Media-eval: A Medieval Pop Culture Podcast

Sarah is once again joined by her mom, Dr. Beth Greenfeld, to talk about medievalism, modernized adaptations, and translations in Maria Dahvana Headley's 2018 novel The Mere Wife - a modern adaptation of Beowulf centering Grendel's mother - and her 2020 translation of Beowulf. Join us as we delve into these texts and to the question of monsters and why they matter. CW for discussions of PTSD, diso...

Sarah, guest Jessica Bluemke Greiff, and of course Producer Carmen spent FOUR HOURS talking about Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Don't worry; the finished episode is NOT four hours (but it is long). Join us as we get into the myth of medieval chastity belts (that's right - not a real thing!), exotic fruits, and why Rabbi Tuckman is arguably less anachronistic than Friar Tuck. CW: The film includes gay...

Ollie comes back to the podcast to talk with Sarah about one of his favourite movies, the 1990's classic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Does Kevin Costner even try to sound English? Is Alan Rickman in a different movie to everyone else? Is it too long(yes)? We will address all of these topics and more including Sarah's shocking dislike of Christian Slater.

Guest MJ is back to talk with Sarah about another of Tamora Pierce's quartets: Protector of the Small. Join us as we continue to talk lady knights - as well as the real history of women's work in the textile industry and whether King Jonathan is actually just Joe Biden. As a note, this was recorded as usual well in advance - before the attempted terrorist coup on Wednesday Jan. 6 (and, in fact, be...

With the holiday season comes nostalgia - so today's episode takes a deep dive into Sarah's childhood favorite book series, The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce (1983-1988). Join Sarah and guest MJ as we get into gender roles, representations of nonwestern cultures in fantasy, menstruation and birth control, and the real history of gender fluidity and women dressing as men in the Middl...

Guest Ben Paul returns to talk Blackadder Series 1! Join Sarah and Ben as they get into alternative histories, the cult of relics (yes, including the foreskin of Christ), and what happened to the real Richard, Duke of York. CW: The series includes homophobic, fatphobic, misogynistic, and rape jokes; the problematic and at times disturbing nature of this material is addressed in the episode.

Guest Elizabeth Bonnemann is back to talk with Sarah about another Doctor Who serial, The Time Warrior, set in ... the Middle Ages, I guess. Join us as we talk castellans, rotten meat, and unsuccessfully attempt to identify what year it is.

What's the story, Wishbone? It's Joan of Arc! Sarah and guest Rachel Rosing tackle a childhood favorite: an episode of Wishbone in which we. learn that a girl joining a boys soccer team in the 1990s is EXACTLY THE SAME as Joan of Arc leading an army during the Hundred Years' War. Come for the adorable dog in armor, stay for a deep dive into Joan of Arc's trial. This episode was recorded pre-electi...

It's Halloween and Sarah manages to convince Ollie to talk about a "Horror" movie but they spend more time talking about JK Rowling and The Crimes of Grindlewald. Listen to the podcast- we watched this movie so you don't have to. :)

Join two thoroughly broken and downtrodden medievalists as Sarah and guest Katherine Hindley struggle through this adaptation of Beowulf - and talk about what makes the original poem worth reading. Recommendations: We talk about Seamus Heaney's Beowulf as a great translation - and it is! I also recommend the new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley, which I had not yet read back when this episode...

Netflix release a show thats set in King Arthur continuity and cast lots of women and POC? Of course Sarah is going to talk about it! This week she is joined by Jillian Sterling Ness all the way from Canada and that Irish lad who talks too much. Let's see if Cursed lives up to the promise its casting suggests.

Media-eval makes its first foray into Doctor Who! Sarah and guest Elizabeth Bonnemann talk 1066 and how yes, real medieval people would find it strange that they've only met one grumpy monk from the local monastery.

We're back with another look at Wheel of Time, the greatest fantasy epic of them all. Sarah gets technical and Ollie once again has to cut an hour of his fanboy gushing out. Enjoy!

Join Sarah and guest Ollie as they take a look at the greatest fantasy series ever written. They recorded for 5 hours on this and Ollie had to cut out about 2 hours of him gushing. Hopefully you like it! part 2 will come next week!

Sarah and guest Jessica Bluemke Greiff (Friendly Atheist Podcast; Cooper Dooper) get into Army of Darkness ... despite having never seen the non-medieval parts of the trilogy. Come for the campy supernatural; stay for the demon sex - if you wanted to know about the premodern antecedents to Dr. Stella Immanuel's demon sex theories, this is the place to go. CW: the film depicts kissing without conse...

Sarah and her mom Beth Greenfeld continue with their Game of Thrones discussion on gender, race, and religion. CW: this episode includes a discussion of sexual assault in the series.

Media-eval finally tackles HBO series Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire - but Sarah and her mom, Beth Greenfeld, have been reading, watching, and discussing for a long time, and had a lot to say! So the episode is divided into two parts. Stay tuned next week for Part 2! The format is a bit more of a general thematic conversation on this one since, well, wh...

Enjoy this blast from the past: Sarah and Ollie's Media-eval practice episode on the Sean Bean/Eddie Redmayne film Black Death, recorded all the way back in 2018 and now coming out of the vault and into your ears. This episode also includes a few updated reflections on how the medieval pandemic response compares to the modern one. If you're interested in learning more about why we shouldn't call t...

It had to be done ... Sarah and guest Mabel Slattery wince our way through The Ribald Tales of Canterbury, a porn adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, and find that ... it's not actually the worst adaptation of a medieval text? Listen in to find out how two medievalists can watch an erotic film and then end up talking about the value of currency, sumptuary laws, the best way to prepare boar's head,...

Sarah and guest Sarah Baggs tackle Disney's take on Victor Hugo's medieval historical fiction: The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Join us as we talk about the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and its restorations, the Feast of Fools, and the foreskin of Christ (because Sarah will ALWAYS bring up the foreskin of Christ if she gets an opportunity). CW - yes, this CHILDREN'S MOVIE includes sexual harassmen...

Guests Mary Galvin and Sally Whiting (Instagram:@_the_writer_and_the_artist; YouTube: The Writer and the Artist)join Sarah to talk about Dragonheart, a movie that cannot decide whether it is a children's movie or a sex comedy about a dragon-human throuple. We delve into the epic dragon-elephant battles that should have been in this movie, and what actually happened in the year 984 (hint: it was no...

Join Sarah and guests Meghan Griffin and Tracy Tanoff as we gush about our new favorite adaptation featuring of the wives of Henry VIII (at least, until our own novels come out). I hope listeners will be inspired to check out the soundtrack and support the creators during this difficult time while theaters are closed. CW: one song (and therefore also our discussion of it) includes themes of groomi...

Imagine you took everything that was intriguing about the life story of Anne Boleyn ... and then somehow made an extremely boring movie. You would have The Other Boleyn Girl. Join Sarah and guest Dana Carriere as we discuss how truth can be more interesting than fiction, and the real story of Anne Boleyn. Come back in 2 weeks for an episode on another (better) piece of media related to the wives o...

Media-eval tackles another book! Join Sarah and guest Tegan Robinson for a discussion of Brethren by Robyn Young. Highlights include Jew Watch (spoiler: there aren't any), medieval manic pixie dream girls, and the real secret of the Templars - that they're less interesting than you expect (unless you really like economic history).

Happy belated Easter and Passover! In honor of the holidays, Media-eval travels a bit further back in time with a special episode on Monty Python's Life of Brian - with a special guest, Roman history enthusiast (and Sarah's Dad) Richard Ifft. Join us as we talk Latin grammar and Roman Judea, and ponder the question: What have the Romans ever done for us?