Harriet Movie – Chekhov’s Gun versus “White Savior” Trope

Harriet Movie – Chekhov’s Gun versus “White Savior” Trope

I saw the movie Harriet recently and I was impressed by its scope and the power of its storytelling. I wanted to share some positive word-of-mouth to assist in it being a success, but discovered quite a bit of criticism against the movie on social media. This essay is not a review of the film, but rather a discussion regarding a few aspects of criticism I feel is unfair and a misreading of the film’s dramatic intent.

Before I begin, here is a fair warning to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. There will be spoilers.

Also to give some background information about myself, I took two screenwriting classes at Wayne State University years ago. That trained me to understand the structures and functions of screenplays. I have a Master’s Degree from Sonoma State University as an Historian of Science, which gave me training regarding historical methods. I am also the author of two novels that are epic historic fantasies set in the time of Charlemagne and are adaptations from epic poems written over 500 years ago. Taken together, it means that I recognize the challenges faced with adapting source material with the concept of balancing historical accuracy with dramatic needs. This movie is not a documentary, but instead is a dramatization of the life of a real person and is closer to the genre of historical fiction which includes inventing dialogue, creating characters, and plot points to tell a compelling narrative.

There are many people who objected to the inclusion of Black bounty hunters in the movie, specifically the character of Bigger Long. He is not an historical figure, but instead a character added to this story by the filmmakers. Their criticism is based on his violence and suggesting this characterization adds to negative stereotypes of Black men.

I haven’t seen much discussion about Walter, another Black male bounty hunter in the movie.

I saw the inclusion these characters as adding complexity to the narrative. This time period is not my area of expertise, so I will defer to historians who say there were Black bounty hunters. They may not have been common, but they existed. Including them in the story demonstrates that both Blacks and whites profited from the cruel institution of slavery while at the same time there were Blacks and whites who aided in the liberation of those in bondage. It would not have been easy to recognize who was trustworthy and making a wrong choice could be deadly.  Introducing the uncertainty about whether or not someone will betray you, adds tension.

At one point, Walter approached Harriet Tubman and offered his help. He had helped track her down when she ran away, but had a change of heart and wanted to work to redeem himself by assisting her.

I felt unsettled when he offered to help, because it felt like a trap. Except it wasn’t. Tension helps the audience feel engaged in stories and wondering what is going to happen next.

The Bigger Long character never had any such change of heart. He was a cruel and violent man who earned his living by the high stakes/high reward field of being a bounty hunter for runaway slaves rather than being paid low wages for menial jobs relegated for free Blacks.

Another fictional character introduced to forward the story is Marie Buchanon. She was a free born Black woman who ran the boarding house where Harriet Tubman lived in Philadelphia. Marie may not have been an historical character, but she demonstrates the differences between Blacks who were and weren’t enslaved. She gave instructions to Harriet as to how to hold herself with confidence when she went back south on missions to lead slaves to freedom. Marie also handed Harriet a gun.

That introduces the dramatic concept of Chekhov’s gun. Anton Chekhov was a famous playwright who famously held “One must not put a loaded gun on stage if no one is going to fire it.” He felt that this type of prop created a dramatic imperative. (For anyone wanting to know more about this literary convention, there is an excellent short film on Youtube.)

It is known that the historical figure of Harriet Tubman carried a gun. She reportedly used it to threaten any fugitives if they decided to turn back, telling them, "You'll be free or die."

In the movie, we see Harriet holding the pistol many times, but she resists firing it. There’s a scene after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act where her former master, Gideon Brodess, and Bigger Long are in the boarding house in Philadelphia where she lived. Harriet is hiding, but she sees the two men beating Marie Buchanon in an effort to get information out of her. Harriet is holding her gun and almost fires at them, but doesn’t. Marie winds up being beaten to death by Bigger Long.

Had Harriet used the gun in that scene, it would have ended badly. The pistol only had one shot and there were two assailants. Had she killed one, the other would have likely overpowered her. She would then have been hauled back to Maryland facing an uncertain, but bad fate.

Besides, the filmmakers did not want to change history by making Harriet Tubman into a killer. Instead, we see the internal conflict she has with wanting to intervene to protect her friend, but knowing she cannot safely do so.

In the climax of the movie, Harriet Tubman went back to Maryland to rescue her remaining family members and lead them to safety/freedom in the North. During the time she was gathering her family to leave, there were scenes interspliced with the local slave owners who were rallying together after learning she was nearby. They carried guns and torches. Gideon’s mother, Eliza Brodess, urged them to, “Find this thief and burn her at the stake!” That signifies for the audience what awaited Harriet if she was captured.

