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basically, Gwen is my favorite
Well, I'm not doing homework like I ought to, nor am I up to doing a coherent SPN reaction right now (too many emotioooooooons), so instead I'ma regale you with my Merlin thoughts!
Specifically, my Merlin Thought. I'm taking an Arthurian Romance class this quarter, which, by the way, is fabulous. But what that coinciding with the start of the new Merlin season has brought me is the realization that it is, in fact, All About Guinevere.
I'll start by looking at what I've taken to calling the Morgana/Gwen dichotomy. Symptomatic of the show's (admittedly very much in line with the tradition of Arthurian romance - but this is not a romance) homosocial emphasis, we wind up with these two female main characters who the showrunners seem incapable of both developing and focusing upon at once. So in Season 1-2, we had Morgana, all elaborate hair and pretty dresses and cleavage, having nightmares and questioning and rebelling, and Gwen taking a background role in demure dresses and pinned up hair and flowers. Then in Season 3 that started to change; I'd argue that thus far, that's the season in which our two leading ladies have been most equally developed and given screentime. And so we saw Morgana still in her gorgeous, gorgeous clothes, we also started to see Gwen get to have some new clothes, a new hairstyle (note that Gwen's hair has gotten longer and longer each season), more development. And now we've come full circle. Gwen is at Camelot in Morgana's place (albeit very differently), caring for the King and hanging out with Arthur. She has a new silver haircomb and a gorgeous new (boobtastic) dress. And Morgana is very much sidelined, despite her new role as the main villain. She sits in caves and swaddles herself in dark dresses and blankets. Her hair is a very artful mess.
I think this dichotomous view of main lady characters is probably quite problematic (a la Narnia), but I don't want to go into that right now; suffice it to say that, as I'm sure is not a new observation for anyone, Gwen and Morgana have switched places and roles and looks, and it has catapulted Gwen into more of a spotlight, both in-show and for those watching.
Which brings me to my real point - that Guinevere is the deciding factor in this representation of the Arthurian legend. Her switch from princess to servant isn't the only change, obviously. But for all that, among other, smaller changes, we have a young Merlin (Merlin, btw, does not even feature in much of the oldest Arthurian literature), it is Gwen who now carries the majority of the storyline.
When Guinevere is royalty, Arthur's Queen from the beginning, even just the princess he knew in the Summer Country and then married when he gained the throne, she is necessarily forced into a much more courtly role, one which both sets up and simplifies the infamous love triangle. In Chretien de Troyes' Lancelot, Arthur is barely a character, and while Chretien might be actually critiquing the idea of courtly love, in the story Guinevere and Lancelot's adultery is straightforward and mostly goes uncommented upon. Lancelot is obsessed with the Queen, and so he sets off to free her and to fight for her. And she loves him. So they sleep together. The end. As I mentioned above, it's up to interpretation as to whether Chretien is condoning or critiquing this kind of idealized, obsessive love, but at least as far as the actual story goes, neither Lancelot nor Guinevere, nor Arthur nor the kingdom, suffers at all for their love.
In other, later stories, we tend to get a more nuanced vision of the Lancelot/Guinevere relationship and its ramifications. But throughout them all, Guinevere is the Queen. She is set up to be the formal object of adoration and lust and courtly games; simultaneously, on her faithfulness to Arthur is placed the burden of the entire kingdom.
But in Merlin, Gwen is not Queen, yet. And while there is currently an understanding between her and Arthur, what the shift to Gwen-as-commoner has meant, romantically, is that she was given the chance to fall in love with Lancelot without it being a matter of state or even a matter of faithfulness. Gwen suddenly has so much more agency to choose, and the fact that it is all happening without Gwen and Arthur being married means that there is no question of adultery, and so much of the drama is being played out on a more intimate stage. It makes me upset that, as I am assuming/inferring, they will eventually be going forward with the Lancelot/Gwen betrayal of Arthur, because the way I see these characters and their relationship having changed as a result of the change in Gwen's character (plus of course the fact that though we are in a medieval-fantastical setting, it is so very modern) means that they do get the opportunity to work the drama out before any sort of marital-political ties get made, and so I cannot see this Gwen, this Arthur, this Lancelot, winding up as legend would have it.
Of course, part of what makes all these modern interpretations interesting is that they can make this sort of far-reaching change to a character or situation, and then still end up where previous stories have led. I'll just be cheering for Gwen the whole way, and waiting to see what more happens as a result of these changes.
