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Contribution to Book
"Hail to the King[s], Baby" Arthur vs Army of Darkness
The Arthurian World (Part of The Routledge Worlds series)
  • Jeff Massey, Ph.D., Molloy University
  • Tabitha Ochtera, MLIS, MBA, Molloy University
Author Type
Faculty
Publication Date
6-1-2022
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Abstract

Given the current penchant for “medieval misappropriation” among white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and political pundits, medievalists are clearly justified in directing their critical attention toward debunking the overly popular neomedieval misrepresentations portrayed in so much serious modern Arthuriana. Yet, it is worth remembering that comedy also played an essential role in medieval Arthurian storytelling, and that neomedieval comic representations of King Arthur (and his silly English kuh-nigguts) remain worthy of critical attention as well, perhaps especially so during times of modern “darkness.” Two major strains of neomedieval Arthurian comedy remain perennially present in modern media: those following Mark Twain’s time-traveling Connecticut Yankee (wherein a cocky modern hero replaces an ineffective King Arthur as the new “boss”) and those echoing Monty Python’s satiric Holy Grail (wherein King Arthur is a self-important, dim-witted authority figure worthy of ridicule). These two comic strains find an unexpected hybrid representation in Sam Raimi’s horror-adventure-comedy, Army of Darkness, which presents fans with a cocky, dim-witted, and modern replacement for Arthur: Ashley J. Williams, the modern buffoon king we deserve . . . if not the one we want. As an escapist fantasy, a critique of modern hyper-masculine heroism, and a self-conscious distortion of medieval film tropes, Army of Darkness exemplifies how comic neomedieval Arthuriana can offer audiences solace during times of hardship, critique modern cultural concerns within a distant medieval construction, and remind viewers that the “real Middle Ages” was not a uniformly dour, shit-laden time of pestilence, violence, and ethnocentrism but—like our own time period—an age capable of self-reflection, criticism, and comedy.

DOI
10.4324/9781003255475-33
Page Range
461-476
Book Title
The Arthurian World (Part of The Routledge Worlds series)
Book Publisher
Routledge
Book Editor(s)
Victoria Coldham-Fussell, Miriam Edlich-Muth, and Renee Ward
Book ISBN
9780367172701
Comments

The published version of this book chapter can be found on the Routledge website at https://www.routledge.com/The-Arthurian-World/Coldham-Fussell-Edlich-Muth-Ward/p/book/9780367172701

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Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Citation Information
Jeff Massey and Tabitha Ochtera. ""Hail to the King[s], Baby" Arthur vs Army of Darkness" First EditionThe Arthurian World (Part of The Routledge Worlds series) (2022)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jeff-massey/19/