Richard Burt

Conference Proposal:

Monty Python and the

Re(el)-Invention of the Middle Ages

Conference Aims:

Over the past two decades, film has become an increasingly

recognized part of Medieval Studies, with surveys such as The

Medieval World (Linehan and Nelson, 2001) and books on the Gawain

poet (Brewer and Gibson, 1997) and on Parsifal (Groos and Lacy, 2001)

devoting chapters on film. A number of major academic journals and

books in English, French, German, and Italian have also devoted

special issues to the topic of the Middle Ages on film (See appendix

three). This work, while often of high quality, has largely been

confined to surveys of films set in the Occidental Middle Ages. As is

the case with films related to history or that adapt literature, critics

tend either evaluate films about the Middle Ages in terms of their (lack

of) fidelity to literary and historical sources and discussing them

themes and characters (films about Merlin, King Arthur, Robin Hood,

and so on) or attempt to examine these films as films in terms of their

links to the historical moment of their production, their links to other

films, their relation to generic trends and industrial strategies,

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stardom, and film technologies. Moreover, criticism of the Middle Ages

on film has primarily focused on the Occidental Middle Ages. No

criticism has yet been written on the Arabic, Asian or African Middle

Ages in film.

A conference on Monty Python effects that range from nonsensical

parody to serious criticism, in Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam’s wide

variety of medieval-related films from Monty Python’s Holy Grail to

Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King, The Crusades, and

in a multitude of other films about the Middle Ages would help move

discussion of films about the Middle Ages beyond questions of fidelity

and thematic and characterological groupings and into a broader

consideration of issues involving the “re(el)-invention” of the Middle

Ages. Monty Python effects constitute not only instances of Arthuriana

or dreams of the Middle Ages of discussed by Umberto Eco in Travels

in Hyperreality but an alternative way of thinking about academia and

mass media constructions of medievalism. Taking Monty Python’s use

of the Middle Ages in film, television, and print as a point of departure

for the conference would shed light on the ways directors of films

about the Middle Ages both claim to tell an authentic story and at the

same time concede that they are making films, not history, but expand

the study of film beyond the parameters that current limit its study:

the opening and closing credits (the cinematic equivalent of what

literary theorist Gerard Genette calls the “paratext”), screenplays,

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novelizations, videogames, musicals, and DVD (re-)editions (the

director’s cuts, alternate endings, deleted scenes, audio-commentaries

by the director and cast members, documentaries, and so on). More

specifically, the conference will explore, among other topics, the multi-

faceted uses of anachronism and parody in historical films; the book as

a means of authentication in historical films; the re-invention of the

Middle Ages and the afterlives of the medieval in film; multi-media

approaches to primary sources in the Middle Ages; the links between

films about the Middle Ages and film genres such as fantasy, science-

fiction, the samurai film, and children’s films; academic fantasies and

dreams about the Middle Ages; the global Middle Ages (Europe, the

United States, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) and transnational

cinema; and the impact of digital technologies on films about the

Middle Ages.

The conference would thereby contribute significantly to

academic studies of the Middle Ages and film across a number of

disciplines and on a number of fronts. These include film theorists and

historians researching and teaching films about the Middle Ages

(theorizing the cinematic paratext, for example, and its in the epic film,

adventure film, and historical film); literary critics and historians

(re)inventing a global, racialized Middle Ages from the Occidental to

the Arabian, Jewish, African, and Asian; literary theorists and film

critics and historians and art historians working on the re-invention of

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the Middle Ages (Norman Cantor), the “reel” Middle Ages (David

Williams, Kevin Harty, Stuart Airlie, Francois Amy de la Breteque,

Xavier Kawa-Topor) the genealogy of the Middle Ages (David Aers, Lee

Patterson, David Franzen), and medievalism (Umberto Eco’s "Dreaming

the Middle Ages," Kathleen Biddick’s Shock of Medievalism, Carolyn

Dinshaw’s Getting Medieval, Valetin Groebner’s Defaced: the Visual

Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages, Michael Camille’s Image on

the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art, and Louise O. Frandenburg and

others in Exemplaria, Studies in Medievalism, Arthuriana, Speculum,

JMEMS, New Literary History, and Diacritics).

The conference would connect more traditional with more traditional

components of study at UF. It would bring together various groups in

the English Department (primarily Film and Media Studies, Medieval

and Early Modern, Children’s Literature, Cultural Studies), and also

appeal to a number of Departments and Centers in the College of Arts

and Sciences, including the Humanities Center, the Medieval and Early

Modern Studies nascent center, Italian, German, French, History, Art

History, Asian Studies, Film and Media Studies, Women Studies. It

would also bring attention to UF through film screenings at the Harn

museum and a library exhibition of rare screenplays and related books.

