My obvious example is the 2004 movie King Arthur, which was supposed to be a more realistic take on his life. It depicts Arthur as a roman soldier rather than a king or knight.
My abstract analogue is in the Fairly Odd Parents episode "Knighty Knight". Timmy wishes he was back in Camelot after attending a disappointing Camelot fair, but when he arrives his parents are taken hostage by a dragon. Timmy pulls Excalibur out of the stone to save his parents and is pronounced king, ruining the chances for Arthur, a little boy with poor eyesight and his Uncle Merlin, a greedy wizard who wants Arthur to become king so they can be rich. Upon saving his parents, Timmy gives Arthur glasses to improve his vision and Arthur, with sword in hand, defeats the dragon and becomes the great King Arthur he is destined to be
"First Knight" is a 1995 film based off of the Arthurian legend with Richard Gere as Lancelot and Sean Connery as King Arthur. It tells the typical tale of King Arthur, though it neglects the use of magic or the supernatural.
A less obvious analogue comes from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." I am making the relationships between Dumbledore and Merlin, and between Harry and King Arthur. There are three comparisons to make. Merlin was King Arthur's mentor and adviser. Dumbledore is essential to guide Harry through the dangers and obstacles that present themselves. To protect Arthur, Merlin took him to a lake and gave him Excalibur. Dumbledore does a similar thing in this particular movie when he gives Harry the sword of Gryffindor (the Sorting Hat) when Harry faced the serpent monster. Lastly, Arthur pulled a sword from a stone which proved his worth and his nobility. This test proved he was the "true king." Harry pulled the sword from the Sorting Hat which proved his worth that he was a "true Gryffindor." In "The Deathly Hallows," Harry gets the sword from a lake even though his locket attempts to drown him.
As far as Arthurian legend goes, there are a lot of really obvious replications, but in lieu of not repeating what's already been said, I was thinking and remembered that the series The Magic Treehouse series had some rather obvious allusions to the Arthur tales.
These were awesome.
The most commonly mentioned was a woman who owned the treehouse, who was named Morgan Le Fay, the name of a character in Arthurian legend- I believe she's a witch. She was always a very mysterious character, and you never found out too much about her; one thing that we did learn, however, was that she resided in the realm of Camelot (Coincidence? I think not.). I don't honestly remember much more about her- though she did actually send the kids (Jack and Annie? I think that's their names) to Camelot in a superbly epic Christmas adventure.
SO wanted a white stag to ride after I first saw this cover. And a red cape, for that matter.
I don't remember whether she was good, bad, or ambiguous in the stories, but I was always quite intrigued by her. Just a side-note on this series: how interesting is it that it was teaching kids history while meanwhile being heavily based in mythological characters?
Okay, now for the more vague one. I wish I could claim this one as my own idea, but alas I cannot. I heard someone mention it once and just sort of expanded on it. There are some allusions to King Arthur in the Great Gatsby.
To a certain extent, one can see the relationship between Gatsby, Daisy, and Daisy's husband Tom as a reflection of Lancelot, Guinevere, and King Arthur. Just as Lancelot's one weakness was Guinevere, so Gatsby's one weakness was Daisy. And, accordingly, the actual husband in each story was veritably ticked off. In a separate parallel to Arthur, at one point in The Great Gatsby it says, "...he had committed himself to the following of a grail." Daisy was Gatsby's holy Grail, the thing that he searched after and fought for for years. She was, as the grail was for many knights, his one pursuit in life.
My obvious reference is the movie Quest for Camelot. The main character Kayley wants to be a knight of the round table, like her late father. In the movie, a character modeled after the Arthurian Red Knight steals Arthur's sword Excalibur and reeks havoc. Kayley goes on a journey with a blind man Garrett (partially modeled after the knight-in-disguise Gareth from Arthurian legend) to find the sword and return it to Arthur.
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My more obscure reference is the DreamWorks film Shrek because, like Arthur, Shrek goes on a quest (Arthur for the Holy Grail and Shrek for Princess Fiona) to restore life as they know it. In one of the Grail legends, Arthur seeks the cup in order to end an illness that has gripped his kingdom, and Shrek seeks Fiona for Lord Farquaad, so all the fairy tale characters will leave his home and he can live in peace.
To be obvious, I always think of the show "Camelot". It was a Starz show that only lasted for one season. I never watched it, but I know that it was to be based off of Arthurian legends and stories.
When I think of a more obscure example, I think of Harry Potter. I don't think of the entire series, but only a small scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In order to defeat Voldemort, all of the Horcurxes(objects that have pieces of Voldemort's soul in them) have to be destroyed. Only then can Voldemort be defeated. Professor Dumbledore and Harry go to a destroy one-a necklace. In order to destroy it, they have to get it out of this container full of liquid. The liquid has to be drank, and drives you crazy in the process. It inhibits you from being able to reach the Horcrux. In the scene, Dumbledore is the one who has to drink the liquid, even when Harry has to force him. Only then can Harry obtain the Horcrux from the container. This particular scene reminds of the sword in the stone tale, even if Harry(Arthur) had to have help from Dumbledore(Merlin).