Harriet Tubman was a high-profile member of the Underground Railroad and in the slave masters’ eyes had “stolen property” from them. She likely would have had a bounty on her head and if caught, would be subjected to torture to extract details of the Underground Railroad. They would want to dismantle the Underground Railroad by learning names of people involved, places they lived and worked, as well as the identities and locations of former slaves who now lived free in the North. And then, she would be subjected to a public execution that be both would be cruel and unusual in nature. All to send a message to those still in bondage that their hero “Moses” was gone and that they should lose all hope of ever being freed. Being burned at the stake like Joan of Arc would have been one possible outcome, and she would have just as likely been lynched like so many other Blacks were in this nation’s history. Tubman’s violent death would have been inevitable if she was caught, and most likely would have been without the benefit of trial.

Those were thoughts that likely were running through Gideon Brodess’ mind. He needed to bring Harriet Tubman back alive. He would claim the bounty before her torture and death. He would also gain fame for being the man to bring her down.

At one point, Harriet realizes that Bigger Long and Gideon are gaining on her threatening her family’s escape. She entrusts Walter to get on the small boat and take her family to safety while she distracted Gideon.

Harriet ran in the forest and scrambled up a large rock to avoid being caught by Bigger Long. They exchanged gunfire with her shot causing his hat to fly from his head.

He became enraged and said, “You goin’ die, bitch!”

Gideon was on horseback and behind Bigger. He heard the threat and rather than try to calm his hired Bounty hunter, he shot Bigger in the head, killing him. “Alive, I said.”

That action is what is being described as a “white savior” trope by critics. Matthew Hughey, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, and author of The White Savior Film: Content,Critics, and Consumption, (Temple University Press, 2014), defined the term as “a white messianic character saves a lower- or working-class, usually urban or isolated, nonwhite character from a sad fate.” One example is The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock as Leigh Ann Tuohy who brought the homeless Black teenager Michael Oher into her family, then helped him on a path to become an NFL player. Another example is The Help where the movie about discrimination against Black domestic servants in the 1960s south is seen through the eyes of a white author played by Emma Stone.

Given this definition, do I think this scene fits the white savior trope? No, I don’t. Gideon is not a messianic character, nor did he want to save Harriet’s life. He wanted her captured alive because bringing her corpse back would be far less valuable. A corpse could not be tortured to reveal secrets and there would be far less spectacle to serve as a lesson for remaining slaves.

This white man wasn’t trying to be her savior. In fact, by killing Bigger, he wouldn’t have to share the bounty.

And no one would really care about the reason Gideon killed a Black man. White men could kill Black men with impunity. There would be no punishment for his act of murder.

However, had Harriet died at Bigger’s hands, she would have had a more merciful death than what would have been in store for her had she been captured by Gideon.

The death of the fictional character Bigger Long, also allowed a climactic scene between the movie’s protagonist, Harriet Tubman, and antagonist, Gideon Brodess.

This was the third and final scene where these two characters interacted. In dramatic structure parlance there was a beginning, middle and end to the drama between these two characters. The beginning was when Harriet was still a slave and was then known as Araminta “Minty” Ross. Minty’s husband, John Tubman a Black free man, handed papers from a lawyer to Edward Brodess that according to a will from Edward’s grandfather, Rit Ross (Minty’s mother) should have been freed years before as well as all of her children. John and Minty wanted to start a family and wanted their children to be born free. Edward tore up the papers, ordered John to stay away, and swore that Rit Ross, her children, and any descendants would forever be enslaved. Later Edward told his son, Gideon, that he should sell Minty since she was troublesome.

Later, Gideon overheard Minty praying for the death of his father. “Oh, Lord. If you ain’t going to change that man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.”

Gideon confronted Minty. He brought up her fierce faith and remembered her praying by his bedside when he was a child and struck with a fever. She refused to back down from her wishes for the death of his father.

Edward died soon afterward.

Gideon became unnerved by this sudden death of his father and decided to sell Minty. That was the reason Minty decided to run away from the Brodess farm. She had sisters who had been sold “down south” and never to be heard from again. She did not want to be separated from her family in a similar manner.

The second scene between Harriet and Gideon, (and still technically in the beginning portion of the three part dramatic sequence), was during her escape attempt when slave catchers trapped her from both sides of a bridge. She started making moves to jump into the river. Gideon tried using soothing tones to coax her into surrendering. He said he had changed his mind about selling her and wouldn’t punish her too much for running away.

She responded by saying, “I’m gonna be free or die.” This was right before she jumped in the river.

