Woe be the Day Where it All Ends

                                                      The King In Disney's Tangled

Every great reign has got to come to an end, and it seems that the end of the King Arthur class will be included in this great ending. I will miss this class and everything it was able to teach me about the man and the legend. It explored the depths of the beloved king who I grew up with in writing and through the screen of the television. He was the king that I thought all kings were supposed to be like, and as a small girl of eight watching Quest for Camelot, I thought that our country should also have a king like Arthur. Even when my mom explained that not all kings were good I did not believe her. Even as a kid, I still swore loyalty to King Arthur and even though he was not tangible, his beliefs and charisma had captured the heart of that little girl and continues to hold it to this day. So I was overjoyed to find and take this class on my beloved Medieval King, read about something that was consistently present through my life, and analyze texts for their relevance and believability.  

               

               

                        Tristan (top) and Galahad (bottom) in the King Arthur movie 2004

When I first began this class I thought that I really would not learn much more about a topic that I was well versed in. I believed that King Arthur was just one man with many knights, an evil son, a weird sister, a magical wizard, a loose wife, and a great kingdom. However, there are many faces and portrayals to the King Arthur legend and the king himself. Overall,  I enjoyed learning about his fellow knights the most. This is why the reading of Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory was my favorite reading of the class this semester. This is depicted above with Galahad and Tristan (or Tristram) as they fight their way to victory. I enjoyed hearing about the men who protect the king and are usually left in the shadow of Arthur or the other two well known knights: Lancelot and Gawain. In Malory's book he explores two knights that I had barely heard of before and it refreshing because with the new knights that I was learning about, there was a new adventure and story. There was a grail of greatness and a religious aspect to King Arthur that had nothing to do with war and defending God through combat. Also, Galahad was Lancelot's son, which frankly, I never read about the knights of the Round Table having children. There is a story of a boy of relatively noble birth fighting for greatness and honor without revealing his name because he had killed the son of the liege who he stayed with to heal. So Sir Tristram and his secretive name Tramtrist was a humourous and exciting twist on the King Arthur legend. It delves into the mind of a man and his journey to become a knight, much like the story of the Grail and how Galahad had refrained from fighting and sin to achieve holy goodness. They were exciting stories because they were new, and different, and although they were dry at times, I liked their message and story!

             

                                           Arthur's death  in the TV show Merlin

Although this class has explored the many faces of Arthur, including the child, teenager, adult, and old man who explored different gateways and personality traits like being righteous, honorable, lazy, ambitious, dependent, and wise I have realized that in the end, Arthur always dies. That he is human and not a machine that keeps going into time and space as an immortal shell of a man. He dies from flesh wounds just as his men do, and that makes him real, a leader that risks his life, and can die by the hand of a sword. Just like he is depicted in the Merlin series above; Arthur dies and his good friend Merlin watches him drift off as preparations for his Viking funeral. However, besides getting to read about Arthur's knights and their stories on becoming a chivalrous representation of the Round Table (and sometimes not) I was really happy to see this vulnerable side to Arthur. Although he may have Excalibur, steel armour, and a barrier of knights defending him he still fell because he was still a man who bled. The difference between Arthur and other kings also became apparent through this class. Arthur wanted a kingdom full of people; not an empty kingdom full of wives and children waiting for fathers, brothers, and sons to come back from a battlefield.   

Arthur Visits the Big Apple

Reading Knight Life, I was blown away at how the author managed to blend this traditional fantasy with all of its magic and place it in the setting of a New York mayoral election. People really seem to like this guy, he keeps popping up in all different kinds of places.

I really liked how he fleshed out some of the characters. I always hated Gwen, just like all of you guys, but when she comes to Arthur's rescue when he's getting questioned about his past, I thought it was politically savvy how she deflected it. Even Merlin had to admit. She's also supposed to be really hot, that's why they use her voice for the commercial. It's sad that beauty and female power are linked in our society, but if that's the way it is, I could see Gwen's brains and looks taking her really far in modern politics. Nowadays you've got power couples; like Bill and Hilary, except Gwen and Arthur probably are much more attractive (and Hilary scares me more than Gwen)
I also loved Merlin, I kept picturing him as this quick-witted little kid spitting some game and overall being a smart ass. Take for instance when he tells Gwen that if a bunch of monkeys banging on type writers could by chance reproduce Shakespeare, then she could organize a press conference. It's funny because even Arthur says that he and Gwen agree on more things than they realize. They're just so antagonistic even though they're obviously good at playing the political game.
We then have an Arthur-Merlin-Gwen triangle, which to me is a battle of Gwen and Merlin for Arthur's attention. I think Merlin really loves Arthur, he watched him grow up, while he grew young. And he's probably wondering why in the hell Gwen and Arthur are even a thing anymore since the whole last fiasco.... But Arthur, for some god knows what reason, went right back to her.... Kinda reminds me of that offspring song, low self esteem, but this is King Arthur were talking about and he could just be that forgiving.... Poor guy

As for whether he would be a good candidate for mayor, I think we as a society like to say we want a person in office that is above party politics and says what he means, but I don't think he would be able to cope with the realities of running a city. For one, he won't even delegate power in simple matters, like a speech writer. If he spends all his time worrying about writing speeches and keeping to his integrity, he won't have time to deal with the real issues of how to rule. I like some of his ideas and his common sense approach to situations, and they way he connects with people, but ultimately I don't think he would be a good politician today. 

