Films about the Middle Ages are inherently modern creations. They tend to reflect the concerns and concerns of their modern context rather than those of people who lived during the Middle Ages. It could be argued that it is natural for contemporary issues to influence the cinematic decisions of a film's creator. However, this in turn causes the film's overall concern and message to be misguided. In this essay the perspective of medievalism will be taken into consideration, that is, the continuous process of reconstruction of the Middle Ages. Films about the Middle Ages allow medievalists and historical researchers to imagine the past, enabling historical imagination, albeit through depictions that fail to fully represent what the Middle Ages were actually like. Since the term "misleading" means "to give the wrong idea or impression," it is necessary to question the factors that contribute to the creation of films about the Middle Ages to determine the extent to which audiences are being deceived. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are essentially two different types of cinematic depictions of the Middle Ages. The first involves representing the reality of the Middle Ages and the second is more conscious. This causes problems in understanding how misleading they might be. The first attempts to depict the reality of the Middle Ages, including fantasy films and historical dramas. They directly or indirectly claim to describe how things really were to their audience. Recent examples of such films include Braveheart (1995) and The Name of the Rose (1986), as well as the numerous films about Joan of Arc. The second films, more aware, do not invent any invention in representing the Middle Ages as they really were. For example, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1991), the knights, instead of riding horses, pretend to ride them while banging coconut shells to imitate the sound of hooves. Similarly, in First Knight (1995), during the joust the audience takes part in the "wave", mirroring the modern American football audience. Both of these examples are proof of the thesis of this essay: that films about the Middle Ages can only be misleading. Medievalists, as mentioned in the introduction, gain the ability to imagine the past to some extent through cinematic representations of the Middle Ages. However, the first type of films discussed – those that attempt to produce a kind of historical realism – as opposed to academic articles, essays and books, are flawed in numerous ways. The first flaw is the lack of transparency resulting from a greater difficulty in saying whether a film is historically true or not in relation to already existing sources. The public has no supplementary material such as footnotes or appendices that could validate historical accuracy. While medievalists and historians will regularly contextualize their arguments and opinions by clarifying their own biases, films about the Middle Ages are more commonly inaccurate and indistinct regarding their sources of information, which often makes it more difficult to ascertain the film's reliability. This criticism, however, can be countered by the fact that any curious enough historian or medievalist can quite easily research the film and check its production. An example of this would be the various Joan of Arc films. We don't know for sure whether Joan witnessed a rape – it's possible that she did – but the available documents about her don't tell us. While the story of The Messenger (1999) may not be 100% reliable, the story of Joan of Arc is so accessible that the film can bequickly verified. Furthermore, films about the Middle Ages are misleading due to their misrepresentation due to the time limitation. Cecil B. DeMille's The Crusades (1935) was supposed to depict the entire Crusades, however, the film only focused on a single campaign. DeMille himself called this 'telescopic history', whereby the historical fact of the existence of several prolonged crusades over the centuries is overlooked due to the impossibility of telling the entire story in a 2-hour film. Furthermore, another problem with films about the Middle Ages that attempt to depict medieval life and culture is that their historical accuracy is often questionable. Specifically, fewer efforts are made to represent the Middle Ages reliably and consistently with existing written sources for the period. For example, in Braveheart (1995), Mel Gibson's character, William Wallace, is shown with clean, shiny hair, something unrealistic for someone living without running water in the house or proper shampoo. Also, in A Knights Tale (2001), the armor is mostly from several decades/centuries later. This clearly shows discrepancies in historical accuracy as these are done purely for aesthetic reasons.' Furthermore, films about the Middle Ages take liberties with historical sequence or reproduce events in an inconsistent order or manner as textual historical archives record them. As Robert Rosenstone says: most historical films "are almost certain to leave the historian of the period in tears." This once again reiterates the argument of this essay – that films about the Middle Ages are misleading. As in Game of Thrones (2014), the duel between Oberyn Martell and Gregor Clegane is undoubtedly one of the most memorable scenes of the series, however it is in no way realistic as a battle would have occurred in that period. Fighters in the Middle Ages had to conform to a number of rules, including being of similar size when it came to skills and weapons. Although both men were considered skilled fighters, the significant difference in their weapons and armor would have meant that they were not allowed to fight. Of course, modern written documents and accounts are also guilty of ignoring and altering history as it "really" was, as each medium is limited in its knowledge of the reliability of each previous source. However, it cannot be denied that many films about the Middle Ages have limited reliability and this makes them misleading. Furthermore, a problematic aspect of films about the Middle Ages is that they commonly tell stories, not about the Middle Ages, but about modern Western life in period dress. A film about the Middle Ages can never be truly authentic compared to existing sources. This is due not only to the fact that knowledge of the period is sometimes limited, but also to the fact that today's society, i.e. the creators and audiences of the film, live in a world so unknown to the Middle Ages. Accustomed to the conventions of modern fiction, we have significantly different expectations of a story than people would have had in the Middle Ages. In other words, if Europeans in the year 1100 had the ability to make films, their cinematic depictions would be very different from a Martin Scorsese film made about life in the year 1100. Perhaps one could talk about the film's intention in terms of entertainment. or reinforcing social norms and how this is extremely different from the norms of the medieval period. A main characteristic of a historical film is the presentation of a different world to the audience, allowing them to experience that world as if it were their reality. The effect of a photographic image gives the impression that what the viewer witnesses is already a recordingreliable and objective reality. By adding