King Arthur in Marvel's Luke Cage on Netflix

Guest Post by Scott Manning

References to King Arthur occur in the recently released season 2 of Marvel's Luke Cage on Netflix. In episode one, Cage and others attempt to determine who is the likely buyer of weapons, working off the vague reference El Tercero, which they track down to Arturo Gomez, a Dominican gangster.

After looking at older photos, one of Cage’s friends recognizes the face, “This guy’s on TV 24/7. Arturo Gomez the third.” He opens a paper to reveal an ad for “Magical Markdowns” at Merlin Discount Furniture.

Cage immediately appreciates the lead, realizing Arturo Gomez changed his last name to Rey and reinvented himself with a “legitimate” business.

One of Cage’s friends tries to connect the dots with the rebranding, “Merlin? Arturo Rey?”
The group realizes the connection at the same time and exclaims, “King Arthur!” as Arturo Rey translates from Spanish to Arthur King.

“Sometimes the answer’s right in front of you,” concludes Cage.

Eventually, Cage goes to confront King Arthur in a warehouse district, possibly the furthest thing from Camelot.

-Scott Manning (@warpath)

CFP Magic and Witchcraft on Stage and Screen Panel (6/27/2018; PAMLA 11/9-11/2018)

Extended deadline: Magic and Witchcraft on Stage and Screen
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/01/extended-deadline-magic-and-witchcraft-on-stage-and-screen

deadline for submissions: June 27, 2018

full name / name of organization: Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA)

contact email: lgreene@ewu.edu



Deadline extended to June 27, 2018


Proposals are invited for a Special Session of PAMLA (Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association) 2018, which will meet November 9-11, 2018, in Bellingham, Washington. The conference theme is “Acting, Roles, Stages,” and we will be contributing papers on ways in which magic and witchcraft have been represented dramatically over the centuries.


In the 400 years between Macbeth and Harry Potter, the image of the witch has become more appealing and less frightening, more popular culture and less cultural nightmare. Magic has lost its association with conjuring demons and is portrayed as an innate or acquired skill, more mysterious than playing the piano but maybe not essentially different. Witches are not wicked, and magic is not a tool of the devil. This is a huge cultural shift.


This panel invites speakers in the fields of history, anthropology, drama, film, literature, and religious studies, as well as practitioners of magic and witchcraft, to contribute to our understanding of these phenomena and their changing roles in contemporary culture. Topics from film, drama, and literature might include but are not limited to the following:

• Macbeth
• Bell, Book, and Candle
• Bewitched
• Harry Potter
• The Craft
• Practical Magic

Panel participants must join PAMLA BY July 1, 2018, and must register and pay for the conference by October 1, 2018. Please submit proposals through the PAMLA website at www.pamla.org.

Trollhunters

The streaming video series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (Netflix, 2016-2018), produced by DreamWorks TV, includes a number of Arthurian elements and features both Merlin and Morgan le Fay as major characters. The following videos introduce the series, illustrate Merlin's initial influence (and allude to another iconic element of the Matter of Britain, and (lastly) preview the third and final season where Merlin returns and Morgana (looking a bit like DC Comics' version) is revealed.

Entzminger on Army of Darkness

I came across reference to the following article the other day. It should be accessible eventually from JSTOR.

Entzminger, Betina. "Fin de Siecle anxieties and cave endings: Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness." Mark Twain Journal. Spring-Fall, 2017, Vol. 55 Issue 1-2, p100, 13 p.

The publisher includes a synopsis, by guest editor Joseph Csicsila, (posted at http://www.marktwainjournal.com/volume_55A_springandfall.html) as follows:

Betina Entzminger adds to the discussion regarding the influence of Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court on Sam Raimi's 1992 film Army of Darkness. Having discovered that Raimi's original ending for the film (which was changed when the studio requested a more upbeat conclusion) resembles Twain's penultimate Sand-Belt scene with its discordantly dark tone and its cave setting, Entzminger suggests that both works reflect fin de siecle anxieties about the impact of new technologies in a rapidly changing world.