Specifically, my Merlin Thought. I'm taking an Arthurian Romance class this quarter, which, by the way, is fabulous. But what that coinciding with the start of the new Merlin season has brought me is the realization that it is, in fact, All About Guinevere.
I'll start by looking at what I've taken to calling the Morgana/Gwen dichotomy. Symptomatic of the show's (admittedly very much in line with the tradition of Arthurian romance - but this is not a romance) homosocial emphasis, we wind up with these two female main characters who the showrunners seem incapable of both developing and focusing upon at once. So in Season 1-2, we had Morgana, all elaborate hair and pretty dresses and cleavage, having nightmares and questioning and rebelling, and Gwen taking a background role in demure dresses and pinned up hair and flowers. Then in Season 3 that started to change; I'd argue that thus far, that's the season in which our two leading ladies have been most equally developed and given screentime. And so we saw Morgana still in her gorgeous, gorgeous clothes, we also started to see Gwen get to have some new clothes, a new hairstyle (note that Gwen's hair has gotten longer and longer each season), more development. And now we've come full circle. Gwen is at Camelot in Morgana's place (albeit very differently), caring for the King and hanging out with Arthur. She has a new silver haircomb and a gorgeous new (boobtastic) dress. And Morgana is very much sidelined, despite her new role as the main villain. She sits in caves and swaddles herself in dark dresses and blankets. Her hair is a very artful mess.
I think this dichotomous view of main lady characters is probably quite problematic (a la Narnia), but I don't want to go into that right now; suffice it to say that, as I'm sure is not a new observation for anyone, Gwen and Morgana have switched places and roles and looks, and it has catapulted Gwen into more of a spotlight, both in-show and for those watching.
Which brings me to my real point - that Guinevere is the deciding factor in this representation of the Arthurian legend. Her switch from princess to servant isn't the only change, obviously. But for all that, among other, smaller changes, we have a young Merlin (Merlin, btw, does not even feature in much of the oldest Arthurian literature), it is Gwen who now carries the majority of the storyline.
When Guinevere is royalty, Arthur's Queen from the beginning, even just the princess he knew in the Summer Country and then married when he gained the throne, she is necessarily forced into a much more courtly role, one which both sets up and simplifies the infamous love triangle. In Chretien de Troyes' Lancelot, Arthur is barely a character, and while Chretien might be actually critiquing the idea of courtly love, in the story Guinevere and Lancelot's adultery is straightforward and mostly goes uncommented upon. Lancelot is obsessed with the Queen, and so he sets off to free her and to fight for her. And she loves him. So they sleep together. The end. As I mentioned above, it's up to interpretation as to whether Chretien is condoning or critiquing this kind of idealized, obsessive love, but at least as far as the actual story goes, neither Lancelot nor Guinevere, nor Arthur nor the kingdom, suffers at all for their love.
In other, later stories, we tend to get a more nuanced vision of the Lancelot/Guinevere relationship and its ramifications. But throughout them all, Guinevere is the Queen. She is set up to be the formal object of adoration and lust and courtly games; simultaneously, on her faithfulness to Arthur is placed the burden of the entire kingdom.
But in Merlin, Gwen is not Queen, yet. And while there is currently an understanding between her and Arthur, what the shift to Gwen-as-commoner has meant, romantically, is that she was given the chance to fall in love with Lancelot without it being a matter of state or even a matter of faithfulness. Gwen suddenly has so much more agency to choose, and the fact that it is all happening without Gwen and Arthur being married means that there is no question of adultery, and so much of the drama is being played out on a more intimate stage. It makes me upset that, as I am assuming/inferring, they will eventually be going forward with the Lancelot/Gwen betrayal of Arthur, because the way I see these characters and their relationship having changed as a result of the change in Gwen's character (plus of course the fact that though we are in a medieval-fantastical setting, it is so very modern) means that they do get the opportunity to work the drama out before any sort of marital-political ties get made, and so I cannot see this Gwen, this Arthur, this Lancelot, winding up as legend would have it.
Of course, part of what makes all these modern interpretations interesting is that they can make this sort of far-reaching change to a character or situation, and then still end up where previous stories have led. I'll just be cheering for Gwen the whole way, and waiting to see what more happens as a result of these changes.