Conference Co-Sponsors: English; Film and Media Studies; Medieval

and Early Modern Studies; Exemplaria; German; France Florida

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Conference Schedule and Format:

The conference would be held in the Spring of 2006 and would run

over a three day period (Thursday evening reception; plenary sessions

during Friday and Saturday mornings; and panel discussions or

seminars on Friday and Saturday afternoons). The papers would be

open to all UF faculty and students and to the general public (UF

community). The papers would be delivered in the mornings (two

days).

Conference Costs:

--Invited speakers who would give plenary papers are Terry Jones,

Louise Frandenburg, Carolyn Dinshaw, Martin Foys, Nickolas Haydock.

3k would be given to each speaker to include an honorarium, travel,

hotel, and meal costs. The papers would be open to all UF faculty and

students and to the general public (UF community). The papers would

be delivered in the mornings (two days).

--The plenary speakers would also lead seminars or participate in panel

discussions. Participants would include UF faculty members Will Hasty

(German and MEMS), Mary Watt (Italian, MEMS, and FMS), Nina Caputo

(History and MEMS), James Paxson and Al Shoaf (English, MEMS),

Richard Burt and Scott Nygren (English, MEMS, and FMS), and Judy

Shoaf (librarian, MEMS). The panel discussions or seminars would be

held in the afternoons (two days).

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--A related film festival at the Harn to run during the conference would

also probably bring in the public (non-academic) audience. Certainly

two film directors would be a big draw.

--A library exhibition (Judy Shoaf)

--A conference coordinator (the equivalent of a research assistant)

would also be needed. Exemplaria?

--Entertainment 500 dollars (for coffee, pastries, and so on on during

the conference). Meals for the speakers and to which grads,

undergrads and would be welcome

--Publicity costs (posters, mailings) 200 dollars

--Invited participants would receive a year’s subscription to the English

Department’s journal Exemplaria.

--Trip to Medieval Times, Kissimmee, Florida (need two shuttle buses)

--I estimate 15,000 in costs

Publication Possibilities:

I have been in touch with the editors of the Journal for Medieval and

Early Modern Studies (JMEMS ) about my editing a special issue on the

topic of the Middle Ages in film and am thinking that JMEMS would be a

good venue to publish papers presented at this conference. The

editors of JMEMS have responded positively. An edited book of essays

is another possibility. (I have edited or co-edited five books and am

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presently editing a sixth.)

Conference Rationale:

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, along with several films and

television programs made by its co-directors Terry Jones and Terry

Gilliam, including Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King,

Erik the Viking, The Crusades, and Medieval Lives, continue to exert a

strong pull on the reception, if not the production, of films about the

Middle Ages. Several reviewers of Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004),

for example, linked it to Monty Python.i King Arthur has perhaps more

obvious links to Kurosawa Akira’s The Seven Samurai (1954), Mel

Gibson’s Braveheart (1995), and Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky

(1938), and Fuqua’s film was regarded by one reviewer as remake of

Sam Peckinpah’s anti-Western, The Wild Bunch (1969). King Arthur is

also clearly linked to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000): David Franzoni

wrote the screenplays for both films. Yet if Monty Python and the Holy

Grail come to reviewers’ minds to signal the inanity or campiness of an

epic film such as King Arthur, what might be called a Monty Python

effect sheds light more widely on the way film provides us with a shock

of the medieval or “gets medieval” in often complex, serious as well as

sometimes odd, even humorous ways. For the medieval-related films

of Jones and Gilliam, crossing over into the genres of the science-

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fiction, time-travel film, children’s films, the fantasy film, the male

melodrama, and the television documentary, as well as Jones’ scholarly

output (a book on Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale and an article on the Monk’s

Tale in Studies of Chaucer) do not simply offer parodies or inane send

ups such as Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), Rob

Reiner’s The Princess Bride (1987), Sam Rami’s Army of Darkness

(1993), or Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder (dir. Geoff Posner, 1983).

Monty Python effects involve and alert us to the various ways in which

any film about the Middle Ages unsettles oppositions between

anachronism and authenticity, parody and seriousness, the inane and

the meaningful.

Bizarre and unexpected references to the Middle Ages are easy

enough to find in films: teen girls dress as medieval Barbies for their

high school prom in Never Been Kissed (dir. Raja Gosnell, 1999);

chivalry is mentioned as an ideal in Hellboy (Guillermo del Toro, 2004)

and Doctor Detroit (dir. Michael Pressman, 1983); and a disembodied

personification of Death “appears” in Final Destination (dir. James

Wong, 2000) and Final Destination 2 (dir. David R. Ellis). Consider the

way the intertexuality of the medieval-related films voids any notion of

historical authenticity. Fuqua’s King Arthur appeared in the context of

medieval films such as The 13th Warrior (dir. John McTiernan, 1999),

The Messenger (dir. Luc Besson), A Knight’s Tale (dir. Brian Hageland,

2001), Anazapta (dir. Alberto Sciamma, 2001), and The Reckoning (dir.

