The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings

by Samuel J. Umland, Rebecca A. Umland

This is the first book to examine the various uses of the Arthurian legend in Hollywood film, covering films from the 1920s to the present. The authors use five representational categories: intertextual collage (or cult film); melodrama, which focuses on the love triangle; conservative propaganda, pervasive during the Cold War; the Hollywood epic; and the postmodern quest, which commonly employs the grail portion of the legend. Arguing that filmmakers rely on the audience's rudimentary familiarity with the legend, the authors show that only certain features of the legend are activated at any particular time. This fascinating study shows us how the legend has been adapted and how through the popular medium of Hollywood films, the Arthurian legend has survived and flourished.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 1996

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is way heavy on academese, but it's an interesting look at the ways Arthurian films treat the legend, picking and choosing the parts they want (Arthur's incest usually gets dropped) and using the film for an epic, a melodrama, the folksy humor of Connecticut Yankee or the cold war overtones of The Black Knight.