Remaking the Middle Ages--New from McFarland

I recently posted the details of Andrew B. R. Elliott's Remaking the Middle Ages: The Methods of Cinema and History in Portraying the Medieval World to the main society blog. The post can be accessed by clicking here.

A look at the index reveals that Elliott covers the following Arthurian films: Black Knight, Camelot, Dragonheart, Excalibur, First Knight, A Kid in King Arthur's Court, King Arthur, A Knight in Camelot, Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot and Guinevere, Lancelot du Lac, Merlin, Merlin: The Return, Perceval le Gallois, Prince Valiant, Quest for Camelot, Siege of the Saxons, The Sword in the Stone, The Sword of Lancelot, Sword of the Valiant, and Tristan + Isolde. Additional Arthurian films are noted in the filmography.

Michael

Avalon High on iTunes

The recent telefilm Avalon High, which aired earlier this month on The Disney Channel, can now be downloaded from iTunes for $9.99. No official word yet on a DVD release or if/when it might be available for download on Amazon.com.

Early Avalon High Review

The following was posted on EW.com and featured in the 12 November 2010 edition of Entertainment Weekly:

Avalon High

Even by the standards of wholesome movies about teenage reincarnations of King Arthur's court, Avalon High is as silly as cutting down a tree with a herring. Nevertheless, Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected) is a capable lead and the New Zealand locales impress. B-— John Young

The telefilm airs Friday, 12 November, from 8-9:45 PM EST. 

Coming Soon to DVD: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) premieres on DVD and Blu-Ray on 30 November. Here is a selection of trailers and related videos from the official DisneyMovieTrailers Channel on YouTube.

The film features the quest for Merlin's successor in order to defeat Morgan le Fay once and for all.

More on Avalon High from The Disney Channel

An assortment of videos on the upcoming Avalon High from The Disney Channel's YouTube Channel (FYI some of these may repeat earlier posts):

Vampires and the Grail! Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are Undead

Coming to DVD on 2 November: Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are Undead, a film written and directed by Jordan Galland. The official site includes a wealth of details about the film, including the following synopsis that highlights the film's connections to the lore of "undead Arthuriana":

Julian Marsh (Hoffman) is an out of work ladies man who lands a job directing a bizarre adaption of Hamlet. After casting his best friend (Lemche) and his ex-girlfriend (Aoki) in the show, Julian finds himself in the middle of a two thousand year old conspiracy that explains the connection between Shakespeare, the Holy Grail and some seriously sexy vampires. It turns out that the play was actually written by a master vampire named Theo Horace (Ventimiglia) and it's up to Julian to recover the Grail in order to reverse the vampire's curse... If only being undead wasn't so much God-damned fun!

The following trailers are from YouTube:

More on Avalon High

AVALON HIGH Trailer

The Disney Channel has recently posted the trailer for Avalon High on its YouTube channel:




Photos from the film can be viewed at The Disney Channel's MediaNet site, and some additional interviews with the cast have also been posted online: Greg Sulkin and Chris Tavarez.

AVALON HIGH Telefilm Updates

The Disney Channel's Avalon High is now set to premiere on 12 November according to the following press release distributed online:

LEGEND LIVES ON AT AVALON HIGH

BRITT ROBERTSON AND GREGG SULKIN STAR IN DISNEY CHANNEL'S ORIGINAL MOVIE "AVALON HIGH," A MODERN DAY TWIST ON CAMELOT, PREMIERING FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12

"Avalon High," a new Disney Channel Original Movie that puts a contemporary twist on Arthurian legend, premieres FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel and Disney Mobile for Sprint TV, MobiTV and Flo TV. Starring Britt Robertson ("Life Unexpected") and Gregg Sulkin ("Wizards of Waverly Place," Disney Channel UK's "As the Bell Rings"), the movie is based upon the award-winning novel by best-selling author Meg Cabot ("The Princess Diaries"). It follows Allie, a transfer student to Avalon High, who discovers that her new classmates are reincarnations of King Arthur and his Court.

