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, stardom, and film
technologies. Moreover, criticism of the Middle Ages on film has primarily
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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 medievalrelated 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, 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
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historical films; the book as a means of authentication in historical films; the reinvention of the Middle Ages and the afterlives of the medieval in film; multimedia 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 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,
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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
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).
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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).
--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
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--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 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),
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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-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,
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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. 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.
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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 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.
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 Palimpsests: The Name of the Rose (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986)
 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
 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)
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 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.
 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,
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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).
 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
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 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. JeanMarie 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
 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,
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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)
 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).
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 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 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).
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 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;
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
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 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)
 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 Jones
Jabberwocky (director and actor, 1977) Chaucer's Knight: Portrait of a
Medieval Mercenary (1980; second
edition 1994) scholarly book
Time Bandits (dir, 1981, Michael Palin, Screenplay for Labyrinth (dir. Jim
actor)
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 coauthor 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
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Brothers Grimm (dir. 2005)
books
“The Monk’s Tale,” Studies in the Age
of Chaucer: The Yearbook of the New
Chaucer Society, 22 (2000), pp. 38797.
Who killed Chaucer?: A Medieval
Mystery (2003) co-authored book
Medieval Lives (2004) tv mini-series
and co-author, book Medieval Lives
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
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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).
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):
20
actes du deuxiáeme Colloque Sercia organisâe par la Facultâe des Lettres et la
ville de Besanðcon, les 26, 27, 28, 29 octobre /
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.
21
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.
22
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
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.
23
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.
B. Special issues:
24
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.
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.
25
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 (19401987): 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
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
26
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.
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.htm.
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.
27
Pipolo, Tony. 1999. “Joan of Arc, the Cinema’s Immortal Maid.” Cineaste, 1621.
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, 38592.
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.
i
For another example, see the review of Anazapta (2001) in the June 2004
issue of Sight and Sound.
28