Doing More for #Kzoo2020

𝔄s a follow-up to "Starting for #Kzoo2020," expanded CFPs have been submitted to the UPenn CFP list. The text of them is below:

Legacies of Tolkien's Whiteness in Contemporary Medievalisms

A roundtable session at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress) examining the continuing effects of Tolkien's depictions of race in medievalist works; Rachel Cooper will preside.

Much criticism directs itself towards racial studies and postcolonial readings of the works of JRR Tolkien, arguing whether his works should be regarded as racist and what attitudes contemporary readers would be well served to adopt in response to them. Much attention in popular media has directed itself towards the use of medieval and medievalist works such as Tolkien's by white supremacist groups to offer themselves pseudo-intellectual and pseudo-historical support for their execrable agendas. The session looks for ways in which contemporary medievalist work (hopefully) unintentionally supports such efforts and what can be done to oppose them as things deserving all opposition.

Deadscapes: Wastelands, Necropoli, and Other Tolkien-Inspired Places of Death, Decay, and Corruption

A paper session at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress) examining depictions of what comes in the wake of war and death in works in the Tolkienian tradition; Carrie Pagels will preside.

Many of the "standard" fantasy works, ranging from the epics through Arthuriana into Tolkien and beyond, make much of grand wars fought on massive scales. They also, at times, look at what is left behind when the war is done, the graveyards filled and memorials erected. The session looks at how such things are constructed in works in the Tolkienian fantasy tradition and what functions they serve for readers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

For both, short proposals are welcome; please send to talesaftertolkien@gmail.com on or before 15 September 2019. Proposals from graduate students, those outside traditional academe, and traditionally underrepresented groups are especially welcome.

Galavant Rewatch 2.9, "The Battle of Three Armies"

Read the previous entry here!
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The final confrontation of the series begins in earnest in the penultimate episode of Galavant.

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2.9, "The Battle of Three Armies"

Written by Rick Wiener, Kenny Schwartz, Juan Thomas, Julia Grob, and Joe Piarulli
Directed by John Fortenberry

Synopsis

It's an interesting look.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Steve, armored and still in motley, sings a recap of the series's recent events. Major tensions are laid out that have emerged throughout the series, and Steve's performance is acknowledged within the show as a good one.

Immediately after, Gareth marshals his large army, while Wormwood and Madalena withdraw to observe from afar. Gareth is understandably upset at the plan, and becomes more so as evidence of Madalena's trafficking in dark arts emerges.

Across the field, Isabella confers with her parents about the relative states of the invading and defending armies.  Isabella tries to rally her forces, doing surprisingly well at it--though she realizes their precarity.

Galavant, Richard, and their army arrive to see the invading and defending armies arrayed against one another. Richard begins to realize his peril, and Galavant makes to ease him. Richard also tries to get his "dragon" to breathe fire, to no avail.

Gareth agitates to get started as Wormwood and Madalena delay. The changing plans vex him, as does the continuing involvement of magic. The three mark the arrival of Galavant and his army, and Gareth moves to attack, Madalena remaining behind.

They had been doing well for themselves.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

The armies advance upon each other, their strains of the marching song that emerges reinforcing their relative strategic positions. In the middle of it all are Vincenzo and Gwen, whose cottage lies amid the battlefield that is soon to be. Vincenzo sees the advancing armies and muses on their likely impending doom.

Battle is joined. Madalena and Wormwood muse on the battle's progress, and Wormwood recognizes the Sword of the One True King in the opposition to their forces. Madalena demurs at the proposed use of the dark arts, and Wormwood plays upon her vanity to convince her to employ magic. And amid the chaos, Richard reconsiders his choices, Gareth advances upon him, and Galavant and Isabella meet again. She is not happy to see him, nor Richard to see Gareth; both pairs reconcile before a wave of magic turns the undead army upon the living. Wormwood enhances them and tutors Madalena in how to work her will.

Gareth realizes that he has been betrayed by the woman he had loved and had thought loved him as the living armies retreat to the fortified town of Hortensia. The undead press the attack against the barely-fighting retreat to the inner ward. A pause in the attack permits a parley. Madalena tries to reclaim Gareth; he refuses, deciding to stand with Richard and the others against Madalena's outright evil. The attack resumes.

