ENGL-30018 Medieval Cinema On or about December 28th, 1895 the motion picture era began. Less than two years later, the first medieval film (about Joan of Arc) was made. As many of the early filmmakers were French, perhaps a film about "the Maid of Orleans" was inevitable, but other films about the Middle Ages quickly followed. Some focused on martial and chivalric themes (e.g. The Hidden Fortress and Excalibur). Others (like The Seventh Seal) purported to show the abject Middle Ages in all its pathological barbarity. Still others appropriated the Middle Ages to create a pseudo-medieval feel (Conan the Barbarian, Army of Darkness). In this course, well try to get a handle on why on filmmakers have been entranced (or perhaps even hypnotized) by the medieval period. Along the way well explore how twentieth- and twenty-first century social and political ideologies informed medieval cinema even as modernity was haunted by the Middle Ages. [AH]
- Teacher: Thomas Prendergast