Beginning Friday, October 15, DisneyChannel.com invites users to participate in a weekly "Trivia Challenge" on Arthurian legend. Each week a new set of questions will be released leading up to the premiere. Players must complete all five weeks of trivia to earn virtual gems that will unlock a mystery game.

An exclusive preview of "Avalon High" will be available beginning Friday, November 5, on Disney Channel on Demand to a variety of affiliates including Cablevision, Time Warner and Verizon FiOS TV customers.

In "Avalon High," Allie Pennington is ecstatic when her parents, traveling professors, tell her she will be staying at Avalon High until she graduates. She can finally join the track team, make new friends and be a normal high school student. But shortly after arriving, Allie discovers that something strange may be afoot. While researching a term paper on King Arthur's legacy, she begins to notice some interesting parallels between the past and the present - from handsome quarterback Will, his cheerleader girlfriend, Jen, and their best friend, Lance, to Will's brooding step-brother, Marco, a quirky kid named Miles and football players who act like knights of the roundtable. The deeper Allie searches, the more convinced she is that her school is a contemporary Camelot, and it's up to her to solve the mystery of Avalon High before notorious traitor Mordred wins again.

The movie stars Britt Robertson as Allie Pennington, Gregg Sulkin as Will Wagner, Joey Pollari (Disney XD's "Skyrunners") as Miles, Devon Graye ("Dexter") as Marco, Molly Quinn ("Castle") as Jen, Chris Tavarez ("Big Momma's House 2") as Lance, Don Lake ("The Bonnie Hunt Show") as Allie's Dad and Steve Valentine ("I'm In The Band," "Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie," "Crossing Jordan") as Mr. Moore.

The teleplay, based upon the book written by Meg Cabot, was written by Julie Sherman Wolfe ("JONAS," "Phil of the Future") and Amy Talkington ("Confessions"). "Avalon High" was directed and co-produced by Stuart Gillard (Disney Channel's "Hatching Pete," "90210"); executive produced by Michael Jaffe ("The Informant!") and Howard Braunstein ("The Informant!") and produced by Janine Dickins ("Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior," "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive"). "Avalon High" is a production of Sudden Motion Productions, Inc. and Ranger Productions Ltd.

Disney Channel is a 24-hour kid-driven, family television network that taps into the world of kids and families through original series and movies. Currently available on basic cable in over 99 million U.S. homes and to millions of other viewers on Disney Channels around the world, Disney Channel is part of the Disney/ABC Television Group.

CFP: 23rd International Arthurian Congress (10/1/10; Bristol, UK 7/25-30/11)

Arthurian Congress 2011
XXIIIrd Triennial Congress of the International Arthurian Society - Bristol, 25-30 July 2011
(complete details at http://www.bris.ac.uk/medievalcentre/arthur/english/index_html)

Conference Location

We are pleased to announce that the 23rd International Congress of the International Arthurian Society will be hosted by the University of Bristol, 25 - 30 July 2011.

Bristol is a thriving city in the South-West of England with a rich medieval history. It has many attractions, medieval and modern, and is ideally located for excursions to places associated with the Arthurian legend, and also to major tourist attractions such as the cities of Bath, Wells and Hereford.

All congress lectures and papers will take place in the University’s imposing Wills Memorial Building, right in the middle of Bristol’s bustling city centre. In addition to a wide range of nearby hotels and a YHA Youth Hostel, cheap single-room accommodation (not en-suite) is available in Clifton Hill House, an attractive student hall of residence in the picturesque area of Clifton, within easy walking distance of the university’s Wills Memorial Building.

Conference Themes and Call for Papers

The conference themes are as follows:

Arthurian ideals and identities.
Late Arthurian romance.
Narrative techniques and styles.
Arthurian manuscripts and early printed editions.
Arthurian images and iconography.
The supernatural and spirituality in the Arthurian world.

If you would like to present a paper on one of the conference themes, please send a brief title and a summary not exceeding 250 words to reach the organisers by 1 October 2010 at the latest; indicate which of the conference themes you wish to address by assigning it the number of the corresponding theme (nos. 1-6). Papers should if possible fit one (or more) of the themes, but if your proposal does not, please assign it the number 7. We also ask you to provide the following personal information: name; affiliation; postal address; e-mail address; number of people accompanying you; where you are thinking of staying (hotel/ youth hostel or University student accommodation).