So anyways, I love how there was all this magic occurring regularly throughout the story, like Arthur living in a castle in Central Park, and nobody noticed. It seems like you have to have faith in magic to recognize it even when it's right there in front of you. I just think it's ridiculous nobody out there went.... Wait, huh??!? I mean, Arthur Penn, Gwen Queen, Percival..... Nobody asked questions it was very casual.

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Free will and fate in "Prose Merlin"

Merlin is a character who has always fascinated me. I was first exposed to him as a kid watching Sword in the Stone, so I had the typical Disney image of the guy. Reading the early welsh sources and geoffrey, but especially Prose Merlin, I've gotten to know a darker, more complex Merlin. I'm especially interested in how he symbolizes the importance of magic and mystical world views in the Middle Ages, especially regarding fate and miracles. This blog post is basically going to talk about Merlin's character, and how the story is centered around destiny, but there are elements of free will woven throughout the narrative.

In a lot of ways this class has overlapped a lot with my Celts to Vikings class, and one thing I've really noticed is that these societies in the Middle Ages were really fatalistic. It was especially strong in the British isles, and a lot of these stories harken back to earlier celtic tales with similar themes (ex: the beheading game in GGK is a retelling of an ancient Irish story of Cu  Chulainn doing the same thing with a giant at Bricrui's feast). So it makes sense that ideas about destiny, and the importance of prophesy (funny how things turn out) would be major themes in stories about Arthur and Merlin. Even though there's celtic elements, they're also told to a Christian audience, so it's fascinating to see how all these different threads are being woven together. There's a mingling of Pagan and Christian, and destiny vs free will, all woven into Merlin's character, that to me makes him  such a badass. Like you have all this supposed dichotomy, existing in one character. And he's actually not batshitcrazy.... I mean he's the councilor to kings after all. I think this also applies to the society at large and their different ideas about free will and fate, and a dual pagan/Christian heritage.

So in chapter one, the demons are all complaining about everybody getting baptized, saying "Don't you know...that he has them all washed in water in his name?...we have now lost them all through this washing, so that we have no power over them unless they choose to come back to us." This to me is really indicative of free will, and it's the heart of most Christian denomination(minus those that believe in predestination). People are born in sin, and through their conscious choice follow Jesus. That's score one for free will.

 So after this, we have the plot to make Merlin. They want to make a guy with "his teachings like those sorcerers and wizards who used to be with us, whose prophesies we knew were false." So they conceive him on a virtuous young girl and give him the power to know all things. I just love how the writer portrays the demons. They're just really narcissistic and vain, sitting around scheming how to let everybody know how intelligent they are. It kind of reminds me of the cast from always sunny. And then God steps in, and he actually seems to be a really nice guy, he even doesn't want the devils work to be all for nothing, so he lets him have his way, but gives him the power of prophesy too. At the same time, he also makes note that God gave the child the ability to CHOOSE which path he would take. Even if Merlin's got all these powers, he's like us in that we gotta choose, and even he can't escape fate. Weird...

 It seems to me the only entity in the universe that isn't subject to fate is God himself. All those prophesies, yeah that's him being omniscient like some shit. So on the one hand, we are all subject to fate, cause obviously this is a society that takes literally the power of prophesy, miracles, and magic.... But at the same time it's very clear that we have the ability to distinguish between good and evil.... So the two concepts must exist in some kind of harmony, like Ragnarok.... They conflict but they ultimately kind of spring from the same source.

And when it comes to Merlin, a highly articulate hairy wild child who grows up to be a councilor to Uther and Arthur, erects stone henge, and makes prophesies about three fold deaths is a pretty interesting result from fate and free wills love child.

Another thing I wanted to point out is that those "sorcerers and wizards" are probably Druids. In celtic Britain, and a lot of continental Europe, these guys practiced a mysterious polytheistic religion  tied to a mystical understanding of the land and universe, that we really don't know very much about
 because they trained for 20 years gathering all this secret knowledge (herd-lore,astronomy, idiots guide to building a mysterious megalithic monument) and possessed no written records. It was all oral tradition. And these guys made prophesies, and they were important public figures in ancient britain who constituted a special class. They were advisors to kings and chieftains, ate at their banquets, and were believed to possess supernatural powers.they were also masterful poets and bards. That pagan society was also really fatalistic. They believed the world was governed by fate, that there was power and doors to other worlds in rivers and wells and trees, and though they believed in an otherworld, it was a place of eternal youth and beauty..... There really wasn't any idea of hell.

