Give me a biopic, a heritage film, a period piece, and I'm hooked. I've long had a fascination with history, coming from a family of history teachers, and I give my parents credit for steering me in the direction of Dickens and Austen instead of cartoons. I remember watching the musical Camelot when I was 6 and being fascinated by the flowing dresses and jousting. Of course, that was all set to song, but the story of King Arthur has long remained one of my favorite legends. I even did a report on whether or not the legend was true in 5th grade, complete with Power Point (yes, I was a super cool child. Thank you for noticing). I was so excited to notice on Netflix this week that the first season of Starz's Camelot was available to watch instantly, and I settled in to watch what I figured would be a grittier version of the myth with a more accurate mise en scene. There is certainly plenty of grit, dirt and misogyny in this version, with the actors looking like they haven't bathed in months, an accurate depiction of life for that time. And I loved the way Camelot itself is shown; an ancient ruin on a cliff with trees and flowers sprouting in every nook and cranny. However, that is the only part of this series that I liked. Camelot was canceled last week, and I think that its mistakes are good lessons for any other historical drama coming to the small screen.
First, I understand story has to be modernized. This is the Starz network after all, not the History Channel, and, if Tudors is any indication of what the audience wants, there is going to be some hanky panky going on. However, there was a lot happening in the first few episodes. And it had nothing to do with the plot or to show a character's motivation or anything. It was a plot killer, and I found myself fast forwarding through those parts to get back to the story.
Second, what is Guinevere doing there? And why are we establishing a love triangle in the second episode? Anyone who knows the Arthurian legend, knows that King Arthur and Guinevere fall in love and get married and live happily ever after at first. Then, the pure and valiant Sir Lancelot come to Camelot, becomes Arthur's BFF, and then he and Guinevere fall in love, which begins the ruin of Arthur's utopian kingdom. So, why oh why do we need a love triangle in the first season? Perhaps the creators were trying to create a symbolic karmic resonance; Arthur steals Guinevere, Guinevere gets stolen from him. But, honestly, it was tiring just watching Arthur and Guinevere whine about not being together.
Another question that kept popping up in my mind was why is Merlin so creepy? Merlin is supposed to be wise, intelligent, and, yes, crazy, but Joseph Fiennes' Merlin made me question the whole show. Why would Arthur go with him? Why would anyone believe that this guy found the king? The filmmakers must have been going for eccentric, but I think that we've seen this same character as a criminal on Law & Order: SVU.
What I think is most unfortunate for this series is that we never get to see Arthur's strength and ideals take center stage. He's presented as an immature womanizer who always gets what he wants. Perhaps this interpretation could have been great, but the script had him thinking more about his feelings for Guinevere than being an awesome king. And the way the series ends, with Arthur being seduced by who he thinks is Guinevere but it's actually his nemesis and half-sister Morgan (ick!) left a bitter taste in my mouth. I do think that the second season would have been better than this one if it had been given a chance. According to the story, Arthur uses his philosophies to better Great Britain and creates the knights of the round table. He and Guinevere respect each other and rule fairly. Of course, all of that would be destroyed once that home wrecker Lancelot and Arthur's evil nephew/son (double ick!) Mordred come to Camelot and ruin everything. What this historical drama mistakenly did was extrapolate on the wrong areas of the story. Instead of the romantic aspects of the legend, the goodness and decency of Arthur juxtaposed with evil warlords and kings around him should have been emphasized in the plot. The legend of King Arthur isn't a story about romantic love but rather a king's love for his people. And that is what would have kept us in Camelot.
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