We also invite proposals for organised sessions and Round Tables linked to the conference themes, both restricted to 90 minutes in length. To propose a Round Table, please send us a brief description of the topic you wish to explore, along with the names and personal details (as above) of at least two members of the society who have already agreed to offer short introductory contributions, and the number of the relevant conference theme.

To propose a session, please send us a brief rationale for the session, the number of the relevant conference theme, and the names and personal details (as above) of those members of the society who have agreed to contribute a paper to the session, and summaries of each of the papers. Sessions should consist of either two or three papers. Proposals for both Round Tables and organised sessions should be submitted to the organisers by 1 September 2010 at the latest.

Please send all proposals for papers, Round Tables, and organised sessions by e-mail to Arthur-2011@bristol.ac.uk

If you do not use e-mail, please send your proposal by post either to Professor Elizabeth Archibald or to Professor Ad Putter, English Department, University of Bristol, 5 Woodland Road, Bristol, England, BS8 1TB, marking your envelope with the phrase ‘Arthur2011’.


Sessions and Excursions

The conference will feature five plenary lectures, given by a truly international range of leading Arthurian scholars:

Bart Besamusca (University of Utrecht)
Siân Echard (University of British Columbia)
Christine Ferlampin-Acher (University of Rennes)
Helen Fulton (University of York)
Andrew Lynch (University of Western Australia)

There will be excursions to sites of Arthurian and medieval interest including Caerleon, Glastonbury, and Hereford.

In addition, we will be holding several masterclasses for postgraduate students, including one on publishing, and one on Arthurian texts in need of further study.

Kalamazoo Session Cancelled

I am sorry to report that our co-sponsored session "Arthurian Villains on Film: Studies in Commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of John Boorman’s Excalibur" has been cancelled due to under-whelming interest in the topic. This it the second year in a row that we have had to cancel a session.

CFP: Images of Women in Film and Media -- Spec. Issue of MP: An Online Feminist Journal (9/21/10)

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=176422

CFP: Images of Women in Film and Media
Call for Papers Date: 2010-09-21
Date Submitted: 2010-05-25
Announcement ID: 176422

Women in film:
We've come a long way, baby! Or have we? MP journal seeks submissions that explore the ways Women/Femininity/Female agency are depicted in visual media such as video games, television, film, animation (anime), comic books, graphic novels, or any other visual depictions. MP Journal welcomes academic papers, book reviews, and other well-written inquiries from a feminist perspective on modern visual representations of women. International submissions are encouraged. Submissions may be in any accepted academic format such as MLA, APA, Legal Bluebook, or Chicago Style but must be consistent throughout and thoroughly and carefully edited. Please send the submission, a 50 word bio, and a CV to Lynda_hinkle@yahoo.com before midnight September 21, 2010.

lynda_hinkle@yahoo.com
Email: lynda_hinkle@yahoo.com
Visit the website at http://academinist.org/mp

Avalon High official press release from The Disney Channel

It seems The Disney Channel issued an updated press release along with the recent photos. Here it is:

Britt Robertson ("Life Unexpected") and Gregg Sulkin ("Wizards of Waverly Place," Disney Channel UK's "As the Bell Rings") star in "Avalon High," the fantastical Disney Channel Original Movie that brings Arthurian legend alive at a contemporary high school. Based upon the award-winning novel written by best-selling author Meg Cabot ("The Princess Diaries"), the movie follows Allie Pennington, a transfer student to Avalon High, who discovers that her new classmates are reincarnations of King Arthur and his Court.

"Avalon High" will premiere in November 2010 on Disney Channel in the U.S., and shortly thereafter on Disney Channels worldwide.

When Allie's parents, traveling professors who specialize in King Arthur's legend, tell her she will be staying at Avalon High until she graduates, she is ecstatic. She can finally join the track team, make new friends and be a normal high school student. But shortly after arriving, Allie discovers that something strange may be afoot.