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Paul McGuigan, 2004) and, more broadly in a revival of epic films that

cut across historical periods that began with Gladiator (dir. Ridley

Scott, 2000) and followed with Master and Commander (dir. Peter Wier,

2003), Troy (dir. Wolgang Peterson, 2004), Alexander (dir. Oliver

Stone, 2004), Ridley Scott’s film about the Crusades, Kingdom of

Heaven (2005), Warrior Queen (dir. Mel Gibson, 2006), and the

paramedieval film The Passion of the Christ (dir. Mel Gibson, 2004).

These epic films are all linked, as is King Arthur, to other films, many of

which having nothing to do with the Middle Ages or historical films.

And some of the costumes in King Arthur recall those used in the

fantasy, medieval-inspired trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (dir. Peer

Jackson, 2001; 2002; 2003) and Conan the Barbarian (dir. John Milius,

1982) and Conan, the Destroyer, (dir. John Milius, 1986). Consider

another example, this one involving Joan, the Maid: the Battles (dir.

Jacques Rivette 1994). On the set, Rivette, tongue-in-cheek, compared

Sandra Bonnaire to the main character in the science fiction film

RoboCop (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1987) when he first saw her in costume

as an armored Jeanne d’Arc.

Monty Python effects are not simply confined to films made after

the release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They may also be

found in earlier films such as Knights of the Round Table (Richard

Thorpe, 1953), its links to the Western genre now inevitably seen as

absurd. Nor are they confined to intertextual links between films and

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film genres. The lengthy opening credits, or what Gerard Genette

would call the cinematic paratext, of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, and

their absence at the end draw attention to a crucial and examined role

of the paratext in historical films generally to authenticate their mis-

en-scene. The beheading of the historian commentator in Monty

Python and the Holy Grail as well as Jones’s appearance as a

commentator in The Crusades and as an actor in Medieval Lives call

attention to the ambivalent and sometimes tense relation between

filmmakers and academic consultants.

Some possible topics for panel discussions or seminar:

Critical and cinematic paratexts: animated sequences, Swedish

subtitles in Monty Python and the Holy Grail directed at Bergman’s The

Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring); animated prologue of The Vikings

(dir. Richard Fleischer, 1958); Bayeux tapestry in The Vikings, The War

Lord (dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1965), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

(dir. Kevin Reynolds, 1991) with Kevin Costner, and La chanson de

Roland (dir. Frank Cassenti, 1978); Arabian character’s voice-over

prologue in The 13th Warrior; see also Michael Camille’s The Margins

of Medieval Art and Gothic Idol; comics as stills in Prince Valiant

paratext.

Palimpsests: The Name of the Rose (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986)

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Academics as consultants and the Middle Ages: historian beheaded

in MPHG; Jones’ Chaucer’s Mercenary book; Terry Jones in The

Crusades; Umberto Eco’s Middle Ages as pretext; storyteller as figure

of film director in La chanson de Roland ; Jacques le Goff as adviser to

The Name of the Rose (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986); Doctor Detroit

(dir. Michael pressman, 1983); professor in The Fisher King; the

academic reception of Umberto Eco versus Monty Python; art historian

Pamela Berger as screenwriter of Sorceress (dir. Suzanne Schiffman,

1987); changes in what counts as cinematic authenticity for historians

(historian and consultant Paul Donceour’s article on Victor Fleming’s

Joan of Arc, 1949)

Parody and anachronism: Swedish subtitles in Monty Python’s Holy

Grail as parody of Bergman; Liv Ullman’s Kristin Lavansdatter (1995);

parody of death in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey; also Bergmanesque

Anchoress; parody of Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure;

Blackadder Richard III episode; Sam Rami, Army of Darkness (1993)

and Xena, the Warrior Princess; Carry on, Henry; A Knight’s Tale (dir.

Brian Hageland, 2001) as anachronistic. Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood Men in

Tights; Conan, the Barbarian (dir. John Melius)

Anachronism in the avant-grade art film:

Edward II (dir. Derek Jarman,1991), Anchoress (dir. Chris Newby, 1993)

Iconoclasm

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Paramedieval films: The Passion of the Christ (dir. Mel Gibson, 2004)

and Life of Brian; South Park parody of The Passion; Dante’s Inferno

and Seven (dir. David Fincher 1995)

The Book: Fisher King, MPHG, Bible in Erik the Viking carried by

Harald the missionary; also in credits of film, mention of Terry Jones

book spin-off of the film; book in paratext of The Passion of Joan of Arc

and Les Visiteurs du Soir (dir. Michael Carne); book in Le Chanson de

Roland, in the end of History vs Hollywood: King Arthur (2004); Beauty

and the Beast (dir. Jean Cocteau, 1946); the Duc de Berry’s Book of

Hours in Olivier’s Henry V; Grail book in Indiana Jones and the Last

Crusade (dir. Stephen Spielberg, 1991); book of the dead in Army of

Darkness.

The Literary Middle Ages: A Knight’s Tale; Lost in la Mancha (dir.

Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, 2002); Man of La Mancha (dir. Arthur

Hiller, 1972); Don Quixote (dir. Peter Yates, 2000), Don Kikhot (dir.

Grigori Kozintv, 1957), Orson Welles’ Don Quixote (with Jess Franco,

posthumously released, 1992); Pasolini’s Canterbury Tales and

Decameron; Eric Rohmer, Perceval le Gallois (1978); Excalibur (dir.

John Boorman, 1982); Sword of the Valiant (dir. Stephen Weeks); The

13th Warrior (dir. John McTiernan, 1999); Beowulf (dir. Graham Baker,

1999); Beowulf & Grendel (dir. Sturla Gunnarson, 2005); Liv Ullman’s

Kristin Lavansdatter (1995), based on the 1928 novel Sigrid Undset;

The Name of the Rose.

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Animating the Middle Ages: Disney (Sleeping Beauty, Snow White,

Sword in the Stone, Mulan, Shrek) Crusader Rabbit; animation in Haxan

(dir. Benjamin Christensen, 1922); animated prologue to The Vikings;

as point of reference, cartoon sequences in The Charge of the Light

Brigade (dir. Tony Richardson, 1968); Animated Epics: Beowulf (dir.

Yuri Kulakov, 1998); Le Roman de Renard (dir. Ladislas Starewitch,

1936)

Children’s Middle Ages: Time Bandits: Prince Valiant, A Kid in King

Arthur’s Court; Princess of Thieves; Quest for Camelot; The Sword in

the Stone (dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963); Lionheart (dir. Franklin J.

Schaffner, 1987); Dragonheart (dir. Rob Cohen, 1996); Dragonslayer

(dir. Matthew Robbins, 1981); Dungeons & Dragons (dir. Courtney

Solomon, 2000); The Rocketeer (dir. Joe Johnston, 1991).

Anachronism in the avant-grade art film:

Edward II (dir. Derek Jarman,1991), Anchoress (dir. Chris Newby, 1993)

Collaboration, authorship and auteurship: Pasolini as Chaucer in The

Canterbury Tales and frescoe painter in The Decameron; Chaucer in A

Knight’s Tale; Peter O’Toole as Cervantes in Man of La Mancha (dir.

Arthur Hiller, 1972).

i For another example, see the review of Anazapta (2001) in the June

2004 issue of Sight and Sound.

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Scenes of writing in the Middle Ages: Sorceress (dir. Susanne

Schiffman, 1987); (see also The Black Robe); Joan, the Maid: the

Battles (dir. Jacques Rivette, 1994)

Soundtrack and music: “Dies Irae” in Jabberwocky (and The

Seventh Seal) and Day of Wrath; Sting, Fields of Gold (music video of

“If I Ever Lose My Faith”); Song (unaccompanied) in The Virgin Spring

and The Seventh Seal; rock music in Ladyhawke and A Knight’s Tale;

Wagner’s Ring as soundtrack for Excalibur

Musicals in the Middle Ages: Spamelot; Camelot1967, dir. Joshua

Logan; Man of La Mancha (dir. Arthur Hiller, 1972); A Connecticut

Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (dir. Tay Garnett, 1949)

Time travel and archaeology: Time Bandits; The Navigator; Timeline

(archaeology as way into “authentic” past—material traces of the past

more true than the legend); Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Les

Visiteurs (dir. Jean-Marie Poire, 1993); Les Couloirs du temps: Les

visiteurs 2 (dir. Jean-Marie Poire, 1993); Just Visiting (dir. Jean-Marie

Poire, 2001), a remake of Les Visiteurs; Lancelot: Guardian of Time (dir.

Runbiano Cruz, 1999); Black Knight (dir. Gil junger, 2001); The

Unidentified Fying Oddball a.k.a. The Spaceman and King Arthur (dir.

Russ Mayberry, 1979) and all the films and spin-offs of A Connecticut

Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey; Bill and

Ted’s Excellent Adventure

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The Black Ages: Eartha Kitt as Freya in Erik the Viking; African-

American characters in Knightriders (dir. George Romero, 1981);

Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004); Whoopi Goldberg in A Knight in

Camelot; Black Knight (dir. Gil Junger, 2001); Africans as enemy in El

Cid, Africans in Le Chanson Roland; brownface for Herbert Lom in El

Cid (dir. Anthony Mann, 1962); Blade and Blade II (Blade as African-

American samurai vampire killer)

The Arabian and Semitic Middle Ages: Jones, The Crusades; Saladin

(dir. Youssef Chahine, 1963); Richard the Lion-Hearted (dir. Chester

Withey, 1923); The Crusades (dir. Cecil B. DeMille, 1935); King Richard

and the Crusaders (dir. David Butler, 1954); La chanson de Roland; El

Cid; Perceval; The Seventh Seal, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade;

Kingdom of Heaven (dir. Ridley Scott 2005), starring Orlando Bloom;

King Richard in Ivanhoe (three versions); Lionheart (dir. Franklin J.

