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Article: Perverse Pastoralism and Medieval Melancholia in Powell and Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale
- Article from:
- Arthuriana
- Article date:
- October 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Arthuriana 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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A Canterbury Tale, a 1944 'why we fight' film, mixes a pastoral celebration of England's history with a perverse plot concerning the peculiar Glue Man. The protagonists solve this mystery during their Canterbury pilgrimage and, in so doing, realize that England's glories depend upon accepting, not defeating, perversion. (TP)
To celebrate English history in A Canterbury Tale, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger elegize the medieval past, lamenting that which was not yet lost (and, indeed, never was)-England itself.1 Released in 1944 before the conclusion of World War II, the film ponders the possibility of Nazi victory, and this fear that England might be conquered tempers its ...