a post of sheer boredom and ridiculousness
I wound up watching The Thirteenth Warrior this morning/afternoon instead of doing anything useful. I don't actually think it was a particularly *good* movie, but it was much better than its advertising suggested. Also, as you may know, I am a sucker for things that foreground the issues of language and translation in historical contexts (see my "time travel" tag), and this film did that, with spoken Latin *and* a sequence in which the main character slowly pieces together an understanding of a language foreign to him. So it gets points for that alone.
And now I want, if I ever teach a survey course on my own (though why someone would trust me to teach anyone anything, after the fairly dismal showing I've made these last two-and-then-some years, I'm sure I don't know), to have a cracked-out film series to go with it. The Thirteenth Warrior for Beowulf; A Knight's Tale for Chaucer; whatever that other random medieval movie with Paul Bettany is (the one where he's an itinerant player, or something? performing mystery plays?) for medieval drama; something involving Henry VIII for Utopia*; and Shakespeare in Love** and Twelfth Night for Marlowe and Shakespeare.***
This would probably be a horrible idea, actually, and would further cement all kinds of weird ideas students have about these periods, but it was fun to think about.
*I have to teach Utopia in a few weeks. What do you want to bet that I accidentally reference Ever After?
**There is a sad lack of films involving Marlowe, and I can't really see reading Edward II in a survey class. I'm still shocked that there hasn't been a Marlowe biopic yet.
***My scheme breaks down for Milton. Are there any Civil War films readily available? I'm not sure why, but the Interregnum and/or the Restoration don't quite sit well, even though that's probably more accurate for PL.
And now I want, if I ever teach a survey course on my own (though why someone would trust me to teach anyone anything, after the fairly dismal showing I've made these last two-and-then-some years, I'm sure I don't know), to have a cracked-out film series to go with it. The Thirteenth Warrior for Beowulf; A Knight's Tale for Chaucer; whatever that other random medieval movie with Paul Bettany is (the one where he's an itinerant player, or something? performing mystery plays?) for medieval drama; something involving Henry VIII for Utopia*; and Shakespeare in Love** and Twelfth Night for Marlowe and Shakespeare.***
This would probably be a horrible idea, actually, and would further cement all kinds of weird ideas students have about these periods, but it was fun to think about.
*I have to teach Utopia in a few weeks. What do you want to bet that I accidentally reference Ever After?
**There is a sad lack of films involving Marlowe, and I can't really see reading Edward II in a survey class. I'm still shocked that there hasn't been a Marlowe biopic yet.
***My scheme breaks down for Milton. Are there any Civil War films readily available? I'm not sure why, but the Interregnum and/or the Restoration don't quite sit well, even though that's probably more accurate for PL.