Since I missed last week, let's do two examples of King Arthur sources and analogues, one obvious and the other as obscure and abstract as you can make it.
So .....
James Callis in the Syfy Original Merlin and the Book of Beasts with a Jamaican accent.
Dean trying to pull a sword out of a stone on Supernatural
This may be a stretch, but when I tried to think of a story just like "Wife of Bath" I couldn't help but think of the character Holly from "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Holly, just like the wife, is outspoken and bold, unlike most women of their times. They both have fancy clothing and flaunt this lifestyle. The two women have not had the best track record for relationships, as the Wife of Bath has been married several times and her husbands have all died...Holly has made it clear she wants money. Both women being independent, they both actually hold a level of intelligence in that they can talk about what they mean and what they want. The two women certainly like to chat. These women draw the reader/viewer to want to like them very much so and for these reasons the two pieces of literature resemble another.
When I thought about this idea of men fighting over the same girl, I immediately thought of the movie "When in Rome," when a woman wishes for love by throwing a coin in a fountain in Italy. However, she is under a sort of spell and every man that sees her pretty much falls in love with her from first sight. They definitely display courtly love, as all they really want to do for her is to impress her and make her "pick" them, with the exception of one guy who truly loves her, not under a spell. This movie represents elements of both "The Knight's Tale" and also this idea of courtly love from this time period. "When in Rome" is a prime example!
It's not the exact story, but My Best Friend's Girl has some similarities to the Knight's Tale. In case you haven't seen the movie, two cousins share an apartment, and Tank runs a "bad date" service. He goes out with guys' ex girlfriends and makes it such a bad experience they go begging to get back with the ex. After his cousin is rejected by a coworker, Tank agrees to help him out by going on a bad date with her. However, she gets too drunk to notice that he's a terrible date, and through a series of events they both end up falling for her. Obviously the movie takes a few liberties, but it's the closest thing I could think of since someone already took This Is War. :)
Now I know it's a stretch, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that A Knight's Tale was inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Common characters include Chaucer, Simon the Summoner, and Peter the Pardoner. The idea of courtly love also seems to be present in this story, which I hadn't really realized in my original viewings of the movie. I also love how at the end of the movie Chaucer remarks to himself that he should really write all this down. The more you know, the more clever the movie becomes!
J.K. Rowling has been cited as saying that she drew from Hector's, Achille's, and Patroclus' actions in The Illiad while writing the scene in which Harry Potter saves Cedric Digory's body. Rowling said that she was "really, really, really moved" when she read The Illiad at age 19 and that "the idea of the desecration of a body, a very ancient idea" was her focus when writing the scene.
One of the things that is a theme in several of the Canterbury tales is "courtly love." This is an image that isn't at all uncommon in modern stories, in books and in movies. One example that I thought fit rather well- though, it was drawn off of other fairy tales rather than Chaucer- is the Disney movie Enchanted. Various aspects of courtly love are evident throughout the movie, and there is even the added bonus of seeing exactly how silly the classic version of it looks in modern times.
Admit it, though, it would be awesome if some of this (mostly the whole
breaking into song thing) worked in real life?
First there is the relationship between Edward and Giselle. He spends all his time saying how much he loves her, what he loves about her, and he says things like, "This is Giselle, the love of my life, my heart's true desire." It's adorable and very sweet, but when it comes down to it, there really isn't any substance to their relationship. In addition, Edward is always doing daring deeds, and in the beginning was pining after a dream of "true love's kiss."
The part that really reminded me of courtly love, actually, was the whole "true love's kiss" thing. It's a very innocent type of love. For instance:
She just doesn't get it.
And of course, when he tries to explain what just happened with Nancy, she's just like, "She thinks we kissed?' "Yeah... something like that."
Anyway, so Enchanted, and I guess, the various fairy tales that it draws from, are all excellent examples of courtly love, as influenced by Middle English literature.
In "The Knight's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales, cousins Arcite and Palamon both fall in love with Emily, and their competition for her causes great strife between them, including a duel.
In This Means War, two best friends and fellow spies fall for the same woman and decide to ignore their friendship and use awesome spy techniques and explosions to battle it out for her love.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Since we're focusing on sources and analogues of tales, think about other pieces of literature where you see similar stories or ideas from either Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Norman times. I'll start with the easy comparison of The Pardoner's Tale and ....
Although I enjoy Anglo-Saxon humor and its use of double entendres, it is strange to see its use in children's shows. As a child, I never understood the jokes and puns that the adults around thought were funny. I liked when physical comedy happened, but my parents enjoyed the verbal wit of the programs that we watched together. Now that I am older and watch some of my old favorite television shows, I understand the verbal wit. However, it is strange to think that these adult roles and ideas are stuck in children's shows, who don't realize it until they are old. I think this is something that the Anglo-Saxons might also find humorous.
