| This dissertation consists of a creative work (screenplay) and a critical study. The screenplay follows the traditional three-act story arc found in most studio films. It draws from disparate medieval sources to create a single coherent original interpretation of Sir Gawain that spans his lifetime. The creative project invokes the historical, literary, and cinematic traditions of the Arthurian myth system as it focuses on the character of Sir Gawain, the flawed knight.; The structure of the contextual essay provides a critically informative and intertextual theoretical approach to the areas of literary and cinema studies in order to illustrate the artistic and intellectual foundation of the artistic project. In the monograph, the examination of Gawain's character, his strengths and weaknesses, leads to his critically structured representation in the film script.; The first chapter of the monograph examines Gawain in primary medieval literatures. This chapter closely reads the primary texts to highlight and evaluate recurring core precepts that inform the (re)creation of Gawain in multiple literary and (later) cinematic traditions. Seminal texts such as Sir Gawain and the Green knight, along with those written by Chretein de Troyes and Malory, are closely examined. The significant scholarly works of Auerbach, Vinaver, Raffel and Matarasso, as well several contemporary critics, are also discussed, to further identify the historical, literary, philosophical, and later cinematic traditions informing the creation of the Gawain character.; The next chapter specifically focuses on multiple cinematic depictions of Arthurian legends. The Cinema Arthuriana section examines several film texts, comparing and contrasting them to their literary source materials. Areas of analysis associated with film aesthetics, such as narrative and cinematic forms and interpretive scholarly criticism, illustrate and assess the key film texts of this subgenre.; The final chapter of the monograph focuses on non-traditional film treatments of Gawain. This section develops the thesis that Gawain's character is essentially a timeless figure of flawed knightly virtue. As the most human of the Arthurian circle, Gawain appeals to the contemporary film interpretation/adaptation, removed from the boundaries of medieval space and time, because he is most like the film audience. |