Schaffner, 1987); King Richard in The Adventures of Robin Hood and

other Robin Hood films

The African Middle Ages: Africans (Senegalese) in Le Chanson Roland

(drums); Africa as the enemy of Spain in El Cid

The Asiatic Middle Age: Asian character in Erik the Viking

Seven Samurai and samurai swordplay in King Arthur (dir. Antoine

Fuqua, 2004); Kagemusha; Ran; Throne of Blood; samurai movies such

as Samurai Fiction (dir. Hiroyuki Nakano, 1999); Ronin (dir. John

Frankenheimer, 1998); Le Samouraï (dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1959)

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Murder mysteries and detective fiction: Who Killed Chaucer? The

Name of the Rose, The Advocate, The Reckoning, Anazapta, Cadfael tv

series

Fairytales: Brothers Grimm (Gilliam, 2005); Ella Enchanted (dir.

Tommy O’Haver, 2004); A Cinderella Story (dir. Mark Rosman, 2004);

Ever After (dir. Andy Tennant, 1998)

Fantasy: Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Willow; Lord of the Rings trilogy

as a reaction formation--serious fantasy and scholarship—against

Monty Python.

Science fiction: Highlander (dir. Russell Mulcahy, 1986) , Star Wars

(dir. George Lucas, 1980); Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (dir.

Stephen Herek, 1989) and Bogus Journey (dir. Peter Hewitt, 1991);

Beowulf (dir. Graham Baker, 1999).

The Middle Ages and the film epic / adventure film: Ivanhoe, The

Adventures of Quentin Durward, King Arthur, etc.

Exploitation films / B-movies: Flavia the Heretic (dir. Gianfranco

Mingozzi, 1974); Sorceress (dir. Jack Hill, 1982); The Warrior and the

Sorceress (dir. John C. Broderick, 1984); Tower of London (dir.

Rowland V, Lee, 1939 and remake, dir. Roger Corman, 1962);

The Barbaric Middle Ages: Violence, rape, and torture—Lancelot du

lac and black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Catherine’s

wheel—Twyla Tharp and David Byrne; Erik the Viking, The Vikings; The

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Passion of Beatrice; Sorceress, The Virgin Spring; Flesh and Blood; The

War Lord

The Ribald Middle Ages: adult spin-offs such as The Ribald Tales of

Canterbury, Sexcalibur; Throbbin’ Hood; Robin, Thief of Wives; Scottish

Loveknot, etc. See images in Camille’s Image on the Edge; prostitutes

in La chanson de Roland; sheep in The Advocate; toys and sheep in

Anchroress.

Dwarves and Giant: Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride; Dave

Rappaport Time Bandits and in Willow; giant samurai in Brazil; giant

windmill in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Middle Ages Unflushed: excrement and urine in MPHG and

Jabberwocky; anal passages in Time Bandits and Erik the Viking,

Timeline, Ladyhawke (dir. Richard Donner, 1985), and The Navigators;

anality in Pasolini’s The Decameron; South Park parody of The Passion;

dirt and mud in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989) and Anazapta

(2001).

Monstrosity and the grotesque: monster in Jabberwocky; The

Hunchback of Notre Dame (4 versions)

Animals as authenticating detail: The Advocate, Anchoress, etc.

Videogames: King Arthur; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers;

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Chronicles of the Sword;

Legion: the Legend of Excalibur; Dark Age of Camelot (online role

playing); Dungeons and Dragons; Arthur's Knights: Tales Of Chivalry;

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Spirit of Excalibur; Medieval: Total War Viking Invasion Expansion Pack;

Medieval: Total War; Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition; Indiana Jones

and the Last Crusade;

Robin Hood films: Time Bandits; Robin Hood, Men in Tights (Mel

Brooks); Princess of Thieves (dir. Peter Hewitt, 2001); etc.

National heroes: King Arthur; Braveheart; The Bruce; Alexander

Nevsky; El Cid

Joan of Arc films

Viking films: Erik the Viking, The Vikings, The Long Ships (dir. Jack

Cardfiff, 1963), Prince Valiant (dir. Henry Hathaway, 1954 and Anthony

Hoickox, 1997), The Last Viking (dir. Jesper W. Nielsen, 1997), Viking

Queen (dir. Don Chaffey, 1967), Asterix et les Vikings (dir. );

VeggieTales: Lyle, the Kindly Viking (dir. Tim Hodge, 2001)

The Middle Ages and Arthuriana

The Roman Middle Ages: Sir Galahad in MPHG; Fall of the Roman

Empire (Anthony Mann, 1964); Druids (Jacques Dorfmann, 2001);

Warrior Queen (dir. Bill Anderson, 2003)

Medieval Shakespeare: Macbeth, Henry V, and Richard III on film;

Prince of Jutland (dir. Gabriel Axel, 1994); The Fisher King (King Lear)

New Age Spiritualism / Faith / the Sacred and the Middle Ages: First

Knight (dir. Jerry Zucker, 1995), The Mists of Avalon (dir. Uli Edel,

2001), Andrei Rublev (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969); Joan of Arc films;

Sting music video; Sorceress (1987)

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The Middle Ages in European and Russian Cinemas

Representations of Death: Seventh Seal; Bill and Ted’s Bogus

Journey

Queer Middle Ages: Jones as transvestite king in Erik the Viking and

as woman in Medieval Lives; Stealing Heaven; Pasolini flms; The Court

Jester (dir. Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, 1956); Becket (dir. Peter

Glenville, 1964); The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Rings;

Sting as mermaid and Joan of Arc in “If I Ever Lose my faith” music

video; The Lion in Winter (dir. Anthony Harvey, 1968 and remade, dir.

