The Middle Ages on Television

The Middle Ages on Television Synopsis

The past decade and a half has seen an impressive resurgence of popular interest in the Middle Ages. In particular, television presents us with a wide and diverse array of ""medieval"" offerings. Yet, there exists very little scholarship on the image of the Middle Ages in television. Unlike film, whose use of the medieval has been examined repeatedly by scholars, television medievalism has garnered little critical attention. This collection begins to fill this gap by focusing on the depiction and utilization of the Middle Ages in popular culture and by questioning the role of television in shaping contemporary ideas about past and present. Each of the ten essays that make up the volume celebrates the currency and power of television medievalism, emphasizing the need for anyone interested in contemporary medievalism to pay attention to its manifestations on the small screen. Despite this shared common goal, each contributor addresses the topic from a unique perspective, and the collection covers a wide range of issues such as genre, gender, sexuality--amongst others--in Anglophone and European programs. The collection's ten chapters thus complement each other, collaborating and engaging with one another to bring to light the very special nature of television medievalism.