The middle sequence is when she saw Gideon and Bigger attack Marie Buchanon. Harriet saw them, but was quiet so they didn’t know she was there. It marks the dramatic middle of this antagonistic relationship.

The third scene, and the dramatic ending, is where these two characters interacted after the murder of Bigger Long. Harriet Tubman is hiding behind a tree and frantically reloading her gun while Gideon Brodess rode on horseback and slowly made his way up the hillside to her. He was relaxed and confident, while she was summoning all of her strength and faith to survive the upcoming encounter.

Gideon was surprised by Harriet who emerged from behind a tree and aimed her gun at him.

His rifle wasn’t in the position to defend himself. She commanded that he throw it on the ground. After repeating herself, he relented and threw the rifle on the ground. She shot, but didn’t kill Gideon. She wounded his hand. The concept of Chekhov’s gun worked. The prop in the story was used, but history wasn’t changed to make her a killer.

Harriet also ordered Gideon to dismount his horse. She then took his horse and rode off,

abandoning him in the woods to find his way back to safety.

She confronted a man who had controlled every aspect of her life and of her family’s life. She demonstrated how strong a person she had become and that her faith in God was sacrosanct.

Her final farewell to Gideon was saying, “God don’t mean for people to own people.”

This sequence may never have happened in real life, but it allowed for the closure of a toxic relationship and is an emotionally satisfying scene for the audience. She was the victor by not only escaping again, but by showing that God was on her side.

And then, almost as an epilogue, there’s a scene where Harriet Tubman is shown later in life as a  commander of Union Troops in the Combahee River Raid in Beaufort, South Carolina. After delivering a stirring speech to the troops, she sings a song that is the signal to the slaves that the time has come to be rescued, hundreds begin running toward the ships. Then their white masters follow in hot pursuit. It is then we see Harriet shoulder a rifle and say the word, “Ready” as the soldiers get set to shoot their guns at the rebels.

At that point, Harriet’s gun likely killed someone. So the literary concept of Chekhov’s gun was fully used, even if we never saw someone die on screen from the lead character’s actions. And, it is hard to criticize soldiers for killing their enemies in a time of war.

Overall, I simply disagree with the accusation that the film makers for the movie Harriet used the “white savior” movie trope. Instead, I find their narrative to flesh out the life of an historic character to be utilizing the literary concept of “Chekhov’s gun.”

Here is the official trailer for the movie to demonstrate a few of the lines I quoted above.

 

  Please let me know if you have any feedback. I would like to start a productive discussion regarding this topic.

Writing Historical Fantasy: Blending historical fiction with fantasy elements

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It has been far too long since I posted an update to my blog. A few months ago I spoke at a writers conference at JFK University and spoke on the challenges of writing historical fiction and fantasy.

The attendees were an enthusiastic group of writers who asked some insightful questions. My presentation was largely built on the handout I gave. I thought perhaps it might be helpful to other writers, so I am posting it here. If other bloggers would like to re-post, please do so. I only ask that you link to this as your source 

Writing Historical Fantasy: Blending historical fiction with fantasy elements

by

Linda C. McCabe, author of Quest of the Warrior Maiden

Differences between the genres of historic fiction, historic fantasy and fantasy novels:

Historic fiction is a story written about a real time and place in our history, with or without real historic figures and events. E.g. Philippa Gregory's novels about Tudor England vs. Erika Mailman's novel The Witch'sTrinity set in a fictional German village but painstakingly describes witch trials of the 16th century.

Historic fantasy is a novel about a real time and place in our history, with or without real historic figures and events along with magic and fantastic creatures. Examples are stories using Arthurian or Carolingian legends.

If a story about King Arthur doesn't use magic, it is historic fiction and not historic fantasy. An example of that is Persia Woolley's Guinevere trilogy.

Fantasy novels without being set in a real place and time in our history are not constrained to use the correct historical elements such as period armor, specific religious practices, etc. Examples are C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, and George R.R. Martin's Westeros. The challenges of writing in this genre is world building where you have to define the history, climates, locales, countries, religious rules, cultural practices, races of magical peoples, etc.

The primary goal of all writing is to create a compelling narrative. Every aspect of your writing should serve that primary goal.

Secondary goals include:

1. Historical accuracy for the time period

2. Devising a dramatic plot and memorable characters

Historical research:

1. Perform general research on the time period of your story before you start the creative writing process. (You can do outlines for your plot, but it would be better learning broad historical constructs before you write chapters worth of unusable text.)

2. Absorb the information. Go to a library and check out as many nonfiction books as you can find on your period. Browse the table of contents and read subjects that you think will be of interest/use. Follow footnotes, read bibliographies and find more titles. If your library doesn't have the new titles, request them through interlibrary loans. Books that are a treasure trove of information should be ones that you purchase for your own reference shelf at home.

