Arthurian Film Studies

This essay highlights the similarities between Merlin and his brother wizards in contemporary popular culture. Sections explore the iconography associated with these characters and their narrative role as guides and mentors to heroes, a discussion that further refines ideas presented in "Merlin Goes to the Movies: The Changing Role of Merlin in Cinema Arthuriana" (1999).

Published in The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, edited by Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray, McFarland, 2004, pp. 167-91. ISBN  978-0786419265 (paperback); 978-0786427031 (ebook).

Paper presented at The Third Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium, a mini-conference within the overall convention framework of NecronomiCon Providence: The International Festival of Weird Fiction, Art, and Academia. Providence, RI. 18 August 2017.

Biography and abstract posted in the program on pages 6 through 7.

Comprehensive (at the time) survey of the representations of Merlin on screen. The second file includes the stills that accompanied the listing.

Published in 1999 Film & History CD-ROM Annual, edited by Peter C. Rollins, John E. O’Connor, and Deborah A. Carmichael, Film & History, 1999, 31 pp. ISBN 0-641775-6-8.

Presented as part of “New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen (Roundtable),” session sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture under the Medieval & Renaissance Area for the 28th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Sonesta Hotel Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 10 November 2017.

The French TV series Kaamelott (M6, 2005-2010) seems to solve the paradox of representing never
ending wars and a culture of violence through a light and humorous tone, which is characteristic
of this short comic program for the whole family. This series of medieval inspiration develops a
constant martial theme, but tones it down by a comical aesthetic and structure. Through the
story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Kaamelott consists in a parody and
proposes a burlesque point of view on both warfare and the armies’ role. Arthurian military
power is mainly developed in a humoristic way. Thus, war is the very heart of the series but is
never directly pictured: through linguistic and thematic diversions, laughter and ridicule
substitute themselves to the context of military violence. Consequently, Kaamelott underlines the
fact that creating comedy while representing war necessarily implies a diversion from conflict, a
desacralization of a superficial and suggested violence.


Comment représenter des guerres incessantes ainsi qu’un constant climat de violence dans un
programme comique court dédié à un large public ? C’est le dilemme brillamment relevé par la
série télévisée Kaamelott (M6 , 2005-2010), dans la lignée des grands succès comiques du cinéma
français. Par le choix d’une logique et d’une esthétique du rire, Alexandre Astier, créateur de
cette série française d’inspiration médiévale, développe un thème martial permanent, bien que
sans cesse mis à distance. À travers l’histoire du roi Arthur et de ses chevaliers de la Table ronde,
la série se fait parodie, dans une perspective burlesque qui remet en question à la fois
l’importance martiale et la place accordées aux armées. Le pouvoir militaire arthurien est ici
développé au prisme d’une prépondérance humoristique. Ainsi, si la guerre se situe au coeur de la
série, c’est sans jamais apparaître à l’écran : par un certain nombre de détournements,
principalement thématiques et linguistiques, le rire et la caricature se substituent au contexte de
violence guerrière. Par conséquent, Kaamelott souligne le fait que créer le rire en mettant en
scène la guerre implique nécessairement la mise à distance de tout conflit, ainsi que la
désacralisation puis la dédramatisation d’une violence qui n’est dès lors que suggérée.


Justine Breton, « « Rire et faire rire de la guerre : Kaamelott (M6, 2005-2010) ou la mise à distance du
conflit » », TV/Series [En ligne], 10 | 2016, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2016, consulté le 01 décembre
2016. URL : http://tvseries.revues.org/1796

Explores three prominent narrative roles for the character of Merlin in Arthurian films. Topics covered are Merlin as teacher (The Sword in the Stone and Kids of the Round Table), Merlin as king-/kingdom-maker (Excalibur and Guinevere), and Merlin as lover (Arthur the King/Merlin and the Sword). (I refined my thinking on Merlin on screen in my 2004 essay “The Way of the Wizard: Reflections of Merlin on Film”.)

The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain is pleased to announce the re-launching of our two discussion lists at Groups.io following the recent decision by Yahoo! to delete all content from Yahoo! Groups.

Our message archive has been saved and transferred to Groups.io, and new discussions have begun.

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Employing a three-part classification system, this piece offers a comprehensive discussion of the use of the figure of Mordred and his legend in Arthurian-themed film and television productions.

Published in Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays, edited by Kevin J. Harty, revised edition, McFarland, 2002 (pb. 2009), pp. 199-210. ISBN 978-0786413447 (hardcover); 978-0-7864-4683-4 (paperback).

Published in “The Arthurian Legend in Literature, Popular Culture, and the Performing Arts, 2004-2008,” edited by Raymond H. Thompson and Norris J. Lacy. Arthurian Literature vol. 26, 2009, pp. 171-214. ISBN 978-1-84384-211-8. (This listing is the fifth supplement to The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, edited by Norris J. Lacy, Garland, 1991.)

More Middle Ages on Screen? Reconsidering The Reel Middle Ages (A Roundtable)
Sponsored by the Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
51st International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
12-15 May 2016
Proposals due by 15 September 2015

Presented as part of “Arthurian Wastelands (A Roundtable),” sponsored by the International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB), organized by Kevin Whetter of Arcadia University. 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies. Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo, MI. 10 May 2021. Virtual event.

The Monstrous Matter of Britain is a blog sponsored by The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain. This site was founded in 2012 and is devoted to furthering discussion and debate of the monsters and the monstrous of the Arthurian tradition from its medieval origins to the present and in all media in which Arthuriana appears

The representation of Arthurian subjects in film has received a great deal of attention, yet the cinema's small-screen sibling is often overlooked. The serialization of Arthurian subjects on television, however, raises important questions about sequentiality and the ways in which we re-imagine Arthurian worlds.