The 400 years between when “The Misfortunes of Arthur” was written, and the movie Excalibur was directed; the character Mordred of the Arthurian Legends went through many different unique re-tellings. These re-telling were a result of business and a unique selling points that each writer or director used in order for their work to be a success. The selling points that the writer or director chooses are affected by their audience, in which the they try to bring something new and entice the people of their time period. This provides strong reasoning for how and why the development of Mordred in the Arthurian Legends took place.
Many distinct themes in “The Misfortunes of Arthur” and Excalibur show the audience to be an influence to how the …show more content…
These took place due to slightly twisted views that each author made from an original story. Mordred is mostly known to be made of an insectary act between Arthur and his half sister, Morgan Le Fay. However, Excalibur manipulates this view. Instead of Arthur and Morgan Le Fay taking part in the act out of choice, John Boorman, Director of Excalibur, re-writes the legend to say that Morgan Le Fay changes into Arthur’s wife, Guinevere, makes love to him as his wife, and creates Mordred: “She shudders, loosing control of the charm, and her feature change till once again “Guenevere” is Morgana”(Boorman). This clearly shows how one section of the Arthurian Legend has been developed over time; the sense of Boorman taking one very strong interpretation of how Mordred was conceived, and changing it in a way that it still portrays the same meaning, in order to provide his audience with the same, but unique story, is exactly how the Arthurian Legends have been altered. This same effect is seen in “The Misfortunes of Arthur” when it presents Mordred as King while King Arthur is away. “Whiles Arthur wars abroad and reaps renown, Guenevera prefers his son's desire; And traitorous Mordred still usurps the crown”(Hughes, 1, 4). In this case, Hughes decides to flip an interpretation of Mordred rather than re-write the same idea. Mordred is …show more content…
The examples for why they change are because of an audience: What the director chooses to include in order for the his work to be a success. The reasons for how the Legends change come down the writer or director: What he chooses to change to provide his work with a unique selling point that will lead his view on the Legends to bring in profit. After all, people are not going to pay to watch the same movie or play over and over again, so people like Hughes and boorman manipulate the original story in order to provide a unique aspect to their interpretation. However, this still does not completely explain why the legends have become what they are today? The answer to this question is still business. Knowing that people in any era will pay to watch something unique in comparison to something mainstream, directors and writers find the unique selling point that they believe will bring that most joy and entertainment to their viewers. “The Misfortunes of Arthur” and Excalibur are obviously not the only re-written stories of the Arthurian Legends, there are many different and unique reviews on the legends that people have chosen to pay to watch or read. By people choosing which of these interpretations to watch or read, they have ultimately chosen the path that the Legends with take when developing to what they have become today. The most popular re-tellings are viewed or read multiple