Discussion

There might be a seeming disjunction at the beginning of the episode in seeing Steve, the jester, in armor. The incongruity of the demonstrably cowardly comedian in armor amuses, certainly, and the idea of a court performer as a warrior seems at odds with itself. It does have a significant medieval antecedent, however: Sir Dagonet. In Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the linchpin of English-language Arthurian legend, Sir Dagonet is the fool of Arthur's court, explicitly described as such. The story in Malory of Le Cote Male Tayle offers one of the clearer examples of that description; Dagonet is used as a challenger to discredit Le Cote Male Tayle, as I have argued. For the court fool to appear in knightly array, then, has a centuries-long literary history; for Steve to show up in it is not a bad thing, nor altogether at odds with the "medieval" in which Galavant trades.

More prevalent than the connections to the medieval, though, are the connections to the medievalist, particularly in references to Tolkien. The title of the episode calls back to The Hobbit and its climactic battle at Erebor. Isabella's rallying speech borrows heavily from Theoden's at the Pelennor. So does Galavant's armor (with a helmet in the present episode, no less!). Both tie back to one of the major avenues through which people apprehend the medieval, per Paul B. Sturtevant's The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination. But the avenue is not the destination, certainly, and many people stop on the road long before reaching its end.

There is another thing to note, as well. As in previous episodes, the expectation seems to be that the audience's sympathies will turn towards those who have done horrible deeds because they are focal characters who have been hurt by others. In the present episode, Gareth seems to be the character with whom audience sympathies are expected to run. But that he feels himself betrayed by Madalena--who has already betrayed several others and who should not be trusted therefore--and that he reconciles with his friend and king--whom he had himself betrayed--does not erase the evils he himself has done. Gareth may try to make a distinction between being "a horrible human being" and "evil," but it is a distinction without much difference; an afternoon of humane feeling does not offset years of foul deeds and seasons of on-screen wrong-making.

Forgiveness may be possible, but it is not so swift or easy as all that.

Galavant Rewatch 2.8, "Do the D'DEW"

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Read the next entry here!

The final confrontation of the season is set up, and kinks are introduced into other threads of the plot, as the second season of Galavant proceeds.

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2.8, "Do the D'DEW"

Written by Jeremy Hall, Luan Thomas, Julia Grob, and Joe Piarulli
Directed by Chris Koch

Synopsis

Night time is the right time to lead zombies along.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Galavant, Sid, Richard, and Roberta proceed at the head of an undead army towards Valencia.
The complications of such work are noted--and demonstrated as Galavant has to micromanage the zombies' motions while they mindlessly follow him. And Richard frets over how to proceed romantically with Roberta, doing so ineptly. She is not inept, however.

Isabella and Steve approach Gareth and Madalena's headquarters under flag of truce.
Steve is understandably nervous; Isabella is resolute. They confront Gareth and Madalena over surrender terms; Madalena's terms are excessive, and Isabella rejects them. Battle looms, and the Sword of the One True King is noted as the only available hope for Hortensia and Valencia--a sword they do not have. But Madalena does not know Isabella's forces do not have it, and she frets about the prophecy foretelling the unification of realms by the sword's wielder. Gareth makes to reassure her, and Wormwood reminds them that he is a practitioner of dark magic--and Madalena is immediately interested, though Gareth is hesitant. Madalena purposes to engage such magic, even so, and despite averring to Gareth that she will not.

Kind of them to leave a note.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Galavant and his cohort arrive at Valencia, finding the castle deserted, its forces diverted to Hortensia. Galavant notices Richard and Roberta, and the two explicate their assignation in song amid a song-and-dance number with the zombies.

Madalena persists in her drive to attain dark magical power. She calls upon Wormwood to teach her, thinking that she will need to sacrifice a child to attain the power. She does not, but does need to sign away her soul. Her evident relish of evil acts--infant-killing, signing in blood--unnerves even Wormwood.

Isabella reviews her forces and their potential arms. They are less than might be desired, and Isabella tries to make the most of it and motivate the Hortensians--to no avail.

Galavant reviews his own troops, finding them similarly less than optimal. He frets about his chances, stumbling onto the idea that the zombies are motivated by the expression of love. He, Richard, and Roberta make to head out; Sid has left a note saying that he has left to atone for his failure with Galavant, and Richard muses over his changes in character. Roberta notes that Richard will not do well in battle, and in detail. He tries to set aside her concerns, and she tries to get him to flee with her. He refuses, and she leaves.

