Category: Medievalism
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More Warriors Hedgehogged in Arrows in Popular Culture
This page builds on my essay published in The Year’s Work in Medievalism 33 (2018) titled “Warriors ‘Hedgehogged’ in Arrows: Crusaders, Samurai, and Wolverine in Medieval Chronicles and Popular Culture” (open access!). The basic thesis is that the image of a living warrior covered in arrows was once relegated to medieval chronicles on the Crusades,…
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A Hedgehog of Arrows in Zack Snyder’s Justice League
In a paper published in The Year’s Work in Medievalism, I followed the trend of depicting living armored warriors covered with arrows from medieval chronicles to Samurai films to comic books. The image continues to find prevalence in popular culture, and I made the following conclusion The spectacle of a hedgehogged warrior is emerging in…
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Warriors “Hedgehogged” in Arrows: Crusaders, Samurai, and Wolverine
I’m thrilled to share that my paper on warriors riddled with arrows found in medieval Muslim/Christian chronicles, comics, films, and television, can be read in the latest volume of This Year’s Work in Medievalism (open access). This is my first publication in a peer-reviewed journal and it feels like I completed a dare by drawing…
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Book Review: Joan of Arc in the English Imagination
In this book review published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, I examine Gail Orgelfinger’s new Joan of Arc book that uncovers four centuries of English opinions on Joan, a messy collage of misogyny, nationalism, guilt, justification, inquisition, and awe surrounding her legacy.
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Jon Snow’s Piss-poor Defense of Winterfell during “The Long Night”
Removing all shadow of a doubt that Jon Snow indeed Forest Gump’d his way through the Battle of the Bastards, the defense of Winterfell during “The Long Night” episode of Game of Thrones was one of the saddest wastes of resources recorded in medieval or fantasy history. First of all, it’s long been a principle…
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Joan of Arc on Screen: An Annotated Bibliography
Robin Blaetz said it best: “As one of history’s few noted heroines, Joan of Arc’s cinematic incarnations provide a fascinating record of manipulation according to differing historical and cultural demands.” There are far too many Joan of Arc movies to list here, but the most common ones in these papers and books are Joan the Woman…
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Alien 3’s Ripley as Joan of Arc
Anat Zanger identifies Alien 3’s Ellen Ripley as a cinematic Joan of Arc in disguise. After re-watching the film for umpteenth time, I’m not only convinced, but I would like to highlight and humbly augment Zanger’s analysis, as it might explain why I have loved this film for years while so many have derided it.…
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Arthurian Legend on Screen: An Annotated Bibliography
As John Aberth pointed out, “There are more books about Arthurian films than perhaps about any other medieval film genre.” This still holds true today and the same goes for articles. This is arguably where the field of cinematic medievalism go its start. While there are some Arthurian aspects mentioned in the larger Medievalism on…
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Unworthy Knights in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Zelda games are full of medievalisms, typically of the Arthurian variety. The basics of tedious side quests, pontificating hermits, damsels in distress, and a sword in the stone are all there. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS is no exception.
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Paul B. Sturtevant’s ‘Middle Ages’: Learning a little history from popular culture
Paul B. Sturtevant is tired of quantitative studies that aim to broadcast the public’s ignorance of history. To him, they reduce history to memorizing facts and dates while taking “an explicitly negative position when framing the results,” typically focusing on the small minority of people who failed the test. Sturtevant, an American with a Ph.D.…
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Petrovskaia’s Defense of Medievalism on Screen
Before diving into depictions of Merlin in medieval texts, film, and television, Natalia I. Petrovskaia offers a full-throated promotion and defense of academics tackling popular medievalism instead of the romanticized art and literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. While this field has grown considerably over the past 40 years, Petrovskaia offers some interesting arguments…
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The Twisted Arthurian Legend of Thanos
With The Infinity Gauntlet, an epic, romantic quest began and never stopped both in and out of the comic books. The Marvel Universe lends itself to an Arthurian comparison, and nowhere is that clearer than with Thanos, the most flawed of knights, and his quest for the six Infinity gems.