What do you think?
Middle Ages in Popular Imagination, The: Memory, Film and Medievalism
It is often assumed that those outside of academia know very little about the Middle Ages. But the truth is not so simple. Non-specialists in fact learn a great deal from the myriad medievalisms - post-medieval imaginings of the medieval world - that pervade our everyday culture. These, like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, offer compelling, if not necessarily accurate, visions of the medieval world. And more, they have an impact on the popular imagination, particularly since there are new medievalisms constantly being developed, synthesised and remade.
But what does the public really know? How do the conflicting medievalisms they consume contribute to their knowledge? And why is this important?
In this book, the first evidence-based exploration of the wider public's understanding of the Middle Ages, Paul B. Sturtevant adapts sociological methods to answer these important questions. Based on extensive focus groups, the book details the ways - both formal and informal - that people learn about the medieval past and the many other ways that this informs, and even distorts, our present. In the process, Sturtevant also sheds light, in more general terms, onto the ways non-specialists learn about the past, and why understanding this is so important. The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination will be of interest to anyone working on medieval studies, medievalism, memory studies, medieval film studies, informal learning or public history.
But what does the public really know? How do the conflicting medievalisms they consume contribute to their knowledge? And why is this important?
In this book, the first evidence-based exploration of the wider public's understanding of the Middle Ages, Paul B. Sturtevant adapts sociological methods to answer these important questions. Based on extensive focus groups, the book details the ways - both formal and informal - that people learn about the medieval past and the many other ways that this informs, and even distorts, our present. In the process, Sturtevant also sheds light, in more general terms, onto the ways non-specialists learn about the past, and why understanding this is so important. The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination will be of interest to anyone working on medieval studies, medievalism, memory studies, medieval film studies, informal learning or public history.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
318 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2019
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
March 4, 2019
Fascinating & vital examination of how how people navigate between popular culture and history, The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination is a must-read for many: medievalists, educators across many disciplines, and students of popular culture. There's real meat to this work which studies how non-historians think of the Middle Ages and what they take away from movies that evoke medieval elements. Working with British students and three particular films - Beowulf, Kingdom of Heaven, and Return of the King - Sturtevant unravels what seemed really medieval to the students and what they dismissed in the films. Many may be surprised by what the students valued as realistic and authentic versus what they deemed ahistorical.
More than a shopping list of medievalist movie tropes, this book seeks to understand how people in modern society understand the medieval, how they use the analytic categories of modern versus medieval in their lives, and how that affects their understanding of their own culture. I found the book particularly useful for me as an educator: teaching courses on medieval history and even popular culture and history. But I also appreciated how good Sturtevant was at uncovering a lot of significant social shorthands in how the Middle Ages operates within contemporary culture.
Make no mistake, this isn't aimed at casual fans of medieval movies: there's a lot of deep thought and a good bit of careful follow-through on the thought processes of the student who served as key study figures. But anyone who is intrigued by the links between medieval history and popular culture can find Sturtevant's book well worth their time.
More than a shopping list of medievalist movie tropes, this book seeks to understand how people in modern society understand the medieval, how they use the analytic categories of modern versus medieval in their lives, and how that affects their understanding of their own culture. I found the book particularly useful for me as an educator: teaching courses on medieval history and even popular culture and history. But I also appreciated how good Sturtevant was at uncovering a lot of significant social shorthands in how the Middle Ages operates within contemporary culture.
Make no mistake, this isn't aimed at casual fans of medieval movies: there's a lot of deep thought and a good bit of careful follow-through on the thought processes of the student who served as key study figures. But anyone who is intrigued by the links between medieval history and popular culture can find Sturtevant's book well worth their time.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review