As the episode ends, three armies march towards one another in preparation for a final battle, while others proceed to their own ends.

Discussion

Example I
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Example M
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

One issue that emerges in the episode that reads poorly for me is that of boob-plate. As shown in Examples I and M, both Isabella and Madalena appear in it. (I do read Madalena's outfit in the example as moving towards armor, despite its material. No few of the other focal character are shown in leather armor, after all--including Gareth in the same scene, as witness his gorget and spaulders or pauldrons.) And it is stupid in both cases, looking like it would serve the function Emily Asher-Perrin and others describe of directing weapons towards the body's center mass--and the vital organs housed therein. That both characters display notable gaps in coverage on their sternums only highlights the folly. Yes, it appears meant to accentuate their femininity, to remind viewers that the characters are women (as if the series as a whole and the vocal registers they display during their "catfight" song--and the descriptor is itself a problem--do not do enough to do so already), but it also serves to reinforce ideas that are flatly wrong-headed. (Yes, there are anatomical realities that need accommodation. Exposing vital areas to attack is not an appropriate accommodation.) It's one more point at which the series, which is in many ways in line with what it needs to be, fails to live up to its promises.

There's actually a fair bit to say about the armor in the episode. Near the end, Galavant appears--for the first time in the series--in (nearly) full plate armor. It is relatively unornamented, as well, marking it through its lack of ostentation as a serious piece of equipment. Notably, though, it lacks a helmet (which Gareth wears in the final musical piece of the episode), as well as the surcoat that would keep the naked metal from growing intolerably hot in the sun. While the lack of helmet can possibly be justified both in-milieu--Galavant is not yet at battle--and for concerns of medium--having the character's face exposed eases audience recognition and improves the clarity of voice for singing--the lack of ornamentation stands out. Galavant is a known warrior; it makes little sense that he would not have a recognizable coat of arms, even if only his father's with a mark of cadence upon it. Oddly, such accoutrements as coats of arms are among the most recognizable "medieval" items, so the lack of one on the eponymous character of the series is strange. What is to be made of it is not at all clear...

Galavant Rewatch 2.7, "Love and Death"

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An aptly-titled episode reiterates a strange nuance in medievalist fantasy.

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2.7, "Love and Death"

Written by Robin Shorr, Luan Thomas, Julia Grob, and Joe Piarulli
Directed by Paul Murphy

Synopsis

Fortunately, the way is clear, though there is some confusion about geography.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Overlapping in its beginning with the previous episode's end, the present episode moves through immediate reactions to Galavant's accidental impaling and into the mad rush to save him. They head to Sporin, where a healer is in residence. The healer takes him in swiftly, noting ironically in a long-winded song that speed is needed to treat him--and pronounces him dead.

In Valencia, Wormwood plots an invasion of Hortensia with Madalena and Gareth. Madalena is interested in Isabella's presence and discomfiture. Gareth's gesture towards her evokes an exclamation of love that makes the two uncomfortable and provokes Wormwood's wedding-planning expertise. Madalena flees, and Gareth mulls over being told he is loved in a parodic song.

If there's going to be a running gag, it makes sense to put it on a horse.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Galavant lies dead at the healer's, with Roberta making metanarrative comments and Sid referencing The Princess Bride to no avail. The healer offers some semblance of hope, which Richard tries unsuccessfully to reject; the return of the unicorn reasserts his virginity. Roberta tries to console him regarding his status, and the healer takes what he needs.

In Hortensia, Steve continues to try to entertain and is interrupted by Isabella's news that they will be invaded by Valencia through a miscommuncation. Isabella finds herself in command of Hortensia's forces and wholly unprepared to be so.

Madalena continues to fret about the impending war and her relationship with Gareth. He is smitten, and she violently rejects his advances. Meanwhile, Isabella seeks information about strategies. And the healer prepares the potion he hopes will revive Galavant. It appears not to work, certainly not quickly. Richard and Roberta confer about the situation.

Not the expected anteroom to the afterlife.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Galavant, meanwhile, confronts death amid a strangely cheery song and dance number. He is shown those whom he knew, including Isabella. He sees her plight and learns of the miscommunication that injured her in "World's Best Kiss." The drive to correct the problems compels his return to life. He rises to interrupt Roberta's declaration of love for Richard and his realization of love for her.