sound, movement and expression, the images are transformed into a film. This illusion is intensified to a point where the audience can be led to believe that they are actually witnessing what really happened. This is ultimately misleading as the audience becomes passive, believing that the depiction of the period is the historical truth. Film is often criticized for being an unsuitable medium for presenting historical topics. Since film is an audiovisual medium, conveyed through images and sounds, it is more difficult for audiences to interpret its meaning, whereas written texts can explicitly state what they want that the public gets from their work. This serves to highlight that, as the meaning of an image or sound is more debatable, films about the Middle Ages cannot help but be misleading. The focus of this part of the essay is on the relationship between known historical facts and their audiovisual meaning. translation. Mainstream films about the Middle Ages rush to tell their historical period as a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Regularly these stories leave the audience with a moral message often embedded in a progressive vision. This is true for the story of Robin Hood where the context surrounding the narrative is important. This is because stealing is morally wrong, but like everything morality is subjective and leaves it to the overall outcome of Robin's famous theft from the rich that gives the poor the challenge of immorality. This example is incorporated into his progressive vision as it examines morality in a situation created entirely by man's shortcomings and describes how morality can be completely situational. Another way that films about the Middle Ages can only be misleading is by emotionalizing, personalizing, and dramatizing the topics they explore. It delivers the story to us as triumph and heroism in the likes of Braveheart through William Wallace's courage in the face of danger and faith in his compatriots. As well as suffering and desperation. The authors of these works use special effects: close-up shots of human faces that convey emotion, the rapid juxtaposition of different images, and the power of music and sound effects to intensify the audience's feelings and reactions to the events depicted on the screen. Each of these is used by creators to fulfill their cinematic desires, often resulting in historical elements being compromised. This is seen in Kingdom of Heaven, the original version of this film in 2005 received widespread criticism for its misrepresentation. the coronation of King Baldwin V, making it clear that the film's historical accuracy was not the result of a lack of research, but of deliberate creative decisions. Cinema therefore raises the following question: is it useful to associate emotion with a historical category such as the Middle Ages? As a result, films depicting the Middle Ages are often costumed modernity and, beyond evoking a certain medieval mood, are rarely concerned, as Arthur Lindley observes, with "reconstructing the past at all, at least not in any detailed way." . the stories and concerns of films about the Middle Ages are decidedly contemporary. The subject of these films is "the present, not the past". Lindley offers a wonderful example: in the opening sequence of The Seventh Seal, Antony, the returning crusader, is seen playing chess on a stormy beach with a metaphorical figure of death. Although the date is presumably 1349, the film's themes, Lindley proposes, are those of the "subatomic early 1950s, with universal death looming over the northern sky." Peter Cowie similarly states that The Seventh Seal"reflects the trepidation of the Cold War era." Aesthetically, films about the Middle Ages often combine attempts to reproduce authentic works with 18th- and 19th-century ideas about the period in order to create an idealized medieval. world. This is evident in films like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Camelot. It could be argued, however, that films about the Middle Ages are not just misleading because they do not claim to be historically accurate, in the sense that their audiences are not led to believe that they are reliable. Braveheart, for example, contains several inaccuracies that are widely accepted by its viewers and historians who study it.[footnoteRef:26] For example, King Edward II is depicted as an adult, when in reality he would have only been thirteen years old. Likewise, the Scottish rebels wore kilts throughout the films, something they wouldn't have worn. In this way, films about the Middle Ages can be very useful to the medievalist or historian. These films may not be referenced as scholarly pieces, they may be historically inaccurate, and they may even be decidedly modern in their perspective and viewpoints of the period. Much like in the more recent Disney film Brave, the progressive views on women's independence and feminist theory throughout the film portray more of a 21st century perspective than a medieval one. That said, films about the Middle Ages are highly regarded and sometimes considered more engaging for audiences than other academic works. If films about the Middle Ages are entertaining, if unreliable, they can encourage questions about what really happened, awakening historical curiosity about times that seem so foreign to the world we live in today. Of all the factors that contribute to the making of a historical film, the inventive element proves to be one of the most problematic from a historian's point of view, as it serves to highlight the thesis that films about the Middle Ages can only be misleading. Embracing invention means significantly changing the way we think about history, altering the basic elements: its textual and empirical aspects. To seriously approach films about the Middle Ages, one must accept the idea that the empirical aspect is only a way to make sense of the past. Accepting the inventions and changes of the Middle Ages that we see through modern and traditional films does not mean ignoring all standards of historical truth, but accepting another way of understanding our relationship with the past. Cinema does not replace written history but complements it. Conversely, what are the alternatives? Insisting that films about the Middle Ages must be made 100% historically accurate is not only financially impossible, but the most historically accurate films are criticized for being boring. This is due to their improper use of the visual and dramatic possibilities of the medium. Furthermore, another alternative would be to ignore films about the Middle Ages altogether. However, this would yield a broad sense of connection to the meaning of the past since films about the Middle Ages are widely received by such large audiences. Even if historical films are misleading about the period they depict, they should still be seen and studied. It is widely recognized that film is one of the greatest sources of medieval imagery in contemporary society and also that these historical interpretations have a significant impact on societies' understanding of history. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a custom essay To conclude, through the study of different factors that contribute to the creation of these cinematic representations of the Middle Ages, it is evident that films about the Middle Ages can only.5 (1988)