Zombie Arthuriana at MAPACA 2013

I've had a paper proposal accepted for the 2013 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association in Atlantic City this November. My paper will be part of a session on medieval monsters and monstrous medievalism. Complete details as follows:

Medieval Monstrosity

Beowulf to Shakespeare: Popular Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance / Panel

This panel analyzes the use of the monstrous in modern narratives that make use of the medieval as well as in the original texts.

Presentations

• Camelot and the Walking Dead: The Zombies of the Matter of Britain and the Development of Arthurian Horror Fiction
  Michael A Torregrossa (The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain)
• A Study of the Human Condition Through the Frame of Myth and Magic in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  Christina Doka
• Will the Real Monsters Please Stand Up:
  Diana Vecchio (Widener University)

Session chair: 

Mary Behrman (Kennesaw State University)

For those interested,the complete program can be accessed at http://mapaca.net/conference/schedule, and registration information can be found at http://mapaca.net/conference/2013/conference-registration.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead

I know I've posted on this to (at least) one of the other blogs, but it is most appropriate here. The recent film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead by Jordan Galland is a skillful reworking of a mass of traditions--including Arthurian and Shakespearean--that creates an innovative take on undead Arthuriana. First up is the official trailer, and then an in-film video devoted to the film's unique spin on Grail lore (see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahe0x41ktqU for Hamlet's back story in the film).

The Mini-Monsters!

Besides Blazing Dragons, Arthurian figures feature prominently with Universal-Studio-styled monsters in the animated series The Mini-Monsters, which aired as part of The Comic Strip. Melvin, the young magician, is Merlin's son, and the master mage often functions as deus ex machina in the series.

Blazing Dragons Clip

The Monstrous Matter of Britain is not all bad, as this clip from the animated series Blazing Dragons, created by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott, illustrates. The series is not unavailable on home video but can be viewed from instant video providers and file-sharing sites, like YouTube.

Alliance/Blog Upates August 2013

As posted to the main blog:

Effective August 2013, the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Villains of the Matter of Britain has been absorbed by the revived Society for Arthurian Popular Culture Studies (founded 2000) and the resulting organization named The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain. The new group will function for the remainder of 2013 as an affiliate of The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and be based at the King Arthur Forever website at KingArthurForever.org. This site will be maintained as time permits.

Further details can be found on King Arthur Forever at http://kingarthurforever.blogspot.com/2013/08/king-arhur-forever-reborn.html.


Michael A. Torregrossa
Co-Founder, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
Founder, The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain