Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I Wield an Interpretive Chainsaw on Arthuriana

Be warned: shameless self-promotion follows.

My article "A Chainsaw-Wielding Yankee in King Arthur's Demonic Court" appears in the latest Coyote Wild (edited by none other than MacAllister Stone). It's a light piece written for popular audiences, so you don't have to be a professional medievalist to understand it.

It's basically about Army of Darkness as Arthuriana. Cool, huh? If you've never seen Army of Darkness, consider this quote from Ash, the protagonist:
Ok you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?

I live my life according the teachings of Ash.

At the end of the piece, Mac Stone refers to me as an "Indiana-Jones(tm)-esque Academic," leading me to think I need to get a bullwhip ... or at least a new hat.

3 comments:

  1. Yeah, but my computer talks like Ash! This includes saying "Gimme some sugar, baby" when it starts up and "Shop Smart, shop S-Mart!" when it shuts down.

    Are you coming to PCA this year?

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  2. Fun essay! I'm always pleased by scholars who can make the leap between disciplines and periods (well, I would be, eh?).

    N.B. Evil Dead II is not a sequel to but a remake of Evil Dead. You may know that already, but the way your discussion is worded, it implies the former.

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  3. Kate,

    Nope, PCA is faaaaar away this year, and...

    Whaddya mean it's a "remake?" It isn't ... it's part of Raimi's planned sequel.

    Now, the first Evil Dead was a remake of Raimi's "Within the Woods" which, if I remember right, was the version Raimi made for some film class to raise money for the actualy film or something like that. I've never seen it, but I've heard it's a short rather than feature-length.

    I read somewhere (and now I'm really stretching) that Bruce Campbell gets his hand cut off in "Within the Woods," so maybe Evil Dead II is technically the remake of WiW?

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