#Kzoo2022 Report (and an eye toward #Kzoo2023)

𝔗he Tales after Tolkien Society continued its work at the online International Congress on Medieval Studies hosted by Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For the 2022 iteration of the event, the Society conducted its annual general meeting and sponsored and presented a roundtable session. Notes about each appear below.

The Meeting

Per §5.1 of the Society Constitution, an Annual General Meeting of the Society was held during the 2022 Congress, taking place online and called to order at 6pm US Central Daylight Time. Society President Geoffrey B. Elliott presided; Rachel Sikorski, Society Secretary and Social Media Officer, took minutes. In attendance were the aforementioned officers and members Carrie Pagels, Gillian Polack, and Kris Swank.

Formal agenda items to be considered were

1. Determination of session offerings for the 2023 Congress,
2. Election of a Vice-president (USA) for the term of 2022-2025,
3. Election of a Social Media Officer for the term of 2022-2025, and
4. Concerns for general Society attention and consideration.

As to the first point, suggested in the meeting were five possible topics: a roundtable on medievalism and despair, unconventional medievalisms, medievalism and diversity, medievalism and religion, and medievalists/medievalism and the news. Lively discussion of topics followed, resulting in determination that the Society propose three sessions to the 2023 Congress (with titles amended for clarity and sense):

• Bad Medieval/ism: Mis/Uses of the Medieval in Contemporary Fiction; or, I Know It's Wrong, But I Want to Have Fun—A Roundtable
• Hidden Middle Ages: Where the Middle Ages Hides in Plain Sight in Contemporary Narratives—A Paper Session
• Religion along the Tolkienian Fantasy Tradition: New Medievalist Narratives—A Paper Session
  

Discussion surrounding the first proposal was particularly lively and engaging, and efforts to recruit speakers for it will be undertaken by Society membership, pending approval from the Congress of the session.

The roundtable has proposed as an online / hybrid event, allowing greater participation / engagement; the paper sessions have been proposed as online panels.

As to the second point, the incumbent in the office was not present at the meeting, and no candidates stood for election. Following past practice, the President has asked the incumbent to remain in office for the span of one year, until the Society's Annual General Meeting in 2023. Response is pending as of this writing.

As to the third point, the incumbent in the office, being present in the meeting, was asked if she wished to continue in office; she assented. A call for other nominees was made, with no response. Accordingly, Rachel Sikorski was acclaimed to the office once again.

As to the fourth point, how to prompt more engagement with the Society blog was discussed. Per discussion and approval from the membership present, verbiage recruiting guest posts will be drafted and posted to the Society's web presence and the Congress's website, and it will be made available to membership via email by request; one such request was made by Gillian Polack, to be answered as promptly as circumstances reasonably permit.

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Carrie Pagels and seconded by Gillian Polack. No objections being noted, the meeting was adjourned at 7pm US Central Daylight Time.

The Session

The Society's roundtable session, Twenty-First Century Neo/Medievalisms, was organized by the Society President and presided over by Society Secretary and Social Media Officer Rachel Sikorski; it was presented at 4pm US Central Daylight Time on Thursday, 12 May 2022. The session featured comments from the President, from independent scholar Michael A. Torregrossa, and from Lars Olaf Johnson of Cornell University. Elliott spoke on the use of neo/medievalist and medieval materials in the fifth edition of the Pendragon tabletop role-playing games. Johnson spoke on queerness in Game of Thrones, making particular reference to Society Founder Helen Young's work (of which an example is here, with another here). Torregrossa presented remarks on comic book depictions of Merlin, doing much to trace the history of those presentations and their general shape; the DC Comics Etrigan receives a fair bit of attention in his comments. Discussion of all three topics was lively and engaging, promising more such to come in future years.

A Call for Contributions

ℌey, you.

Yes, you.

Do you work with medieval materials?

Do you see them popping up in the world around you?

Do you have ideas about it?

Do you want to see them out in the world?

Maybe we can help!

The Tales after Tolkien Society, which seeks to provide a forum to examine use of the medieval and medievalism in post-Tolkien popular culture, is seeking guest contributors to its blog (talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com). Contributors need not have any institutional affiliation—we prize the voices of those on the outside. Posts can be of any length and can treat any work of any genre in any medium so long as it makes use of medieval/ist tropes and figures. We’re happy to see many topics, including (but certainly not limited to!)

• How reading / having read Tolkien influences your work, scholarly and creative;
• How reading medieval/ist work influences your own;
• How participation in / engagement with fandoms influences your own; and
• How you see a particular contemporary / recent work or body of work making use of the medieval.

More information is available at https://talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com/p/contributing.html. Interested? Email the Society at talesaftertolkien@gmail.com; we’d love to hear from you!

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.22, "And Straight on 'til Morning"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series soon.

---

2.22, "And Straight on 'til Morning"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Dean White

Synopsis

The final episode of the season opens with a focus on a tall ship sailing, one soon revealed to be Hook's Jolly Roger, aboard which Smee encourages Hook's revenge and reports that Baelfire sleeps but will be well. They confer about his origin, Smee voicing fears that Hook allays. Shortly after, the pair confer with Baelfire, who explains his arrival in Neverland and bristles at Hook before announcing his name--which Hook recognizes. The captain welcomes him to the crew.

Are you not entertained?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following the title card, the episode continues with Henry swinging under Granny's watchful eye. Gold approaches, plotting his grandson's death and working magically to that end. He is stopped in his machinations by the arrival of Mary Margaret, David, and Emma and their challenge of him. Emma moves to Henry, and Mary Margaret imparts news: Baelfire is gone, shot by Tamara and taken by a portal to an unknown place. Gold is staggered by the news, and he refuses to help David and Mary Margaret in his sorrow at his son's loss, staggering off.

