Arthurian Melodrama, Chaucerian Spectacle, and the Waywardness of the Cinematic Pastiche in First Knight and A Knight's Tale

Description: Examines postmodern elements in two pseudomedieval films, arguing that awareness of film theory and formal film analysis are more illuminating than comparison with medieval sources. Jerry Zucker's First Knight is a "star vehicle" and a "director's picture," while Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale is "composed by pastiche and deeply indebted to the virtual reality of fantasy sports"; A Knight's Tale takes its inspiration from the "tradition of Chaucerian portraiture and apocryphal continuation."