Introduction: Accuracy and authenticity:Interactions in contemporary medievalism (original) (raw)
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Medievalisms on the Screen III: Digital Medievalisms and the Teaching of History, 13-15 August 2023, Central European University, 2023
The digital representation of authentic historical artifacts is both an important opportunity for the democratization of access to cultural realia, and a strong rationale for returning expropriated artifacts to their original owners. However, virtual artifacts face a significant challenge; the obvious artificiality of their nature can discourage viewer interest. Across a range of contexts, perceptions of the authenticity of cultural realia affect directly individual appreciation of such artifacts, as well as the extent to which viewers are satisfied by their interaction with them. Frazier and Gelman (2019), concluded that as early as four years old, an individual's appreciation of the significance and value of a purportedly historical artifact is affected directly by knowledge of whether or not it is authentic. Wu et al. (2019), observed that tourists' perceived authenticity of heritage sites had a significant impact on their subjective well-being, observing that tourist satisfaction was correlated strongly with the extent to which they believed the realia with which they interacted was authentic. Similarly, Grayson and Martinec (2004) have noted the importance of consumer perceptions of, and demand for, authenticity in marketed cultural artifacts. This paper surveys existing literature on the historical use of replica realia, and the methods by which museums mitigate the negative effect of their artificiality on visitor satisfaction. The paper then proposes a model of best practice to educate viewers of digital artifacts, to help them accept the value of such virtual replicas.
AUTHENTICITY IN PRESENTING HISTORY: THE INFLUENCE OF RUINS ON VISITORS' IMPRESSIONS
Archaeology and Science 7/2011, 2012
Ruin is a physical occurrence, almost always present within a historical place. As a visual expression of passing time, it has a huge influence on the impressions of all the observers. The question considered in this paper is whether the feelings of the observers of historical ruins and buildings here described as follies, and later in this paper referred to as true ruins and false ruins, diminish the feeling of authenticity of a historical place in a modern setting. KEY WORDS: AUTHENTICITY, RUIN, FOLLY, PRESENTATION, ORIGINAL, COPY, OBSERVER, IMPRESSION
EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE IN MODERN MUSEUM PRESENTATION
The presentation of a certain period is always connected with our own time. If we want to discuss the presentation of the Early Middle Ages in museums, we will have to take a closer look at the concept of that period: what do we mean by ‘Early Middle Ages’? And we will soon find ourselves in the nineteenth century. The concept of ‘Middle Ages’ is, to a great extent, a nineteenthcentury invention, a construct one cannot disconnect from the rise of the Western European nation states. At the time many European countries were looking for originality and authenticity, and this movement was strengthened by searching history for the beginnings of the nation. As a consequence nineteenth-century Western Europe saw the beginning of a large-scale study of the medieval past, which was associated with concepts such as community, identity and authenticity.
Looking Back to Move Forward? Constructing Medieval Heritage to Authenticate the Heartland
Flyover Fictions, 2023
The part of flyover country often referred to as the Heartland has myriad examples of new “old” heritage. The Round Table Literary Park in Hopkinsville, Kentucky proudly displays “King Arthur’s Round Table” so that “the lofty ideals and standards of gentility that prevailed in Camelot” can be felt anew. The city of New Ulm, Minnesota, erected a statue of Hermann the German (Arminius) to symbolize the fight for freedom (though Arminius defeated the Romans in 9 AD). Finished in 1897, the statue memorializes a legendary Germanic past refracted through 19th century medievalism and constructed to strengthen settler identity in the wake of an indigenous massacre. In Rock Island, Illinois, a large campground called Camelot features multiple silos painted with images of Merlin, a dragon, and armored knights. Whimsically repurposing silos invokes the historic economic and cultural roots of the area, while suggesting a lost romantic past. These disparate examples “medievalize” an imagined past to construct heritage and claim an authentic identity in a region that struggles with mis/perceptions other areas hold about it. The turn to the faux medieval anchors authenticity in a tangible way, albeit drawing upon narratives that are fictions. The idea of the Heartland resides in the nation’s geographic middle, but is perceived to be peripheral to the coastal cultural centers. We discuss three specific places to explore how and why a desire to authenticate this ambiguous region catalyzes an impulse to create/construct heritage. The resonances with Arthurian and Germanic legend suggest a fascination with medieval roots that never existed anywhere in the US; they also suggest an attempt to reanimate local history that seems to have been forgotten. These sites authenticate new heritage that fulfills a longing for home, justifies settlement on indigenous lands, and attempts to realign what counts as “center” or “periphery.”
Whilst several tourism scholars have deconstructed the notion of authenticity on heritage environments either from a theoretical or empirical perspective, few, if any, have undertaken a close look at Pine & Gilmore’s (2007) genres of authenticity, namely natural, original, exceptional, referential, and influential. It is the aim of this study to overcome past research negligence by rendering the appeal of the five genres of authenticity in the case of Mount Athos, a pilgrimage landscape located in northern Greece, which can be considered as the last surviving byzantine complex of monasteries. Based on the findings of the study, this paper links the five genres of authenticity with past research on pilgrimage experience. Keywords: genres of authenticity; religious heritage experience; pilgrimage landscape; Christian Orthodoxy.
Authenticity of Simulacra?: The Problematic Process of Creating a Medieval Screenwork
Authenticity or simulacra? The problematic process of creating a ‘medieval’, screenwork. Is it possible, in a post digital age, to re create an ‘authentic’ screen version of the medieval past which has not been distorted by contemporary or historical ideologies, gender bias and the process of adaptation? Can a conventional narrative structure ever hope to depict an age which was ‘non- chronological’, and where time, ‘was experienced as moving slowly, in a circular rhythm or even not at all’ (Bernau, Bilhauer :2009). Or does the medieval period, described by Umberto Eco as an historical ‘open text’, actually lend itself to a new kind of narrative treatment? Screenwriter and final year practice based PhD student, Eleanor Yule looks at examples of ‘historical simulacra’, evident in popular medieval screenworks such as Les Visitors du Soir (Carne, 1942), The Lion in Winter (Harvey, 1968) and The Name of the Rose (Annaud, 1986) which, arguably, present a distorted view of the period, par...