Andrei Konchaovsky, 2003); The Mists of Avalon (dir. Uli Edel, 2001)

Weapons and warfare in the Middle Ages: Tin shields, cross bows,

samurai swords, breakaway lances, siege towers, guns and cannons

(Kagemusha, Ran, The Adventures of Quentin Durward) catapults, and

so on.

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Appendix One: Films and books related to the Middle Ages directed or written by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (dir. Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, 1975) DVD with Monty Python and the Holy Grail Location Report (BBC, 1974); two published screenplays; Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail videogame on CD-ROM (1996)

Terry Gilliam Terry JonesJabberwocky (director and actor, 1977)

Chaucer's Knight: Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary (1980; second edition 1994) scholarly book

Time Bandits (dir, 1981, Michael Palin, actor)

Screenplay for Labyrinth (dir. Jim Henson, 1986)

Brazil (dir., 1985. Michael Palin, actor)

Erik the Viking (1989, director and actor) credits note Jones children’s book, The Saga of Erik the Viking (1988)

The Fisher King (dir., 1991) The Crusades (director, screenplay, 1995), BBC tv mini-series and co-author book, The Crusades

Lost in la Mancha (dir., Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, 2002) Documentary about Gilliam’s unmade film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Screenplay for Astérix et Obélix contre César (dir. Claude Zidi, 1999),

The Knight and the Squire (1999); The Lady and the Squire (2002) Children’s books

Brothers Grimm (dir. 2005) “The Monk’s Tale,” Studies in the Age of Chaucer: The Yearbook of the New Chaucer Society, 22 (2000), pp. 387-97.Who killed Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery (2003) co-authored bookMedieval Lives (2004) tv mini-series and co-author, book Medieval Lives

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Spamelot (2005) A musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Book by Eric Idle based on the screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin; music and lyrics by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, directed by Mike Nichols

Appendix Two: Bibliography on Monty Python Criticism

A. Works by members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus:

Jones, Terry. 2000. “The Monk’s Tale.” Studies in the Age of Chaucer: The Yearbook of the New Chaucer Society, 22, pp. 387-97.

Chapman, Graham, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin. 2002. Monty Python's Life of Brian (Of Nazareth).

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Methuen.

Chapman, Graham Michael Palin, John Cleese,Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,Terry Jones, Bob McCabe. 1997. The Pythons: Autobiography .

B. Screenplays and Criticism on Monty Python’s Middle Age-related Films:

Argent, Daniel. 2003 "Lost in La Mancha: Interview with Keith Fulton &

Louis Pepe." Creative Screenwriting, 10:1 (Jan-Feb), pp. 16-17.

Blanch, Robert J. 1999"The Fisher King in Gotham: New Age

Spiritualism Meets the Grail Legend," pp. 123-39. Harty, Kevin J. (ed.

and preface). King Arthur on Film: New Essays on Arthurian Cinema.

Jefferson, NC: McFarland,.

Brown, Emerson, Jr. 1995. "Shakespeare, Zeffirelli, Monty Python, and

the Medieval Dawn Song." Medieval Perspectives, 10, pp. 1-26.

Christie, Ian 2000. Gilliam on Gilliam. Faber & Faber.

Day, David D. 1991. "Monty Python and the Medieval Other," pp. 83-

92. Harty, Kevin J. (ed.). Cinema Arthuriana: Essays on Arthurian Film.

New York: Garland,

Godzich, Wlad. 1983. "The Holy Grail: The End of the Quest." North

Dakota Quarterly, 51:1 (Winter), pp. 74-81.

Gorgieveski Sandra. 1995. Le mythe comme objet de deconstruction

dans Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Le cinâema et ses objets:

(objects in film): actes du deuxiáeme Colloque Sercia organisâe par la

Facultâe des Lettres et la ville de Besanðcon, les 26, 27, 28, 29 octobre

/

22

Hoffman, Donald L. 2000. "Re-Framing Perceval." Arthuriana, 10:4

(Winter), pp. 45-56.

LaGravanese, Richard. 1991. The Fisher King: the Book of the Film.

Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers.

Larsen, Darl. 1999. "'Is Not the Truth the Truth?' or Rude Frenchman in

English Castles: Shakespeare's and Monty Python's (Ab)Uses of

History." Journal of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters,

76, pp. 201-12.