While researching a term paper for Mr. Moore's history class on King Arthur's legacy, Allie learns about 'The Order of the Bear,' an ancient organization that believes King Arthur will one day be reincarnated and when he is truly needed, will bring the world into a new age of enlightenment. The Order of the Bear members search for potential Arthurs in each and every generation but are met with opposition by the Dark Forces, led by the reincarnation of Mordred, who are determined to find the next Arthur and destroy him before he can realize the prophecy. If Arthur isn't found in time, Mordred will send the world back into the dark ages.

Allie soon begins to notice some interesting parallels between the past and the present – from handsome quarterback Will Wagner, his cheerleader girlfriend Jen, and their best friend Lance, to Will's brooding step-brother Marco, a quirky kid named Miles and football players who act like knights of the roundtable. The deeper Allie searches, the more convinced she is that her school is a contemporary Camelot, and it's up to her to solve the mystery of Avalon High before notorious traitor Mordred wins again.

The movie stars Britt Robertson as Allie Pennington, Gregg Sulkin as Will Wagner, Joey Pollari (Disney XD's "Skyrunners") as Miles, Devon Graye ("Dexter") as Marco, Molly Quinn ("Castle") as Jen, Chris Tavarez ("Big Momma's House 2") as Lance, Don Lake ("The Bonnie Hunt Show") as Allie's Dad and Steve Valentine ("I'm In The Band," "Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie," "Crossing Jordan") as Mr. Moore.

The teleplay, based upon the book written by Meg Cabot, was written by Julie Sherman Wolfe ("JONAS," "Phil of the Future") and Amy Talkington ("Confessions"). "Avalon High" was directed and co-produced by Stuart Gillard (Disney Channel's "Hatching Pete," "90210"); executive produced by Michael Jaffe ("The Informant!") and Howard Braunstein ("The Informant!") and produced by Janine Dickins ("Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior," "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive"). "Avalon High" is a production of Sudden Motion Productions, Inc. and Ranger Productions Ltd. It carries a TV-G rating.

More on Avalon High

The Entertainment Corner blog has an online interview with actor Anthony Ingruber, who plays Sean, on of Will and Lance's football teammates, in the film. He comments mostly on how bad he was as a football player.

Chris Tavarez, who plays Lance. offers significantly more details in his interview for DisneyInfoNet. He comments on his preparation for filming (including sword training) and one his affinity with the character of Lance. He includes the following plot summary in an interview for Moderation.com:

The movie Avalon High follows Allie Pennington. She’s a transfer student who ends up at Avalon High. When she makes some new friends, she finds out they are reincarnations of King Arthur and his Court. My character is Lance. I play a football player, real popular in the town, everyone knows me….I’m a great kid. I am best friends with the hot and hunky Will Wagner, who is played by Gregg Sulkin, the quarterback of the team. I’m best friends with him and his girlfriend, who’s a cheerleader. Everything sounds perfect until I have a little thing with his girlfriend behind his back, which definitely brings a little twist into the situation. And we’re in the middle of a football championship and trying to make the town proud. There’s definitely a lot of drama in the movie.

Steve Valentine who plays Mr. Moore also offers some comments in an online interview for The New Zealand Herald but offers little details on the film.

Avalon High -- more from Sulkin

Here's another video interview with Sulkin from YouTube:

Avalon High pictures

I found some downloadable pictures of the cast. In order, here are Jen, Marco, Allie, Will, Lance, Miles, and Mr. Moore in the back.

Avalon High comments from Arthur himself

English actor Greg Sulkin, who plays A. William "Will" Wagner, the reincarnation of King Arthur, in the upcoming telefilm Avalon High offers some brief comments on the film in the following online video for PopStarMagazine:

Avalon High pictures posted

The Disney Dreaming web site has a series of informal cast shots of the actors featured in the upcoming Disney Channel film Avalon High based on the best-selling young adult novel by Meg Cabot. Images can be accessed at http://www.disneydreaming.com/2010/07/31/disney-channel-avalon-high-pictures/.