Gareth confronts Madalena about their nuptials in advance of reviewing their troops. Their confrontation bleeds over into the review, which continues to be awkward for all involved.

There's a comment in here, I'm sure.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Isabella reviews the resources available to Hortensia. They would be laughable were death not so imminent. Isabella is understandably distraught.

Galavant and his companions make to leave, and the healer offers an undead horde that will fight at Galavant's command. Conflict seems unavoidable.

Discussion

The present episode is rife with references to other medievalist properties. One such is noted above; Sid comments on being mostly dead in a clear nod to The Princess Bride, a reference likely to lodge well with the parents of Millennials who remember fondly having their children see the film (and that seems to be a large part of the expected audience for the series as a whole, which makes the move a good one). Another is yet another comment connecting to Game of Thrones, with the visual reference to the Red Keep. That Richard, Roberta, and Sid turn away from it in search of a healer works well, given the actions of some "healers" depicted there (about which Shiloh's comments are always welcome).

If it's good enough for Aragorn...
Image taken from The One Wiki to Rule Them All, used for commentary.

There's a less overt one, too. At the end, Galavant comes into possession of an undead army. Normally, such a thing is the province of antagonists; using the undead is almost always considered a mark of evil, and the series makes much of being aware of narrative convention. Yet Galavant smiles as he accepts the soldiers. They are a means to an end for him, yes, and they are soldiers about whose deaths he need not worry. And they are a call-back to Tolkien's legendarium, specifically the oathbreakers Aragorn summons at Erech. Aragorn is clearly good, yet he uses forces that read as evil in most any other context; Galavant does the same, though he is less pure than his Middle-earth counterpart (if no more believable).

There's also a tacit nod to the medieval antecedents earlier in the episode. Galavant encounters death amid a jaunty tune, which seems strange--and so fit for parody, in keeping with the series as a whole. At the same time, though, medieval Europe prized death; one traditional conception is that death marked a release from the suffering of the fallen and sinful world, allowing the sanctified soul to proceed closer to God. This does not mean there was not grief for the passing of the dead, as Mia Korpiola and Anu Lahtinen point out, but it was focal, as Alixe Bovey asserts, and so more amenable to treatment in ways other than mourning. Indeed, much was made by Europeans of the High Middle Ages--which Galavant evokes--of the danse macabre, per Emily Rebekah Huber, and the specter of death and attendants amid what amounts to a showtune seems of such sort, indeed. So there's something else the series has gotten right as it has sent up the Middle Ages.

Starting for #Kzoo2020

𝔄s a follow up on the Kalamazoo 2019 report, the Sneak Peek of the 2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies call for papers is available. As I looked at it, I was happy to find in it what I show below:

For those who can't see the graphic, it reads:

Tales after Tolkien Society (2): Deadscapes: Wastelands, Necropoli, and Other Tolkien Inspired Places of Death, Decay, and Corruption (A Panel Discussion); Legacies of Tolkien’s Whiteness in Contemporary Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
Contact: Geoffrey B. Elliott PO Box 293970 Kerrville, TX 78029 (corrected)
Email: geoffrey.b.elliott@gmail.com

The Society looks forward to having your abstracts! From the 2019 report, they are:

• Deadscapes: Wastelands, Necropoli, and Other Tolkien-Inspired Places of Death, Decay, and Corruption--a paper session examining depictions of what comes in the wake of war and death in works in the Tolkienian tradition; Carrie Pagels has offered to preside.
• Legacies of Tolkien's Whiteness in Contemporary Medievalisms--a roundtable session examining the continuing effects of Tolkien's depictions of race in medievalist works; Society Secretary Rachel Cooper has offered to preside.

We hope to see you at the 'zoo!

Galavant Rewatch 2.6, "About Last Knight"

Read the previous entry here!
Read the next entry here!

For the US Independence Day entry, how the series engages with some of the less fortunate legacies of that nation receives attention--as do a few other things.

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2.6, "About Last Knight"

Written by Scott Weinger, Luan Thomas, Julia Grob, and Joe Piarulli
Directed by Paul Murphy

Synopsis

It's not a good start for him.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Sid flees through Valencia, where he is a wanted man. He attempts to filter unnoticed through the crowds, albeit without success (about which some comments below). He does manage to avert his recapture, however, by arguing the likelihood that the promised reward for his return will not be paid, and he attempts to foment rebellion--to no avail. He flees again.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta are forced to halt in their progress by an unwilling horse. They dismount and recite their recent off-screen hardships (about which some other comments below). They find themselves on the borders of Galavant's father's--his name is Arnold--lands, which Galavant hates, but they appear obliged to call on him, even so.