Beneath Storybrooke, Hook accompanies Greg and Tamara as they proceed along their orders and retrieve one of the dwarves' pickaxes to use the artifact stolen from Regina, which will undo Storybrooke. Hook challenges them, and they activate the artifact, which begins to unmake the town, allowing the original forest to reclaim the area. Regina returns to herself in company with Emma, Mary Margaret, David, and Henry as the destruction begins. Hook arrives shortly after and is punched and threatened by David in short order; Regina offers to hinder the destruction as the rest prepare to effect evacuation from Storybrooke. Regina offers a sincere apology to Henry.

Near Neverland, the Jolly Roger receives a delegation, Smee encouraging Hook to surrender Baelfire thereto. Hook refuses, citing Baelfire's utility as the delegation boards. The delegation, consisting of Lost Boys, demands the surrender of the boy, searching the ship for him. They do not find him, and they leave with dire warnings for Hook and his crew. Baelfire takes the demonstration to heart.

Gold confronts the dwarves in his shop as they note having found a remedy for their brother's malady. Grumpy offers a dose of the remedy to Gold for Belle as he heads off. Other preparations for the evacuation continue, with David and Hook moving to confront Greg and Tamara.

What arrr you thinking?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, Hook works with Baelfire. He takes the opportunity to learn more about the boy and his circumstances. He relates a sad backstory and gets confirmation that Baelfire is the son of the Dark One in exchange--and learns of the dagger, to boot.

David and Hook confer as they proceed against Greg and Tamara. Melee and pursuit begin, with Hook securing a bean as Greg and Tamara flee. Meanwhile, Emma and Regina proceed to the active artifact. Regina purposes to remain behind as the rest of the town flees; Emma attempts to dissuade her from her self-sacrifice, unsuccessfully. Gold and Lacey face their own ends soddenly, and Gold doses her with the remedy Grumpy gave him; it restores Belle to herself, and the two reconcile tearfully.

Discussion of options ensues, with Mary Margaret suggesting removing the artifact and Emma rejecting the idea as overly risky. Emma is overruled, and she overrules Hook's attempt to escape, in turn. He challenges her about her motives, and she asserts a desire to save Henry from losing another family member, Baelfire already having fallen. The news of Baelfire's loss stuns Hook.

Smee challenges Hook regarding Baelfire. Baelfire challenges Hook regarding Milah and learns the truth of her death. Baelfire demands to be taken back to the Darlings; Hook notes the impossibility, and Baelfire turns away from him in teenage angst.

The attempt to send the artifact away is made, despite Regina's objections, and Emma finds that the bean upon which they had relied is absent, Hook having palmed the object and returned to the Jolly Roger to make good his escape. Near Neverland, Baelfire makes to depart the Jolly Roger, Hook attempting to dissuade him from going. He does not succeed, so he turns Balefire over to the Lost Boys, albeit with some regret--that afflicts him as he makes to leave Storybrooke.

Ooh. Pretty colors.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina's containment efforts begin to falter, and tearful goodbyes begin to be said. Regina apologizes again, and Emma realized she can assist, moving to do so. The combined efforts appear to succeed, with reforestation withdrawing--though Henry disappears, taken by Greg and Tamara, who note Henry's greater importance as they abscond with him. Chase is joined, and Greg and Tamara open a portal, taking Henry with them. Means to follow are discussed, and the return of the Jolly Roger betokens hope; combined efforts promise to be enough. Gold charges Belle with instructions as to how to protect the town in what he expects to be his terminal absence.

Baelfire finds himself on the shores of the Enchanted Forest. And Henry, as it happens, is in Neverland, where his father had been taken before--and Peter Pan awaits.

Discussion

As the final episode of the season, the present episode does not bring in much, if anything, new; it would hardly be narratively appropriate to do so. But I do note the interesting refusal of the series to allow a self-sacrifice by one of the major characters; Regina had a chance at redemption by remaining in place to ensure the rest could flee, a gesture that would resonate with modern viewership no less than with medieval readership regarding a similar thing, John 15:13 being a common point of reference. For the earlier, Christianity would be taken as a given (if not always accurately so, as others can attest more fully than I), and self-sacrifice is at the heart of Christian ideology; for Regina to act in such a way would be an eminently fitting gesture. And for the latter, self-sacrifice remains lauded, as lists of honors and awards, both civilian and military, attest.

Admittedly, production reasons--described by TV Tropes as "Status Quo is God"--suggest why the gesture would be refused; it's hard to keep a character in place who is dead, after all, and resurrecting a character after a sacrifice cheapens the sacrifice (comic books might learn such lessons usefully), while disposing of a popular character is likely to have adverse effects on ratings. Still, it's a strange thing to consider from not only a perspective of medievalist interpretation, but also from a perspective of "this is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles" so often voiced about the United States (albeit not accurately and with a decidedly slanted interpretation of Christianity, as recent events amply demonstrate), whose population can be presumed to be the primary audience of the series.

But that's an argument for another place and time, one far more emphatic and immediate than my commentaries here can ever be.

As a reminder, there will be a break before I take up Season 3. Gotta make sure I'm ready for #Kzoo2022--and then I'll need a rest!

One More Update for #Kzoo2022

𝔗his was mentioned previously--28 January 2022--but the Society will be having its Annual General Meeting via the ICMS online platform at 7pm US Eastern Time on Monday, 9 May 2022. Items to be discussed include

• What panel/s, if any, to propose for the 2023 ICMS;
• Election of a Social Media Officer, 2022-2025; and
• Election of a Vice-President (USA), 2022-2025.

No panel topics having yet been proposed, the Society will accept suggestions from the floor during the meeting. Similarly, no nominations for the positions having yet been received, the Society will accept nominations from the floor during the meeting.

Other business may be discussed at the Society's discretion.