Larsen, Darl. 2003. Monty Python, Shakespeare, and English

Renaissance Drama. McFarland & Company.

Mathews, Jack, and Terry Gilliam. 1998. Newly rev The Battle of Brazil.

(The Applause Screenplay Series). Applause.

McCabe, Bob. 1999. Dark Knights & Holy Fools: The Art and Films of

Terry Gilliam. NY: Universe Publishing.

Osberg, Richard H. 1995. "Pages Torn from the Book: Narrative

Disintegration in Gilliam's The Fisher King." Studies in Medievalism, 7,

pp. 194-224.

Rosello, Mireille. 1997. "Interviews with the Bridge-Keeper: Encounters

between Cultures as Phantasmagorized in Monty Python and the Holy

Grail," pp. 105-22. Cowan, Bainard (ed. and introd.); and Humphries,

Jefferson (ed.). Poetics of the Americas: Race, Founding, and

Textuality. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State UP.

23

Smith, Greg M. 1999. "'To Waste More Time, Please Click Here Again':

Monty Python and the Quest for Film/CD-ROM Adaptation," pp. 58-86.

Smith, Greg M. (ed. and introd.). On a Silver Platter: CD-ROMs and the

Promises of a New Technology. New York, NY: New York UP.

Stenberg, Doug. 1994. "Tom's a-cold: Transformation and Redemption

in King Lear and The Fisher King." Literature/Film Quarterly, 22:3, pp.

160-69.

Sterritt, David, and Lucille Rhodes,Terry Gilliam. 2004. Terry Gilliam:

Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) University Press of

Mississippi.

Stukator, Angela. 1997. "'Soft Males,' 'Flying Boys,' and 'White Knights':

New Masculinity in The Fisher King." Literature/Film Quarterly, 25:3,

pp. 214-21.

24

Appendix 3: Books, special issues of journals, and articles

devoted to surveys of film and the Middle Ages

A. Books:

Blaetz, Robin. 2001. Visions of the Maid: Joan of Arc in American Film

and Culture. University Press of Virginia.

____________. 2003. “Joan of Arc and the Cinema.” In Joan of Arc: A

Saint for All Reasons: Studies in Myth and Politics. Ed. Dominique Goy-

blanquet. Ashgate. . 143-74.

AMY DE LA BRETEQUE (François) 34345. L'IMAGINAIRE MEDIEVAL

DANS LE CINEMA OCCIDENTAL. Référence : 00PA030140 - Université

de soutenance : Paris 3. 1017 pages L'imaginaire médiéval dans le cinéma

occidental ; Tome 1&2 [thèse] de François Amy de la Breteque. Consultable à la

BiFi

http://www.anrtheses.com.fr/Catalogue/SCat_951.htm

25

Harty, Kevin J. 1999. The Reel Middle Ages: American, Western and

East European, Middle Eastern and Asian Films about Medieval Europe.

Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland.

Harty, Kevin J. 2002. Cinema Arthuriana. Rev. ed. Jefferson, NC and

London: McFarland.

Le Goff, Jacques and Guy Lobrichon, eds. 1997. Le Moyen Age

Aujourd’hui: Trois regards contemorains sure le Moyen Age: histoire,

theologie, cinema. Cahiers du Leopard d’Or Paris: Editions Le Leopard

d’Or.

Kawa-Topor, Xavier, ed. 2001. Le Moyen Age vu par le cinéma

européen : Les cahiers de Conques ; N° 3 avril 2001 / Centre Européen

d'art et de civilisation médiévale, [Conques], 2001

Nollen, Scott Allen. 1999. Robin Hood, a Cinematic History of the

English Outlaw and his Scottish Counterparts, Jefferson and London: Mc

Farland,

Olton, Bert. 2000. Arthurian Legends on Film and Television. Jefferson,

NC and London: McFarland.

Sklar, Elizabeth S. and Donald L. Hoffman, eds. 2002. King Arthur and

Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland.

Umland, Rebecca A and Samuel J. 1996. The Use of Arthurian Legend

in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings.

Greenwood Press.

26

B. Special issues:

Arthuriana. 2001. “Screening Camelot: Further Studies of Arthurian

Cinema.” Vol. 10 no. 4

Cahiers du Cinemateque. 1985. Special issue on “Le Moyen Age au

Cinema.” de la Breteque, Francois, ed. Revue d’historie du Cinema

editee par l’Institute Jean Vigo. n. 42-43.

Film and History An Interdisciplinary Journal. “The Medieval Period in

Film Volume.” 29.1-2 1999.

Film and History An Interdisciplinary Journal. “The Medieval Period in

Film Volume.” 29.1-2 1999.

Medieval Feminist Newsletter. 2000. Vol. 1

Studies in Medievalism. “Film and Fiction: Reviewing the Middle Ages.”

