THE MIDDLE AGES • 500 CE – 1500 CE • EUROPE AND NEAR EAST • (ACTUAL HISTORY)
MEDIEVALISM • INTERPRETATION, REUSE, AND REDEFINITION OF THE MIDDLE AGES • PETRARCH: “THE DARK AGES” • VICTORIANS: CHIVALRIC, ROMANTIC MIDDLE AGES • (REAL-ISH HISTORY)
NEOMEDIEVALISM • MIDDLE AGES BORROWED FROM OTHERS’ MEDIEVALISM • PURPOSEFUL ANACHRONISM • (NOT REAL HISTORY)
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE “I SORT OF HAD A PROBLEM WITH A LOT OF THE FANTASY I WAS READING , BECAUSE IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THE MIDDLE AGES OR SOME VERSION OF THE QUASI MIDDLE AGES WAS THE PREFERRED SETTING OF A VAST MAJORITY OF THE FANTASY NOVELS I WAS READING BY TOLKIEN IMITATORS AND OTHER FANTASISTS, YET THEY WERE GETTING IT ALL WRONG. IT WAS A SORT OF DISNEYLAND MIDDLE AGES, WHERE THEY HAD CASTLES AND PRINCESSES AND ALL THAT. THE TRAPPINGS OF A CLASS SY STEM, BUT THEY DIDN’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A CLASS SYSTEM ACTUALLY MEANT. . . . IT WAS LIKE A REN FAIR MIDDLE AGES. EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD CASTLES AND PRINCESSES AND WALLED CITIES AND ALL THAT, THE SENSIBILITIES WERE THOSE OF 20 TH CENTURY AMERICANS .” INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HODGEMAN, 2011
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE “ONE OF THE THINGS I WANTED TO DO WITH A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE WAS TO MAKE IT A LITTLE MORE ‘REAL’ THAN MOST HIGH FANTASY. I DREW MY INSPIRATION FROM HISTORY AND HISTORICAL FICTION AND IMMERSED MYSELF IN THE MIDDLE AGES BEFORE I BEGAN WRITING. PATRIARCHY WAS AS MUCH A PART OF MEDIEVAL SOCIETY AS FEUDALISM, FAITH, OR SWORDS .” RESPONSE TO FAN, 1999
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
GENDER IN FANTASY
GENDER IN FANTASY
GENDER IN FANTASY
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE “I TAKE [HISTORY], AND I FILE OFF THE SERIAL NUMBERS, AND I TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN, AND I CHANGE THE COLOR FROM RED TO PURPLE, AND I HAVE A GREAT INCIDENT FOR THE BO OKS.” “THE REAL HISTORY BEHIND GAME OF THRONES” DVD FEATURETTE, SEASON 5
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE “THERE IS A SAVAGE BEAST IN EVERY MAN, AND WHEN YOU HAND THAT MA N A SWORD OR SPEAR AND SEND HIM FORTH TO WAR, THE BEAST STIRS. THE SCENT OF BLOOD IS ALL IT TAKES TO WAKE HIM.” JORAH MORMONT, A STORM OF SWORDS
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE “MEN . . . WOULD KILL AT THEIR LORD’S COMMAND, RAPE WHEN THEIR B LOOD WAS UP AFTER BATTLE, AND PLUNDER WHEREVER THEY COULD, BUT ONCE THE WAR WAS DONE, THEY WOULD GO BACK TO THEIR HOMES, TRADE THEIR SPEARS FOR HOES, WED THEIR NEIGHBORS’ DAUGHTE RS, AND RAISE A PACK OF SQUALLING CHILDREN.” JAIME LANNISTER, A STORM OF SWORDS
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
CATELYN
CERSEI
SANSA
BRIENNE
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE Image by pojypojy on deviantart
GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES “IT’S GROUND THAT YOU HAVE TO TREAD CAREFULLY ON. . . . IT’S NOT OUR WORLD, BUT IT’S A REAL WORLD, AND IT’S A VIOLENT WORLD, A MORE BRUTAL WORLD. . . . IT’S A WORL D WHERE THESE HORRIBLE THINGS ARE DEFINITELY PERVASIVE ELEMENTS OF THEIR LIVES AND THEIR CULTURES. WE FELT THAT SHYING AWAY FROM THESE THINGS WOULD BE DOING A DISSERVICE TO THE REALITY AND GROUNDEDNESS OF GEORGE’S VISION.” D.B. WEISS, INTERVIEW WITH THE DAILY BEAST, 2011
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