Excalibur is not a thing, something you can hold in your hand.
Excalibur is the good in you.
The power to do good, to stand up for what's right, to slay dragons, to capture bank robbers.
You always carry Excalibur in your heart.


Robert Tinnell, Kids of the Round Table (1995)

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

New Scholarship from Arthuriana

From the latest number of Arthuriana:

Eden, Michael. "Representing: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 2, 2024, p. 16-61. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a932121.

This article explores what we can learn from creative responses to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which comprises a growing visual language, inclusive of the original images of the codex, the illustrations of popular translations, contemporary artworks that respond to the poem, and the recent film adaptation. (ME)

Rasmussen, Mark. "Tweaking the Tradition: Gawain as Perceval in David Lowery's The Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 2, 2024, p. 62-78. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a932122.

In The Green Knight, David Lowery's 2021 film version of the Middle English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is portrayed as a Perceval figure. Recognizing this aspect of Lowery's approach to the film allows for a fuller understanding of many of the choices that the director has made in crafting it and demonstrates the work's intricate engagement with the Arthurian tradition, both in writing and on film. (MR)




Thursday, July 18, 2024

CFP ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie Collection (9/30/2024)

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie


deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2024

full name / name of organization:
University of Edinburgh: ReFocus series

contact email:
refocusguyritchie@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/06/14/call-for-chapters-refocus-the-films-of-guy-ritchie


Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

Deadline for submissions:

September 30th 2024

Editors

Dr Pete Turner (Oxford Brookes University) and James Shelton (Buckinghamshire New University)

Contact Email

refocusguyritchie@gmail.com

Call for Chapters - ReFocus: The Films of Guy Ritchie

The career of Guy Ritchie encompasses an eclectic selection of films across a number of genres. His most noted work is in the arena of the gangster film, spanning from 1995’s The Hard Case to 2019’s The Gentleman, and evidences a journey from genre-defining texts (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 1998), through critical disappointments (Revolver, 2005)attempted returns to form (RockNRolla, 2008) and recent more successful reinventions of the British Gangster paradigm (The Gentlemen, 2019 and TV series, 2024).

Alongside this thread Ritchie has had successful forays into larger-budget studio films, including the Sherlock Holmes franchise and working for Disney on 2019’s live-action remake of Aladdin. Less critically successful studio films have also come out of this – 2015’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E and 2017’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword stand out as examples – and yet Ritchie has not revisited the critical dismantling received by 2002’s Swept Away. More recently forays into action films have become Ritchie’s standard output, including Wrath of Man (2021), Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) and recently The Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024).

This volume will be the first comprehensive study on Guy Richie’s work, and in the manner of previous ReFocus collections seeks to contextualise, problematise and theorise the entire canon of Ritchie’s films. Proposals are welcomed from a variety of theoretical, historical and methodological approaches. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
  • The specific contributions by Ritchie to genre film
  • The cultural impact of his films
  • Themes that are evidenced in his films, particularly in reference to their engagement – or potential lack thereof – with gender and race perspectives
  • British identity in Ritchie’s films
  • Stylistic trademarks and directorial techniques
  • Representations of masculinity – including problematic, toxic or other forms of masculinity being represented
  • Crime and underworld narratives, including Intertextuality and Inspired Works
  • Collaborations with crew and actors
  • Cultural influences and references
  • Ritchie’s engagement with mainstream studio films and big budget productions, including Disney
  • Suggestions for other topics are also welcomed as part of this call.

We are currently soliciting abstracts of approximately 350 words for essays to be included in a book-length anthology to be published in 2025. The Films of Guy Ritchie will be a scholarly volume published in the University of Edinburgh’s ReFocus series, examining European and International directors. ReFocus features a series of contemporary methodological and theoretical approaches to the interdisciplinary analyses and interpretations of the work of these international directors. The series editors are Robert Singer, Gary D Rhodes and Stefanie Van de Peer.

Essays accepted and included in the refereed anthology should be approximately 6,000 to 8,000 words in length and referenced in the Chicago endnote style by March 31st, 2025. Please send a 350-word proposal and short bio to the editorial team by September 30th 2024 at refocusguyritchie@gmail.com.

About the Editors

Dr Pete Turner is a senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and the author of Found Footage Horror Films: A Cognitive Approach and a monograph on The Blair Witch Project as part of Auteur’s Devil’s Advocates series.

James Shelton is the Senior Research Administrator for Buckinghamshire New University. His research in film narrative investigates the social function of retribution and equilibrium, with previous research focusing this approach on a broad body of texts including the Sicario films, the James Bond film franchise and an upcoming text on Cult Horror films.


Last updated June 24, 2024

Friday, May 3, 2024

New Collection on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Green Knight Film

My thanks to Kevin J. Harty for the information on this book:

Agrégation anglais 2024. Anonyme. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight et film The Green Knight de David Lowery (2021)

Auteur(s) : collectif, Gorgievski Sandra, Yvernault Martine

CAPES/AGREGATION

16.08.2023

Ouvrage de préparation au concours de l'Agrégation d'anglais. LIRE LA SUITE

Ellipses.


Pages : 252 pages

Format : 16,5 cm x 24 cm

Poids : 0,420 kg

Available in print and as an ebook. Full details from the publisher's website


Table des matières 

Introduction

Sandra Gorgievski et Martine Yvernault 

Perfection et imperfection  dans Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Colette Stévanovitch 

Aspects magiques, racines celtiques dans Sire Gauvain et le Chevalier vert 

Céline Savatier-Lahondès 

Gawain’s Identity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

Daniel R. Pike 

Sire Gauvain et la catégorisation des vices 

Olivier Simonin 

“Make we mery” at “this hyghe fest”. The Feasting Episodes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

Agnès Blandeau 

Le chasseur et sa proie : jeux et enjeux  dans Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

Martine Yvernault Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Ladies and the Critics

Morgan Dickson 

Gawain’s Strange Landscapes 

Gillian Rudd 

Loveless in a Cold Climate

Claire Vial 

David Lowery’s The Green Knight: A Film Director in Conversation with a Middle English Poem 

Kevin J. Harty

Table des matières Bande-son, paysages sonores et effets de sens : la partition de The Green Knight  

Sandra Gorgievski 

From “Not Ready Yet” to  “Ready Now?” Narrative Confusion  and Gawain’s Characterization in David Lowrey’s The Green Knight 

Richard Burt 

« Remember, it is only a game ». Jeu et illusion dans The Green Knight 

Justine Breton 

« Coaxing Gawain and his poem back into the Pennines » :  Quelques processus de nordisation 

Claire Hélie 

Les auteurs 


Saturday, April 27, 2024

Trendy on The Green Knight

From the latest number of Arthuriana comes more on The Green Knight:

Tredy, Dennis. "‘The forme to the fynisment foldes ful selden’ (l.499): A Comparison of David Lowery’s Screenplay and His 2021 Film Adaptation The Green Knight." Arthuriana, vol. 34 no. 1, Spring 2024, pp. 21-44. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2024.a924597.


Abstract:

This study closely compares David Lowery’s film The Green Knight to his 2018 screenplay, detailing the many changes he made during two months of filming in 2019 and in post-production. These include changes due to location choices and budget, those regarding Lowery’s use of literary and cinematic subtexts, those made to his main characters (both male and female), and structural modifications distorting the linearity of the storyline. The analysis reveals Lowery’s organic filmmaking techniques, his changing priorities and how one’s vision at the outset of such an endeavor does indeed seldom match its final form.


Saturday, February 17, 2024

Aronstein and Finke on Mrs. Davis

From the latest Arthuriana:

Aronstein, Susan and Laurie Finke. Review of Mrs. Davis, by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. Arthuriana, vol. 33 no. 4, 2023, p. 68-70. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2023.a915339.



Narayanan on The Green Knight

 From a recent issue of Arthuriana:

Narayanan, Tirumular (Drew). "'Why is He Indian?': Missed Opportunities for Discussing Race in David Lowery's The Green Knight (2021)." Arthuriana, vol. 33 no. 3, Fall 2023, p. 36-59. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/art.2023.a910870.

Abstract:

This article explores the depiction of Gawain in The Green Knight (2021). Despite having cast Dev Patel in the starring role, the film avoids any substantive discussion of race in Camelot. By trading in optical diversity alone, it deploys BIPOC bodies without ever telling their stories. (TDN)


Sunday, January 8, 2023

Pugh on The Green Knight

Recently published in Arthuriana. Copies are available by subscription or from Project MUSE, if you're lucky enough to have access.


Pugh, Tison. "Seminal Semiotics and Pornographic Displeasures in David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021)." Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 3, Fall 2022, pp. 41-57. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0030.

Abstract:

In The Green Knight, a cinematic adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, director David Lowery includes a lingering shot of Gawain’s ejaculate. Lowery reframes this pornographic image as an alienating, rather than pleasureful, experience; in so doing, he probes similar themes concerning displeasure’s effects as the Gawain-Poet.




Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Harty on The Green Knight (Again)

More from Kevin J. Harty on The Green Knight:

Harty, Kevin J.. "Notes Towards a Close Reading of David Lowery’s 2021 Film The Green Knight." Journal of the International Arthurian Society, vol. 10, no. 1, 2022, pp. 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1515/jias-2022-0004

Thursday, August 25, 2022

New and Recent from Arthuriana

From recent issues of Arthuriana:

Aronstein, Susan and Taran Drummond. Review of The Green Knight, by David Lowery. Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 90-92. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0030.

Francis, Christina. "Babylon 5, An Arthurian World in Space." Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 3-20. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0023.

Hughes, Shaun F.D. "Some Thoughts on The Northman (2022)." Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 89-101. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0014.

Yri, Kirsten. Review of From Camelot to Spamalot, Musical Retellings of Arthurian Legend on Stage and Screen, by Megan Woller. Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 117-119. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0023.


Friday, June 17, 2022

CFP Out With the Old, In With the New: Changing Trajectories in David Lowery’s The Green Knight (7/30/2022; SAMLA Jacksonville, FL 11/11-13/2022)

This seemed worth cross-posting.

Out With the Old, In With the New: Changing Trajectories in David Lowery’s The Green Knight


source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/06/06/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-changing-trajectories-in-david-lowery%E2%80%99s-the-green

deadline for submissions: July 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
SAMLA: South Atlantic Modern Language Association

contact email:
mcrofton@fit.edu



For close to seven hundred years, Gawain has been a favorite hero in Arthurian myth, especially when it comes to his legendary accomplishments—and faults—in Gawain and the Green Knight. No matter how much readers may root for him in his quest with the Green Knight, many of us can’t help but wonder…what if? All of that changed with David Lowery’s 2021 film, The Green Knight, which presents viewers with an abundance of scenarios that many of us haven’t even anticipated. In doing so, Lowery has forever altered the way scholars approach the medieval poem. This panel seeks to explore some of the most powerful changes Lowery makes to the base text of Gawain and the Green Knight, and what we can learn about the importance—or dangers—of retelling popular stories in new and inventive ways. Please submit a 250 word abstract, a brief bio, and A/V requirements by July 30th to Melissa Crofton at mcrofton@fit.edu.



Last updated June 7, 2022

Thursday, August 12, 2021

The Green Knight Updates

Two updates on The Green Knight:

First, Kevin J. Harty, Arthurian film expert par excellence, has provided a review of the film (spoilers included) for the Medievally Speaking site.  

Second, news broke recently of a one-night, online-screening event (at least in the US) for the film. The cost is $20 for a one-time viewing. More details are at the A24 Screening Room website

Like many, I'd like to see (and own a copy of) the film; however, this option isn't an event I can support, especially assuming the home video version (whenever that releases) will be about the same price (or less). 


Saturday, July 31, 2021

CFP The Green Knight (2021): Key Critical Perspectives (A Roundtable) (9/15/21; ICoMS Kalamazoo 5/9-14/2022)

From the ISSM listserv; posted on behalf of the organizers:


Dear All,

Please see below a CFP for K’zoo 2022 on David Lowery’s new film (which I understand is now out in the US but sadly is not opening in the UK for another fortnight!).

Cheers,

Renée & Valerie


CALL FOR PAPERS

The Green Knight (2021): Key Critical Perspectives (A Roundtable)


The International Society for the Study of Medievalism (ISSM) invites submissions for a sponsored roundtable on David Lowery’s film The Green Knight (2021) for the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, which will take place online from Monday 9 May to Saturday 14 May 2022.

This roundtable seeks participants to identify and discuss an element of Lowery’s long-anticipated film, starring Dev Patel. In short presentations (10 minutes), panelists are invited to consider an element of the film in light of a focal keyword inspired by Medievalism: Key Critical Terms (2014), including: archive, authenticity, authority, Christianity, co-disciplinarity, continuity, feast, gender, genealogy, gesture, gothic, heresy, humor, lingua, love, memory, middle, modernity, monument, myth, play, power, presentism, primitive, purity, race, reenactment, resonance, simulacrum, spectacle, transfer, trauma, and troubadour. 


Submissions of 250-300 WORDS should be made via the Confex Online System no later than Wednesday 15 September 2021. This session is listed under “Session Selection: Roundtables.”


Queries about the session can be sent to Valerie Johnson (vjohnso6@montevallo.edu) and/or Renée Ward (rward@lincoln.ac.uk).


