modern day view of humanity or the beast within?
Life, Fantasy, Sagas, and Whatnot: Some Thoughts on Tolkien the Movie
I felt both very thrilled and scared when I learned that they had made a Tolkien biopic.
Henry V in the cinema: Laurence Olivier’s charismatic version of history
Public attitudes to Henry V are very much influenced by William Shakespeare’s interpretation. Richard Inverne discusses how Shakespeare’s version has been translated into cinematic form by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh.
Game of Thrones, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Roots of Modern Fantasy
With the coming of the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the mainstreaming of the medieval-fantasy genre that began with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies is complete.
A Quest for the Black Knight: Casting People of Color in Arthurian Film and Television
Must actors of color be portrayed as the “Other” when (or if) given roles in films made in the West about the European Middle Ages?
The Bright Side of the Knife: Dismemberment in Medieval Europe and the Modern Imagination
Together with hazardous quests, plagues, peasant squalor, witches, trials by ordeal, and makeshift projectiles (including catapulted livestock and annoying monosyllables), dismemberment in Monty Python’s dark Arthurian world is a commonplace
Medieval Movie Review: Robin Hood (2018)
With dozens of adaptations of the medieval tale of Robin Hood in film, could this latest one offer viewers something new? More importantly, is it any good?
From Ivanhoe to Ironclad: Excavating Layers of Tradition in a Medieval Film
By calling into question the trustworthiness of the historical record, this scene, from the 2011 film
Ironclad directed by Jonathan English, could be the filmmaker’s pre-emptive strike against those who
would criticize a film’s historical accuracy
Medieval Movie Review: Outlaw King
Although it sticks to the medieval film playbook – mud, blood, and a bit of romance – it’s in the details that Outlaw King stands out, giving Robert the Bruce’s fight for independence a uniquely Scottish air.
Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Hollywood’s Problem with Public Domain Properties
Why does Hollywood keep making Robin Hood and King Arthur movies even though no one cares about them?
Sewing the Scene: The Uses of Embroidery in Medieval Film
Embroidery has been used in medieval film as a means by which the main female character reclaims her autonomy.
The Unicorn in the Symbolic and Semantic Expression of the Film Director Ridley Scott in the Context of Medieval Bestiaries
This paper observes and researches the relations between symbolic unicorn representation in Ridley Scott’s movies Blade Runner and Legend comparing it to the medieval bestiary descriptions and representations.
The Best Medieval Film: The Case for A Knight’s Tale
Making a medieval movie is a difficult task. Natalie Anderson discusses why, in her opinion, one of the best films set during the Middle Ages is 2001’s A Knight’s Tale.
Cinema Paradiso: Re-Picturing the Medieval Cult of Saints
Cinema is not, of course, a medieval cultural form but its evolutionary trajectory can perhaps be seen as rooted in aspects of medieval material culture, particularly the plastic arts, manuscript illumination and printing and the performing arts, particularly religious drama with its propensity for movement.
Medievalists at the Movies: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword premiered May 2017 MAN CANDY ALERT! When I sat down to watch “King Arthur” over this past…