3. During the writing process continually ask yourself about the various details in your story and do ad hoc research as necessary. E.g. Recently I have been reading up on Islamic burial practices including washing of the dead.

4. If possible, travel to the places you are writing about. Seek out the sites in your story and see where they are, what remains, and breathe in the locale. Become inspired.

5. Find experts on various aspects of your story who are willing to review passages for accuracy.

Including historical research in your narrative:

1. Remember the primary objective is to create a compelling narrative, and not to impress your readers with neat trivia you've discovered in your research.

2. Avoid data dumps where there are block paragraphs explaining arcane information. That is what nonfiction books are about. Instead weave the historical details into your narrative in descriptions and/or dialogue.

3. Use the details you learned about cultural practices, beliefs, gender roles, food, clothing styles and fabrics, architecture, weapons, technology, medical practices to give a richness to your narrative and to demonstrate how life during that time period is different than it is today.

4. Avoid using modern sensibilities regarding marriage, relationship, gender roles in previous centuries. Unless you are using time travel with modern people being transported back in time and this is to contrast the different mindsets.

5. Do not turn your average nobleman into a religious expert so that you can have exposition about the religious practices during the Middle Ages.

6. Describe the religious practices as how they were performed, but do not explain the theological reasoning behind them. Consider that most laypeople simply followed religious dictates without question.

7. Recognize and avoid including certain historical details from your research will be difficult for readers to follow and/or would derail your narrative. E.g. allowance for the consumption of beaver tails on fast days.

8. Be on the lookout for terms in your manuscript that would be inaccurate for the time period. Eliminate them when found. For example, clocks were not as commonplace as they are today and so you should not use the terms minutes or seconds. Instead use "a few moments later" or phrases to illustrate the amount of time passed. An example from my novel: "I have seen Rodomont use a woman in less time than it takes for a horse to pass water." It not only demonstrates a length of time, it also serves to reveal crudeness of the character who was speaking.

9. Try to create a different linguistic style for the period you are trying to evoke. Avoid slang. Consider using curses and swearing, rather than profanity as used in modern discourse.

Cursing: "May Mandricardo's manhood shrivel to match the size of his brain."

Swearing: "You must do my bidding, or I swear to make good on my promise to castrate you."

Profanity: "Are you a bastard son of a swineherd?"

10. Other details such as foods, flowers, etc. Verify that they were a) indigenous to that locale, b) in season c) have a symbolic meaning which agrees with its contextual usage (that's optional, but it adds an additional layer of meaning and depth to your writing.)

Balancing dramatic needs vs. historical accuracy

1. If there is a conflict between your dramatic needs and being historically accurate, remember your primary goal: create a compelling narrative. Boring your readers is the greatest sin of all. I choose to side with Drama and then include my dramatic choice in the author's notes to inform my readers that it was an informed decision and not one made of ignorance.

2. Bending of the historical record should be done as sparingly as possible and not for trivial items such as including foodstuffs, flora, or fauna that were from the Western hemisphere and not known to Europe in that time frame: potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, tobacco.

Fantasy elements in historic fiction:

1. Build on existing mythology such as divination practices of scrying, runes, tea leaves, Tarot cards, etc., rather than simply creating new ones. Also knots to seal magical spells, braiding of hair, etc.

2. Symbolic usages of water, caves, labyrinths, etc., add strength to your narrative. E.g. River Lethe, Spring of Mnemosyne, Cave of Trophonius.

3. Include tension between magical and non-magical people. Are magical people thought of as trustworthy or colluding with Dark Evil Forces?

4. Invoke magic when the laws of physics or nature would otherwise be violated by your plot points, e.g. travelling on horseback a distance of four hundred miles in a single night.

5. Be creative when creating enchanted realms. For example, you can use unnatural lighting, heating, ventilation, etc., without much explanation as long as you specify it is unnatural.


http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/05/writing-historical-fantasy-blending.html

Pope Joan: the legend, the novel and the mini-series from REELZ channel

I started this post a year ago, and its drafting suffered from a case of analysis paralysis. It was thus confined to the oubliette known as the drafts folder. However, with the recent news that the movie Pope Joan, based on the internationally bestselling novel of the same name by Donna Woolfolk Cross, is going to be televised in the United States by REELZ Channel, I became inspired to finish this post.

The movie will be broadcast as a miniseries on December 18th and 19th starting at 8pm EST.

It will be the director's cut and include 25 more minutes than was included in the theatrical release as well as an interview with author Donna Woolfolk Cross.