 

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

New Trailer for The Green Knight (2021)

The latest trailer for the upcoming film The Green Knight (2021) was released this week (just in time for Kalamazoo). It looks interesting (cool design for the Green Knight, for example), but I'm not sure how much of it is really true to the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We'll find out together this July, I guess.


Wednesday, January 27, 2021

New from Kevin J Harty

I've been a bit slow catching up (again), but a recent number of Arthuriana includes an updated survey of Arthurian film by Kevin J. Harty. The full citation follows.

Harty, Kevin J. "James Bond, A Grifter, A Video Avatar, and a Shark Walk into King Arthur's Court: The Ever-Expanding Canon of Cinema Arthuriana." Arthuriana, vol. 30 no. 2, 2020, p. 89-121. 

The essay can be accessed by researchers from Project MUSE at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/763924.


Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Sword and the Scoob Update

Warner Bros. has updated the information on the home video release of Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob.

https://www.wbshop.com/collections/movies-and-tv-pre-orders/products/scooby-doo-the-sword-and-the-scoob-dvd

In addition to streaming video, it will also be available
on DVD starting 23 February 2021.

In addition to this news, the they released the cover art seen in this post.

 

Here is the official synopsis of the film:

Scooby-Doo and the gang journey back in time to help King Arthur save his throne from an evil sorceress. While there, Shaggy unwittingly pulls out Excalibur from a nearby stone to cut a block of cheese and now no one is sure who the rightful ruler is! The legendary wizard, Merlin, appears and explains that the throne of Camelot must be determined through TRIAL BY COMBAT! Our heroes pull out all the stops to try and win the tournament, break the witch's hold on King Arthur, and find a way back to the present in this legendary story of Scooby Doo in King Arthur's Court! 

 

 

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Coming Soon: Woller's From Camelot to Spamalot

From Camelot to Spamalot:Musical Retellings of Arthurian Legend on Stage and Screen

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/from-camelot-to-spamalot-9780197511039?q=arthurian&lang=en&cc=us#
 
Megan Woller 

A new look at the Arthurian legend
First book that groups significant works of Arthurian musical adaptations together
Includes discussion of archival material


Paperback, $35.00 (also available as hardcover and ebook)

This item is not yet published. It is available for pre-orders and will ship on 22 March 2021. 

248 Pages

6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches

ISBN: 9780197511039

 


Description

For centuries, Arthurian legend has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry. The ever-shifting, age-old tale of King Arthur and his world is one which depends on retellings for its endurance in the cultural imagination. Using adaptation theory as a framework, From Camelot to Spamalot foregrounds the role of music in selected Arthurian adaptations, examining six stage and film musicals. The book considers how musical versions in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture interpret the legend of King Arthur, contending that music guides the audience to understand this well-known tale and its characters in new and unexpected ways. All of the productions considered include an overtly modern perspective on the legend, intruding and even commenting on the tale of King Arthur. Shifting from an idealistic utopia to a silly place, the myriad notions of Camelot offer a look at the importance of myth in American popular culture. Author Megan Woller's approach, rooted in the literary theory of scholars like Linda Hutcheon, highlights the intertextual connections between chosen works and Arthurian legend. In so doing, From Camelot to Spamalot intersects with and provides a timely contribution to several different fields of study, from adaptation studies and musical theater studies to film studies and Arthurian studies.
 
 

Table of Contents


Acknowledgements 

Introduction 

Part 1: Adapting Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Prelude: Twain as Adapter
Chapter 1: Musical Storytelling and Revision in Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee
Chapter 2: Bing Crosby's Stardom and Legend in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 

Part 2: Adapting T.H. White's The Once and Future King
Chapter 3: Interpretation and Characterization in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot
Chapter 4: Naiveté and the Depiction of Arthur's Childhood in Disney's The Sword in the Stone

Part 3: Monty Python as Adapters
Chapter 5: Parody and the Role of Song in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Chapter 6: Notions of Place, Legend, and Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot 

Conclusion

Archival Collections
Bibliography
Index 
 
 

Author Information


Megan Woller is Director of Liberal Studies and Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Gannon University. Her research interests include film music, musical theater, popular music, and music and gender. She is the author of articles on film musical adaptations in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Adaptations, Music and the Moving Image, and Studies in Musical Theatre
 
 

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Green Knight Teaser

A24 recently released a teaser for its upcoming film The Green Knight.




(My thanks to Rodney Parrish and other members of the Arthurian Popular Culture Discussion List for the head's up.)

Monday, November 4, 2019