On Tuesday, November 18, Fordham’s History Department had the pleasure of celebrating the launch of Law, Justice, and Society in the Medieval World: An Introduction Through Film, edited by Esther Liberman Cuenca (Texas A&M – Victoria), M. Christina Bruno (Medieval Studies, Fordham University), and Anthony Perron (Loyola Marymount University).
The book was published in May of this year by Fordham University Press, and features twenty essays from a robust group of scholarly contributors. The essays explore the topic of “medievalism”–representations of the Middle Ages in post-medieval popular culture, especially modern–as it relates to the topic of law and society in medieval cinema. Each essay corresponds to one film, and is followed by an appendix with a primary source related to the topic. The book is intended to be used in a classroom setting, and prompts discussion not only of the aspects of medieval life that are represented in film, but also the varying cultural and historical contexts in which they are made.
The event took place at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus and featured a short panel with Cuenca and Bruno on the origins of the book, followed by three presentations from contributors: one each by Cuenca and Bruno, and a third by Asif Siddiqi (History, Fordham University).
Cuenca offered a presentation on her chapter titled “Crusading and Oath-Taking in Kingdom of Heaven (2005),” which investigates how director Ridley Scott depicts oath-taking as an initiation into knighthood in Kingdom of Heaven. She focused specifically on how Scott demonstrates the importance of the ritual to the characters in his film, especially as it relates to honor and knighthood. Cuenca also included a fascinating discussion of Scott’s representation of democratized knighthood at the climax of the movie, and how his own working-class background and interests may have influenced the adaptation of the scene.
Bruno gave an insightful talk on her essay, “Poverty and Heresy in The Name of the Rose (1986)”. She discussed director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s clever incorporation of the Franciscan poverty controversy in The Name of the Rose, both as a comedic device and a means of capturing the alienness of medieval culture to modern audiences. Bruno shared clips that highlight Annaud’s ability to adapt the controversy into the background of the film–as something with high stakes for the characters involved–while never outright explaining to his audience what it really entailed. The result is a representation of a medieval society which is not familiar to us as modern viewers, and which certainly does not share our values.
Siddiqi shared an overview of his chapter, titled “War, Family, and the Law of the Kyivan Rus in Alexander Nevsky (1938)”. His presentation encapsulated the ways that films about the Middle Ages can provide a glimpse into the periods in which they were made, in addition to the medieval culture they represent. Siddiqi introduced director Sergei Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky as a product of 1930s Soviet Russia, honing in specifically on his depiction of the Teutonic Knights as stand-ins for the rising threat of Nazi Germany. Ultimately, the film serves as a piece of commentary on the cultural and political landscape of Russia and Europe at large during Eisenstein’s time.
The presentations were followed by a brief yet thought-provoking Q&A that inspired conversation about genre, gender, and medievalism in 1980s America and post-Soviet Russia.
