Vid: Man on Lockdown {Merlin BBC - Arthur character study}

[silviakundera]

Hey keewick, I finally made that songvid about my issues with Arthur.

Title: Man on Lockdown
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Music: "Love Lockdown" by Kanye
Focus: Arthur Pendragon
Length: 3:45 minutes
Spoilers: 103, 112, 207, 303, 310, 311, 312
Summary: The only necessity for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.There are battles for which Arthur will

Comments

[darlulu]

Oh man, I love this SO MUCH! The song choice was perfect; its lyrics express everything I've thought about Arthur's passivity, too. My favorite bits were 'How many times did I tell ya 'fore it finally got through,' 'We're just wasting time, where's the finish line' and how that segues into Merlin walking in and asking what their plan is while Arthur just stands there looking resigned about Gwen's fate, and then the bit for 'you choose, you choose' where Arthur threatens a poor defenseless child's life to get his hands on the cup for Uther.

A subtle secondary narrative I tried to weave into the background of the vid is a query to Merlin: is he too guilty of inaction, when it comes to his prince? should his excuses & passivity in the face of Arthur's behavior be questioned? Is he, unlike Arthur, allowing love to cloud his better sense?I really liked how you teased out Merlin's culpability a bit. My personal opinion is that yes, Merlin does allow his love and loyalty for Arthur to cloud his judgment. The show seems to establish over

[pakafe]

Love it, love it, well done, thank you.

Your comments have certainly made me think. I guess I just accepted Arthur's behaviour but now I've seen these aspects collectively I wonder why he behaves so.

I must say in his defence that if we had father's like Uther we may not want to stand up against him (yet) but wait for what will feel like the 'right' time. Arthur would not have had the backing of the Knights as they would still be faithfull to their King,they would have no reason to rebel. Whatever happens Uther is still his father.

continue to have Arthur play the obedient son and in turn Arthur will continue to become a smaller, duller, less exceptional version of his legendary counterpart.

I hope that the writers soon develop Arthur's character and allow him to grow into the man we all want him to become. He must develop into the exceptional king.

[oconel]

That was a great vid, I liked how you showed Arthur's lack of action.

contrasted with how Merlin would not rest until Gwen could be freed
He did that mainly in series 1. Later, he learnt to keep his head down and I think he followed Arthur's inaction (by Gaius's and the Dragon's advice) as you show a bit in the vid.

hould his excuses & passivity in the face of Arthur's behavior be questioned?
I think they should whatever his motives, and so should Arthur's behaviour be questioned too.

Again, I loved the vid, Arthur is in a lockdown.

[archaeologist_d]

I loved it but even more I loved your questioning Arthur's behavior. I hadn't really thought of it like that but you are absolutely right. He protects his and his position and is passive when it comes to his father and being prince. I hope that they will address it in the next series!

Great job.

[silviakundera]

Thanks for letting me know you watched and found it interesting. :)

[julie_izumi]

Really well done! Such a great character study! It gave me a lot to think about, I never really noticed how much Arthur was passive each time...
Great song choice too!

[silviakundera]

Thanks for watching! I'm really happy my vid made you thinky. *g*