 After the arrival of Christianity, the Druids died out but the bards lived on and carried on some of those old beliefs about mysticism. They became folklore, like fairies and green knights. The monks, like saint Columba, took on the religious role and performed miracles and advised kings and made prophecies. Merlin's this character that seems almost put of place. Like it's a story that's been Christianized, but Merlin as a hairy wild man living in some swamp in Wales tripping
 on some badass mushrooms or ayahuasca telling a bunch of tribal celts what to do  is what I'm
getting out of this. He has this background story, and combines elements of the court Druid, the
poetic bard, and even reminds me of figures I've learned about like saint Patrick or Columba. So there's a synthesis of all these seemingly contradictory parts, and we see them all working in unison.

Any other ideas on this? Like how you see Merlin, or the conflict between fate and free will? I saw Ruth's post and it got me thinking

Forget Me Not

           So I was thinking more about future films of Arthur, and I decided to put more effort into my idea about a film. I thought it would be a good idea to create a film where a less fortunate child finds an item that links Arthur to him so that Arthur can visit the kid and give him guidance to become the man Arthur has a reputation for.

            I basically started thinking of actors and actresses who could be the main characters of my film. The main characters would be the boy, his mom, and Arthur. I chose two actors for the boy because there is a younger version and an older version, but not super old. The older version would be like high school to college age. So here are my decisions:

Jackson Brundage as the younger boy

Alexander Ludwig as the young adult version

Gerard Butler as King Arthur

Gwyneth Paltrow as the mother

            The story starts off with the struggles of growing up with no father figure as well as his mother struggling to raise him by herself. The kid would not be considered part of the popular crowd, but he wasn’t a loser either. He gets through middle school, but his childhood catches up with him, and he starts to have problems with controlling his anger and other actions. His grades are fine, but his character is lacking virtue. Everyone starts to notice his self-destruction on the lacrosse field where he loses his head more than he loses the ball. One day while he’s shopping for a new lacrosse stick, he finds one he can’t take his eyes off of. All the kids on his team have sticks with “warrior” down the side, but this one says “Excalibur.”

            One day while practicing with his new stick, something weird happens and Arthur appears. The kid accepts Arthur’s promise and enthusiasm about making him the man his mother could be proud of. Every day that the kid goes to practice lacrosse on his own, Arthur appears and teaches him a new lesson. Meanwhile, Arthur is falling in love with the idea of existing in a new time period, as well as falling for the kid’s mother. By the end of the lacrosse season, the kid resembles the reputation Arthur promised.

            So yeah there’s the amount of creativity in one blog post that I usually exhibit in an entire month. I hope this idea isn’t already a thing. I’m not aware of a movie that has this plot, but I haven’t seen many movies. Anyway, good luck to everyone on finals, and I hope you enjoy your summer!

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Why Sean bean would make the best arthur

I know Dr. MB for some reason hates when we bring of GOT, but I really like the idea of Sean bean as King Arthur. Sean bean plays Eddard stark, an honorable man who is betrayed by the system he's trying to reform. I think this is a parallel to Arthur, who devises these honorable new institutions like the round table, and rules justly, but is ultimately betrayed, leading to the dissolution of all he's worked for. Both men were noble and were turned off by the intrigue and injustice in their kingdoms. Ultimately, they have in common that their ideals just weren't practical when it comes to ruling a kingdom. Sometimes, a few heads (hopefully Gwen or cersie) just have to be chopped off for there to actually be peace. I don't think Arthur or bean as Eddard had it in them to stoop to these levels, and their kingdoms bled as a result.

So that's the end of my rant.
But As a. Side note, if we were making a movie about a younger arthur, I vote kitt Harrington. I know I sad he would play a good Mordred, but he's a. Really versatile actor, and I'm pretty sure he's being vetted to play arthur in a new series coming out in 2016

Thanks to all of you guys for making this class one of the most enjoyable I've taken at hood. A lot of you are really smart and I can't can't compete at that higher level or make blog posts like y'all, but I really learned a lot from all of our discussion. Have a good summer, and if a green knight comes your way, just walk away...