Ed. Tom Shipley with Martin Arnold. 12. 2002

Cahiers de l’association internationale des etudes francaises. “Le

Moyen Ages dans le theatre et le cinema francais.” 1995. May. Paris.

Etudes Cinematographies. “Jeanne d’Arc a l’ecran.” 1962. No. 18-19.

Autumn.

C. Overview journal articles and book chapters:

Aberth, John. 2003. A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film.

New York and London: Routledge.

27

Airlie, Stuart. 2001. “Strange Eventful Histories: The Middle Ages in

the Cinema.” In The Medieval World. Ed. Peter Linehan and Janet L.

Nelson. New York and London: Routledge, 163-88.

Austin, Greta. 2002. “Were the Peasants Really So Clean?: The Middle

Ages in Film.” Film History. Vol. 14, no. 2, 136-41.

Bjork Robert E. and John D. Niles, ed. 1997. A Beowulf Handbook.

Lincoln: U of Nebraska P. The last chapter lists all the films and comic books

made of the poem. It misses The 13th Warrior, though.

de le Breteque, Francois Amy. 1990. “Le Moyen Age du cinema

francais (1940-1987): l’evolution de la connaissance du Moyen Age et

le cinema francais de 1940 a nos jours.” In M. Perrin, ed. Dire le Moyen

Age: Hier et Aujourd’hui. U of Picardie, 259-78.

de le Breteque, Francois Amy. 1992. “Le film en costumes; un bon

objet?” In Cinema et histoire autour de Marc Ferro. CinemAction. No.

65, 111-122.

de la Breteque François Amy. 1998. “Le regard du cinéma sur le

moyen âge.” In Le moyen âge aujourd'hui : trois regards

contemporains sur le moyen âge, acte de la rencontre de Cerisy la

Salle, juillet 1991 Ed. Jacques Le Goff et Guy Lobrichon. Cahiers du

léopard, 283-301.

de La Bretèque, François Amy. 2001. La légende de Robin des Bois.

Privat. ISBN : 2708908006

28

de La Bretèque, François. 2003. “Dessins de décors et costumes

moyenâgeux dans les fonds de la BiFi.”

http://www2.bifi.fr/cineregards/article.asp?

sp_ref=227&ref_sp_type=6&revue_ref=25

Gentry, Francis G.. 1986. “Die Darstellung des Mittelalters im

amerikanischen Film von Robin Hood bis Excalibur.” In Mittelalter-

Rezeption: Ein Symposiusm Ed. Peter Wapnewski, 276-95.

Govievski, Sandra. “The Arthurian Legend in the Cinema: Myth or

History.” The Middle Ages After the Middle Ages in the English

Speaking World. Ed. Marie-Francoise Alamichel and Derek Brewer,

153-66.

Harty Kevin J. 1996. “Jeanne au cinema.” In Fresh Verdicts on Joan of

Arc. Ed. Bonnie Wheeler and Charles T. Wood. Garland.137-64.

Harty , Kevin J. 2002. “Parsifal and Perceval on Film: The Reel Life of a

Grail Knight.” In Perceval / Parzival: A Casebook. Ed. Arthur Groos and

Norris J. Lacy. New York and London: Routledge, 301-112.

Haydock, Nikolas. 2001. “Arthurian Melodrama, Chaucerian Spectacle,

and the Waywardness of Cinematic Pastiche in First Knight and A

Knight’s Tale.” “Film and Fiction: Reviewing the Middle Ages.” Ed. Tom

Shipley with Martin Arnold. Studies in Medievalism. Special issue:

“Film and Fiction: Reviewing the Middle Ages.” Ed. Tom Shipley with

Martin Arnold. 12, 5-38.

29

Lindley, Arthur. “The Ahistoricism of Medieval Film.” Screening the

Past. 29 May 1998. La Trobe University. 27 May 2003.

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fir598/ALfr3a.h

tm.

Mourier, Maurice and Michel Mesnil. 1990. “Moyen Age et cinema;

solutions francaises.” In Dire le Moyen Age: Hier et Aujourd’hui. Ed. M.

Perrin. U of Picardie, 239-58.

Pipolo, Tony. 1999. “Joan of Arc, the Cinema’s Immortal Maid.”

Cineaste, 16-21.

Rosenstone, Robert. 2003. “The Reel Joan of Arc: Reflections on the

Theory and Practice of the Historical Film.” The Public Historian 25, no.

3: 61-77.

Williams, David John. 1997. “Sir Gawain in Films.” In A Companion to

the Gawain-Poet. Ed. Derek Brewer and Jonathan Gibson. Rochester,

NY, 385-92.

Williams, David John. 1990. “Medieval Movies.” The Yearbook of

English Studies. “Literature in the Modern Media: Radio, Film, and

Television” Special number, Ed. Andrew Gurr. Vol. 20, 1-32.

Williams, David John. 1999. “Looking at the Middle Ages in Cinema:

An Overview.” Film and History. 14. 1-2, 8-19.

30