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When Laura Palmer ruled Camelot
Jan. 23rd, 2011 03:52 pmBack in 1994, there was a very obscure (translation: youtube doesn’t even have clips or trailers, super grainy or otherwise) TV movie called Guinevere starring Sheryl Lee from Twin Peaks. It also features Sean Patrick Flanery and Noah Wyle as Arthur and Lancelot respectively. Yes, those two in 1994. To help you digest that, here’s how the triangle works in the first half:
Lancelot: I love you forever because we grew up together and…because we grew up together. Also, I don’t think for myself well, so we should get married because Morgan tells us to, despite your well thought out reservations to her plotting.”
Arthur: “I want to marry you for your brain. Ok, your lands don’t hurt, but mostly you’re really smart and we should rule as equals and I’ll bow down to you a lot. Wait, did you just take out assassins all by yourself? You are awesome.”
Granted, Arthur reveals himself to be something of a twit later too, but for a while there it was “gosh, how would a girl choose…”
Really, though, it’s pretty low budget, though it tries to hide it, but it’s a pretty decent movie. It’s working from the “men write history, so things are probably pretty skewed there” mindset (actually, that’s basically the first line) and focuses on female lineage and has a bit of deconstruction regarding heroes. It mostly uses the pre-medieval themes and stories, but with some of the better known medieval trappings worked in, and alludes to some magic but doesn‘t actually show any concrete magic. Guinevere is the heir of important borderlands that are sought by both Arthur and his enemies, and she and Lancelot are both raised by Morgan, who is a priestess, and has elements of the Lady of the Lake incorporated into her character. She’s the villain, but her motivation for hating Arthur is Uther raping her mother, and then Merlin ordering her death when she was a child, and her objections to him as king is that his religion is represented and dominated by men, with no official power given to women. (That said, the movie is not anti-Christian, it just rightly points out that the people who controlled it were men who used it to get more power.)
It’s not perfect and probably not destined for any “best of” lists, but if you can get ahold of it (I got it from Netflix), it’s worth watching, particularly if you’re interested in Guinevere and/or pre-medieval versions.
Lancelot: I love you forever because we grew up together and…because we grew up together. Also, I don’t think for myself well, so we should get married because Morgan tells us to, despite your well thought out reservations to her plotting.”
Arthur: “I want to marry you for your brain. Ok, your lands don’t hurt, but mostly you’re really smart and we should rule as equals and I’ll bow down to you a lot. Wait, did you just take out assassins all by yourself? You are awesome.”
Granted, Arthur reveals himself to be something of a twit later too, but for a while there it was “gosh, how would a girl choose…”
Really, though, it’s pretty low budget, though it tries to hide it, but it’s a pretty decent movie. It’s working from the “men write history, so things are probably pretty skewed there” mindset (actually, that’s basically the first line) and focuses on female lineage and has a bit of deconstruction regarding heroes. It mostly uses the pre-medieval themes and stories, but with some of the better known medieval trappings worked in, and alludes to some magic but doesn‘t actually show any concrete magic. Guinevere is the heir of important borderlands that are sought by both Arthur and his enemies, and she and Lancelot are both raised by Morgan, who is a priestess, and has elements of the Lady of the Lake incorporated into her character. She’s the villain, but her motivation for hating Arthur is Uther raping her mother, and then Merlin ordering her death when she was a child, and her objections to him as king is that his religion is represented and dominated by men, with no official power given to women. (That said, the movie is not anti-Christian, it just rightly points out that the people who controlled it were men who used it to get more power.)
It’s not perfect and probably not destined for any “best of” lists, but if you can get ahold of it (I got it from Netflix), it’s worth watching, particularly if you’re interested in Guinevere and/or pre-medieval versions.