*Sniff Sniff* Last Post

With this being the last post, I will have quite a lot to talk about.   The class in general was always a pleasure going to.  I enjoyed everyone’s comments brought to each discussion, as well as the energy throughout the class. It wasn’t one of those ‘sit back and let the teacher talk for an hour and a half (some lecture classes).   I enjoyed the class from start to finish. I now know a hell of a lot more about King Arthur than I did coming into the class. Coming into the class I really had no idea who or what King Arthur actually was except a king during the medieval era (my actual thoughts). Coming out of this class, I’ll be able to further explain all the mythologies, tales, and tribulations that has brought the origins of the legend of King Arthur.

 

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/76/7606093ac8e0bf8c9ccea92ca1837a460b9f07f70db5c12c96152a43d4dd8f07.jpg

 

                From all the stories we read this semester, I have a few that I would call my favorites for this class. I really enjoyed the story of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, that was probably the first one where the stories started to peak my interest, even though “The Knight of the Cart” was interesting too.  However, I found SGGK was weird in which made me like it even more. Another story that I liked was obviously the Grail Quest.  The quest stories would always have me deep into the pages. I like some of the romance section but when I read stories I follow well with more actions than talking.  Being said I did like the poems of the Lady of Shalott and The Passing of Arthur. It was really cool dissecting them in class so I could better understand what was being said.  Once and Future King was really great to read. It was new seeing the young Arthur, especially after watching Sword in the Stone.  Knight Life sort of intrigued me, mostly because it was seeing the same old Arthur but changing the time period and throwing him into New York City. Before we were assigned to read it and the professor was explaining it I felt it sort of reminded me of the movie Enchanted, except without all the Disney influence. I liked the twist of Medieval Arthur living in modern times (even running for mayor).  I would have to say that Avalon High was a real joy to read. Like I said in my earlier post, it was a guilty pleasure of mine. All the other readings weren’t bad to read. They each help give different interpretations of Arthur, but the ones that I pointed out were most interesting to me. 

 I don’t think there would be anything I would change from this class, it was a very enlightening.  Our professor, Mitchell-Buck was a veryyyy good instructor. The energy and enthusiasm she brought to each class really made it always a pleasure to be in class. Maybe this is just wishful thinking for the future, but it would have been awesome to watch Quest for Camelot. I think it would be a great addition to next semester’s class! Thank you so much for putting together such a great lesson about King Arthur. Thanks a ton for the donuts and not having us WATCH Avalon High.

-JH

End of the Year blog.

     This one might actually be heart felt and nice, instead of bashing and offending people.   I feel that I have learned so much in this class.  I anticipated that I was going to be able to coast through, because I had prior knowledge of Arthurian legend, but through the readings, my knowledge had grown.  I feel as if I have also grown.  I wasn’t sure about blogging, but now I kind of like it.  It allows me to be sassy and informal, and actually get credit while doing it. There are so many different types of Arthur's and Lancelot’s, but no matter what we read, or even watch, Monty pythons Holy Grail is all I can think about.  How appropriate that I end with the topic movie I began this class with?  Those dang coconuts just clop in my head all the time thinking about King Arthur.  You can’t blame me though; it is a funny movie, even if it is highly inaccurate. Or is it… 

There are so many different versions, who said a swallow can’t carry a coconut to the lands of Britain.  Would it be the craziest thing to believe in?  Having a knight have his head cut off is almost as the same as King Arthur fighting the black knight and turning him into a quadriplegic.

 In a slight stretch, we had talked about looking for the Holy Grail, and that is a big part in the movie.  During the movie the movie the knights and Arthur saw god appear and told them to search for the Holy Grail.  So these knights were very Christian, and in search for a picture to add in I came across this one.   Apologies in advance if I offend anyone.  

It fits in the theme of being funny. 

 In Geoffrey, Arthur had fought a giant and shown his bravery.  This can be sort of kind of related back to the rabbit with big pointy teeth.  Instead of using his sword; Arthur uses the holy hand grenade.  There is a special scene in the movie where Sir Galahad finds the castle reminds me of mists of Avalon and even though the movie came out before the book.  In the readings there were lots of drugs, sex, and weird rituals.  The entire scene in Monty python when Sir Galahad is being introduced to the kinky lives of an all girls castle seems oddly similar to Mists of Avalon.  According to the internet there was an actual green knight in the movie, but I don’t remember seeing one. ‘

 Lastly I think the movie incorporates merlin in a way that is very scary.  He definitely reminded me of the demon baby from prose merlin.  He said in the movie how he has knowledge of past, present, and future, which is what merlin had in prose merlin.     

                I know it seems weird to think about but I think movie relates to all aspects of readings we did, all accept Avalon High; the creators of Monty python have standards.   It is silly to think a comedy incorporates a good bit of what we had learned in class this semester, but someone the creators were able to.   It might not be exact, or historically accurate, but it gets the point across and in a funny way.  I had a lot of fun this semester and I am going to miss the class. 

                Kay BYEEEEEE