Regendering the Camelot myth: Disney's 'Avalon High'
So I woke up this morning, reheated some leftover pizza (the breakfast of champions), and turned on the TV to watch while I ate. Our cable provider has this service that previews programs from different channels; I scrolled through the selection and discovered that the TV movie Avalon High was there in its entirety, courtesy of the Disney Channel.
Avalon High was a familiar title to me as I'd bought and read the book by Meg Cabot back in the day. It wasn't one of my favourites then, although the premise had been interesting: the Arthurian legend set in a modern day high school and told from the perspective of a girl named Ellie. At her new school she encountered a guy named Will (real name Arthur William), his girlfriend Jennifer, his best friend Lance, his step-brother Marco, teacher Mr Morton, and stop me if you think you've heard this one before. It plays out much as you'd think except Ellie isn't Elaine, the Lady of Shalott (aka the lily maid aka the one who kills herself over Lancelot) but rather the Lady of the Lake, who gives Arthur Excalibur. Oh, and Ellie and Will end up together because that's what happens in Meg Cabot books.
I'd heard they'd made some changes to the story for the TV movie, including the mind-boggling one of changing Ellie's name to Allie, but as it required absolutely no effort from me to do so, I watched it (I also did the ironing so that it wouldn't be a complete waste of time). From the beginning I wasn't overly impressed: the acting was bad, the dialogue was worse, and they'd added a stereotypical nerd named Miles into the mix - he kept on having visions of the future. It also seemed they'd left out most of the references to the myth - Ellie spending a lot of time floating in the pool, Will naming his possessions in the manner of Arthur, Will's name actually being Arthur - so I was kind of lost.
Then they came to the climax. In the book this involved a confrontation between Will and Marco (Mordred), with Ellie giving Will the sword, resulting in Marco's defeat. In the movie they chose a different track: Allie went to find Will, only to discover Marco already injured. Inside she found Mr Moore, their teacher and actually Mordred, threatening Will. Miles was revealed to be Merlin and Allie went to lift a prop sword to defend Will, only for the sword to turn into Excalibur at her touch. And just when I thought she was going to give it to Will and he was finally going to get his once and future king on, she started fighting Mordred.
That's when it clicked: Allie was Arthur. The girl was Arthur. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?!
And ok, I should have realised earlier when they said her last name was Pennington (in my defence: ironing is hard and requires concentration) but still, from that moment on, for the last five minutes of the movie, I was in a state of glee over an otherwise crappy Disney production.
I've never encountered a female Arthur before. Admittedly, I haven't read every reinterpretation ever (that's kind of hard to do when practically every single fantasy writer chooses to do their own version) but I think I have a decent handle on the sub-genre and normally when someone does a feminist take on the myth they do so by reconstructing Guinevere, Morgan, Morgause, or Elaine and telling the story from their perspective.
But I'm bowled over by the power in regendering Arthur as female. I mean, is there a more culturally significant Western/Christian/Pagan myth than that of Camelot? No, really, tell me if there is because I'm blanking right now. It's an ideal and a story that we constantly retell in fiction and try to retell in reality (Kennedys, Obama). And to have that once and future king be reborn as female...woah! It's an interpretation I hope others explore, in depth.
And to think, it popped up in a movie made by the Disney Channel. The world is a funny, funny place.
Avalon High was a familiar title to me as I'd bought and read the book by Meg Cabot back in the day. It wasn't one of my favourites then, although the premise had been interesting: the Arthurian legend set in a modern day high school and told from the perspective of a girl named Ellie. At her new school she encountered a guy named Will (real name Arthur William), his girlfriend Jennifer, his best friend Lance, his step-brother Marco, teacher Mr Morton, and stop me if you think you've heard this one before. It plays out much as you'd think except Ellie isn't Elaine, the Lady of Shalott (aka the lily maid aka the one who kills herself over Lancelot) but rather the Lady of the Lake, who gives Arthur Excalibur. Oh, and Ellie and Will end up together because that's what happens in Meg Cabot books.
I'd heard they'd made some changes to the story for the TV movie, including the mind-boggling one of changing Ellie's name to Allie, but as it required absolutely no effort from me to do so, I watched it (I also did the ironing so that it wouldn't be a complete waste of time). From the beginning I wasn't overly impressed: the acting was bad, the dialogue was worse, and they'd added a stereotypical nerd named Miles into the mix - he kept on having visions of the future. It also seemed they'd left out most of the references to the myth - Ellie spending a lot of time floating in the pool, Will naming his possessions in the manner of Arthur, Will's name actually being Arthur - so I was kind of lost.
Then they came to the climax. In the book this involved a confrontation between Will and Marco (Mordred), with Ellie giving Will the sword, resulting in Marco's defeat. In the movie they chose a different track: Allie went to find Will, only to discover Marco already injured. Inside she found Mr Moore, their teacher and actually Mordred, threatening Will. Miles was revealed to be Merlin and Allie went to lift a prop sword to defend Will, only for the sword to turn into Excalibur at her touch. And just when I thought she was going to give it to Will and he was finally going to get his once and future king on, she started fighting Mordred.
That's when it clicked: Allie was Arthur. The girl was Arthur. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?!
And ok, I should have realised earlier when they said her last name was Pennington (in my defence: ironing is hard and requires concentration) but still, from that moment on, for the last five minutes of the movie, I was in a state of glee over an otherwise crappy Disney production.
I've never encountered a female Arthur before. Admittedly, I haven't read every reinterpretation ever (that's kind of hard to do when practically every single fantasy writer chooses to do their own version) but I think I have a decent handle on the sub-genre and normally when someone does a feminist take on the myth they do so by reconstructing Guinevere, Morgan, Morgause, or Elaine and telling the story from their perspective.
But I'm bowled over by the power in regendering Arthur as female. I mean, is there a more culturally significant Western/Christian/Pagan myth than that of Camelot? No, really, tell me if there is because I'm blanking right now. It's an ideal and a story that we constantly retell in fiction and try to retell in reality (Kennedys, Obama). And to have that once and future king be reborn as female...woah! It's an interpretation I hope others explore, in depth.
And to think, it popped up in a movie made by the Disney Channel. The world is a funny, funny place.