In Valencia, Madalena throws a surprise party for Gareth. He reacts poorly at first, and is awkward even after, noting the mismatch between himself and the sumptuous surroundings. He asks to get a scar in a bar fight, and Madalena decides to take him out to get one.

This is not a happy person.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Isabella returns in anger to Hortensia (which I have evidently been misspelling previously; mea culpa). She interrupts his scheming, and he notes he cannot be killed save by the "sword of the one true king"--which happens to be in Richard's inept hands. Isabella banishes him; he leaves amid an intermittent monologue.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta arrive at Arnold's home. The knight remains trepidatious, even when events suggest he should not be; Richard and Roberta opt to fill their bellies. Arnold welcomes the group warmly, inviting them in and showing them the school he now runs. His students clearly love him, and Galavant is skeptical.

Gareth and Madalene call on what appears to be an in-castle pub. Gareth explains how events usually unfold, and those in the pub fall over themselves in their submission to him. He leaves in disgust at their unwillingness to confront him.

Wormwood and his assistant, Barry, proceed through a forest--the Forest of Coincidence--away from Hortensia. They encounter Sid, who soon finds himself rearmed and sent on his way back to Galavant; he warns them of Madalena and Gareth, and Wormwood purposes to go there.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta take some time at Arnold's school. Galavant and Roberta confer about Richard until Galavant is pulled into reminiscing about his own unpleasant childhood. The students refute his assertion and extol Arnold's virtues. Arnold hears Galavant's imprecations.

Isabella's parents are released from imprisonment, and she apologizes to them, citing her ensorcelment. They apologize in turn for their earlier treatment of her. The three are reconciled. They break off the marriage arrangement with Harry.

Arnold and Galavant also reconcile, Arnold noting his record of Galavant's life and acknowledging his own inadequacies as a father. Arnold sends him off with his blessing.

Gareth sulks about his inability to find a birthday fight. Madalena tries to comfort him, introducing Wormwood and the prospect of a war to fight.

Sid returns to Galavant in joy. He reports events, and, in his excitement, he accidentally runs the knight through...

The face of a man who gets the point.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Discussion

It is true that Galavant works in many episodes to avert the medieval-as-white paradigm so unfortunately prevalent in medievalist media and popular understanding of the medieval. That said, the opening minutes of the current episode appear to be treating in that dynamic, with Sid's easy identification as a fugitive seemingly enabled by his being the only person of color among a great many white people. That the scene makes so little use of persons of color among the extras is admittedly unusual, but it is still striking, and it is not to the series's credit.

Of note for a different reason is a comment made early on in the episode by Richard, that noting eating "that family of hobbits." The reference to Tolkien is clear (and makes the episode clearly fit for the Society's attention), especially given the long-known avidity with which Tolkien's estate defends components of Middle-earth. (The long-ago lawsuit against D&D is one of the more famous examples.) How to take the reference (other than a morbid joke that sets up an iteration of a running joke in the season) is less clear. Is it a lampshade (unneeded) that the series is a satire of medievalist fantasy? Is it a repudiation of Tolkien? Is it a biting commentary (I could not help the pun) about the voraciousness of the wealthy?

But on the topic of things the episode gets more correct than many in the presumed audience will realize: the school Arnold runs has clear antecedents in medieval history. One of the commonplaces of mainstream depictions of the medieval is that the period was one of little education outside the church (and damned little within it); learning was not only largely unavailable, but was derided. (It is a commonplace now, as well.) Yet Alfred the Great, in his preface to Cura Pastoralis, asserts that learning will be available to any who may pursue it instead of other occupations, and Charlemagne--the medieval king par excellence--established multiple schools throughout the Holy Roman Empire. They are the most accessible examples, certainly, but not the only ones. They also serve to suggest that schools, while perhaps not on the model of Arnold's, were far more readily available to medieval Europeans than is commonly understood (and higher education, at least, is far less accessible now than many want to realize). The reminder that medieval people were not quite so backward as is usually assumed is a useful one, indeed, even if it is embedded in a problematic context.