According to the accompanying information, there also appears to be two new characters, Miles and Sean, being introduced but it is unknown at this time if they too are reincarnations of an Arthurian figure like A. William "Will" Wagner (Arthur), Elle Harrison (Lady of the Lake) (called Allie Pennington here), Lance (Lancelot) (now of African descent [like Guinevere in the BBC1's Merlin), Jenny (Guinevere) (called Jen here), Marco (Mordred), and Mr. Morton (Merlin) (called Mr. Moore here).

CFP: Critical Explorations of the Sword and Sandal Film (10/1/10)

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=177777

Critical Explorations of the Sword and Sandal Film [UPDATE]
Publication Date: 2010-10-01
Date Submitted: 2010-07-27
Announcement ID: 177777

Critical Explorations of the Sword and Sandal Film – Call for Papers The sword and sandal film, or the peplum (as it is known in Italy, where the genre originated,) has been a part of movie lore since at least 1914, when the character of Maciste debuted in the Italian silent epic Cabiria. Pepla have remained a part of cinema ever since, with stories derived from barbarian and gladiator tales or Biblical and mythological origins. Most of these movies are infused with similar tropes: low technology warfare (hence the swords and sandals,) beautiful and scantily clad women, oppressive political states, a casual (yet oft interesting) relationship to history, and a surfeit of action and violence. Mostly, though, sword and sandal epics are known for their heroes, men with hyperstimulated musculature who tend to grunt and smash their way through much of the narrative. These films celebrate the excess of the masculine, reveling in depictions of male flesh and distinctly male aspects that distinguishes the genre from any other. Hundreds of these films have been produced in Italy alone, though the more famous incarnations to North American audiences have been produced since 1980, including the Conan the Barbarian series, the Beastmaster series, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy, and Zack Snyder’s 300. Currently, the genre is enjoying a renaissance, with numerous variations forthcoming: the remake of The Clash of the Titans, Centurion, and The Prince of Persia will all be released in theaters in 2010, and on television, Starz network has already renewed their original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Despite the proliferation of these movies, however, little critical exploration has been done on these films, especially on the nature of the genre as a whole. This collection works to correct that oversight. This work hopes to examine the genre’s relationships to masculinity, sex and sexuality, women, and violence and explore critical issues that take seed in individual films, in series, or in the genre as a whole.
While articles may be written on any film that qualifies as a sword and sandal epic (if you are unsure about a particular movie or television series, please query,) the collection hopes to emphasize more recent works.
Works explored may include, but are certainly not limited to, FILMS
300 (2007)
Alexander (2004)
Barbarian Master (1984)
Barbarians and Company, The (1987)
Beastmaster (1982, and its sequels)
Centurion (2010)
Clash of the Titans (1981, 2010)
Conan the Barbarian (1982, and its sequel)
Gladiator (2000)
Hercules (1983, starring Lou Ferrigno, and its sequels)
Hercules (1997, Disney)
Ironmaster (1983)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Masters of the Universe (1987)
Prince of Persia, The (2010)
Red Sonja (1985)
She (1982)
Thor the Conqueror (1983)
Troy (2004)
The Italian Hercules, Maciste, Samson, Goliath, or Ursus series of pepla
TELEVISION
Spartacus: Sand and Blood
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (in its varying incarnations)
Thundarr the Barbarian
Editor Michael G. Cornelius is co-editor of Nancy Drew and Her Sister Sleuths: Essays on the Fiction of Girl Detectives (McFarland 2008), sole editor of The Boy Detectives: Essays on the Hardy Boys and Other Novels (McFarland 2010), and the author of numerous other works. Please send completed articles of around 5000-8000 words to the editor at the e-mail address below on or before OCTOBER 1, 2010. All articles should adhere to MLA style and citations. Please use endnotes, not footnotes (and use them sparingly.) Send questions via e-mail only. If you are unsure whether or not your article would fit the collection, please send an abstract of 500 words to the editor via e-mail as well. Please e-mail for style sheet. This collection is currently under contract.

Dr. Michael G. Cornelius
Chair, Department of English and Mass Communications
Wilson College
1015 Philadelphia Ave.
Chambersburg, PA 17201

Email: mcornelius@wilson.edu

August Updates

July was a rough month, and I've fallen very far behind on things. But, I'm going to try and upload a series of posts today on this blog and our related blogs in the interests of catching up a little bit.