Role of Medieval History in Modern Day

A common story plot in new-fangled day meter films portraying nerve Age themes is a damsel in distress being beard by a knight in shining armor. For instance, the popular animated childrens movie, Shrek, follows the story line of Shrek and his partner, Donkey, freeing off on a journey in order to save a princess impris unrivaledd in a tall castle bulk large and guarded by a fire-brea occasion dragon. The entire plot setting is base roughly around the same sentence frame as the realistic(a) middle ages, so the elements of knightly culture in this movie are clear.The guarded castles, mythical creatures, and feudal system enforced surrounded by the peasants and royal ho role are all elements of medieval culture. One major scene that depicts the nerve centre of the Middle Ages best is when Shrek leads ecclesiastic Farquaad to Fiona as an exchange for guaranteed privacy of Shreks swamp. Two main aspects of this scene to focus on is the inter behaveion mingled with skippe r Farquaad and Shrek and also the use of Princess Fiona as an object of trade for Shreks reward.Traditional ranking of nobles and commoners are rooted within the Middle Ages, and although Shrek acts rather stolid and unpolished in Lord Farquaads presence, there is still an act of submission as depicted by Shreks delivery of Fiona. It was exemplary of knights in the middle ages to battle against one another or work out favors and acts of bravery in order to gain favor in the look of a King. Lord Farquaads use of Shrek as a substance of obtaining Princess Fiona would then give Shrek an opportunity to gain favor in Lord Farquaads eyes so that his request of gaining back estimable self-possession of his swamp would be granted.Due to the treacherous nature of retrieving Fiona, this would constitute as one of many acts of valor that many knights would par scan in at the time. Princess Fionas part in this scene is as an object of bargaining, as shown when Shrek brings Lord Farquaad to her in order to fulfill his side of the arrangement. It should be noted that Princess Fionas hand in marriage was necessary for Lord Farquaad to gain full control c all over a larger jurisdiction and for him to have the agnomen as King bestowed upon him.The use of marriage as a guidance of combining kingdoms and making negotiations derive from medieval culture and also accent the importance that the feudal system played during this time. Although Lord Farquaad had enough military unit to grant or take away land from landowners, such as the fairy tale creatures, the only way for him to become a real king was to marry a princess, which in this case would have been Princess Fiona.Similar situations standardized this regularly occur in modern popular culture, such as the film The Princess Diaries 2, where Princess Amelia is being urged by the Genovian government to marry someone who holds an authorised title as a prince in order for her to become a true queen. It has become com mon knowledge in todays society that a Princess or Prince cannot hold the title as a Queen or King until they are marriedthis particular conceit originating from the Middle Ages.By looking at these examples, one can see how ideals from the Middle Ages carried over into modern day popular culture. In fact, modern day knighting still takes place in the British government and is still found off of recognition of service and contributions to the British nation. The Order of the British pudding stone is perhaps the most common knighthood given today and is frequently awarded to British scientists, educators, doctors, and even Paul McCartney. This tradition is significant evidence of the carry over of Middle Ages in contemporary culture.However, one of the many misconceptions of the medieval quantify is the mistreatment and the demeaning of woman as being a prominent thing in society. This is portrayed in the treatment of Princess Fiona as a core for bargaining, and one should note t hat her objections to being married to Lord Farquaad held little to no weight when it came down to her fate. Aside from Princess Fiona, the amount of parts where women held significant case roles were almost nonexistent and further pushed the stereotype of how medieval women were disregarded in medieval times.On the contrary, women, such as St. Joan of the Arc, held positions of high authority in the time of the Middle Ages and were not treated with as little esteem as modern society thinks today. This kind of thinking encourages the damsel-in-distress scenario where the woman is rendered helpless and wait for a strong and able man to come and save her. such(prenominal) depictions associated with medieval society are emphasized over and over until the stunt woman of an incompetent woman is incorporated into the general consensus of what medieval times were like.The use the medieval times as the setting for Shrek also played on with stereotypical Middle Ages as being a time of i gnorant common people that blindly followed the rule of the king without any question. The boilersuit appearance that the environment in Shrek gives off is a place that is nonunionised and unhygienic, much like what modern society thinks of the middle ages today. Setting Shrek in the Middle Ages effectively played out the stereotypes and general idea of what medieval society means to popular culture.The exaggerated difference of living conditions between peasants and royalty, the disregard of women, the bartering by marriage, and even the uneducated and dirty lifestyles of many commoners be common misconceptions of the Middle Ages that many people in society take as fact. Popular culture, in turn, starts to immediately associate a time of ignorance and uncleanliness as being characteristic of the Middle Ageswhether they are true or not.