Musing: tv - Merlin: order and disorder
Mar. 27th, 2010 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanI've been pondering this since I did my Robin Hood module, last semester. My lecturer talked about Robin Hood stories and King Arthur stories as opposed -- never popular at the same time, rarely appearing in the same text. King Arthur stories are generally popular when there is a perceived need for order. Robin Hood stories are generally popular when there is a perceived need for change. Yet the BBC's Merlin turns this on its head because Merlin, a symbol of disorder, is the main focus. This is especially clear in the BBC's Merlin because magic is explicitly figured as disorder by Uther: the kingdom was in a state until he got rid of magic.
Merlin is rarely at the centre of stories, but usually on the edge, where he can't disrupt the order of the established Camelot. In fact, the story generally has him imprisoned, relatively early in Arthur's reign. Not just in traditional stories -- in The Dark is Rising, Merriman, who is Merlin, leaves the world as soon as the Dark has been banished and order established. Merlin helps restore order and then he has to leave/be taken out of the story.
However, this Arthur story isn't about Arthur's Camelot. It's about an established order, yes: Uther's court. It is ordered, but it's cruel. It's ordered wrongly, and the very principles used to establish it are now tipping over into injustice.
Given how much I've been writing to my MPs and getting involved in grassroots campaigns at the moment, it's apparent to me that people want change, which would normally mean Robin Hood stories. However, by focusing on Uther's court, before Arthur's reign, the BBC can use Merlin as the instrument of change, rather than Robin Hood, whose thievery is illegal even now. It's still a desire for order, but a different order -- changed, not destroyed and then rebuilt.
That reflects what I've been seeing: by and large people don't want to destroy the current system in Britain, they just want reform. Arthur instead of Uther, so to speak.
Merlin is rarely at the centre of stories, but usually on the edge, where he can't disrupt the order of the established Camelot. In fact, the story generally has him imprisoned, relatively early in Arthur's reign. Not just in traditional stories -- in The Dark is Rising, Merriman, who is Merlin, leaves the world as soon as the Dark has been banished and order established. Merlin helps restore order and then he has to leave/be taken out of the story.
However, this Arthur story isn't about Arthur's Camelot. It's about an established order, yes: Uther's court. It is ordered, but it's cruel. It's ordered wrongly, and the very principles used to establish it are now tipping over into injustice.
Given how much I've been writing to my MPs and getting involved in grassroots campaigns at the moment, it's apparent to me that people want change, which would normally mean Robin Hood stories. However, by focusing on Uther's court, before Arthur's reign, the BBC can use Merlin as the instrument of change, rather than Robin Hood, whose thievery is illegal even now. It's still a desire for order, but a different order -- changed, not destroyed and then rebuilt.
That reflects what I've been seeing: by and large people don't want to destroy the current system in Britain, they just want reform. Arthur instead of Uther, so to speak.