Theatrical release is kind of a misnomer for the US market as it was never released here. The movie was released in Europe, but was only shown in a few premieres and film festivals in the United States. Why? I can only speculate. Other movies of merit have also had difficulty in being distributed while numerous clunkers open every week to thousands of screens nationwide.

That's the risk of getting excited when talking about "show business." Many times there isn't any logic applied.

Marquee from the Castro Theatre for the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival. Yes, I am aware of the irony provided by the film title above that of Pope Joan.

I am one of the one of the few privileged people in the U.S who has seen this film because I attended a film festival in San Francisco in October 2010. I wanted to share with the medievalist blogosphere my feedback on this movie as there is now an opportunity for others to see it now that it will be televised.

I loved the movie and am eager to watch the miniseries, burn it onto my private DVR at home so that I can watch it again whenever I like, since it is still not available yet on DVD in the U.S.

The Legend

Before I discuss the merits of the movie, I would like to first address the legend.

Pope Joan is a legendary figure whose very existence is debated by historians and theologians.

According to legend, a woman disguised herself as a man using the name John Anglicus and rose in the ranks of the Catholic Church to become Pope John VIII during the ninth century.

The official position of the Catholic Church is that this is a falsehood and that there has never been a female pope.

I feel that just because the Catholic Church denies her existence and there is no consensus by historians, this should not dissuade people from enjoying the novel or the movie.

Historians argue over whether or not there was an historical figure that the legendary King Arthur was based upon, and - if he existed - the time period of his reign and where Camelot was sited.

I believe that Medievalists who enjoy Arthurian legend, should also enjoy the legend of Pope Joan.

There is circumstantial evidence to support the conclusion that such a woman existed, but rather than attempt to persuade anyone by listing it here I will use a different appeal. I want my fellow medievalists and lovers of mythic fiction to forget about evaluating the historical evidence on this particular legendary figure, and allow yourself to explore the what ifs provided by such a legend.

Imagine what it would have been like to be a woman of the Middle Ages who yearns for a life beyond her station, but have such avenues as entering a monastery denied to you because of the accident of being born a woman. The only way to subvert that blockade would be to use subterfuge. Then imagine how difficult it would be knowing that every day you had to be on guard lest your true sex become revealed, and with that possible torture and death as punishment.

As a woman, I want to believe Pope Joan existed. Much more than I care whether or not Guinevere existed.

Because I want more positive historical role models of women. Compared to men, there are few women in the historical record and most of them are known because of who their fathers were, who their husbands were, or who they slept with.

Women in the historical record are usually born into a position of power or rose to it due to their beauty and sexuality.

The legend of Pope Joan is of a woman of humble origins who rose to a position of power due to her intellect.

I Love That.

Really. Beauty fades, but knowledge grows over a lifetime. To have a woman become successful due to her reason and wits is inspirational to me.

This is similar to my preference of the archetype of Athena over Aphrodite.

To have a woman hide the most basic aspect of her personhood so that she might aspire to be literate and live a life of scholarly theological pursuit is a testament to her own desire for learning.

Then to have her dedication for knowledge be recognized by her peers and have her advance within the hierarchy is even more impressive.

Knowing the sordid history of discrimination against educating women and the necessity of lawsuits to allow for their entry into schools and universities, it is understandable how it would have been far easier centuries ago for a smart female to avoid denial by passing herself off as a male.

And history is rife with examples of women who cross-dressed to survive and even to thrive in a male dominated world. I came across an example today of a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania whose dissertation is entitled: “Legendary Effects: Women Saints of the Legenda Aurea in England 1260-1563.”

Therefore, please do not let the controversy of a female pope dissuade you from enjoying the novel and the movie. I have my doubts about the historicity of King Arthur, I but still enjoy watching the movie Excalibur regardless of its historical inaccuracies.

The Novel

Donna Woolfolk Cross stumbled upon a mention of Pope Jeanne one day while doing research. She dismissed it at first as being a misspelling of Pope Jean. Later, she pulled down a reference tome and looked up a listing of popes and discovered that there was a mention of Pope Joan who was dismissed as being nothing more than legend.

Intrigued, Donna began to investigate and soon found herself immersed in ninth century European lore and intrigue. She spent seven years researching this novel and traveled to Europe several times.

Donna chose to write the story of Pope Joan as a novel rather than a non-fiction book because there were too many gaps in the storyline. Using her imagination, she filled in those gaps and wanted to tell the story of a brave woman who defied the expectations of females of the middle ages and strove to become educated.

The novel is told through multiple points of view and provides insight into the varying perspectives different people in society would view the subject of educating women and girls.

The Movie

For my friends in the medievalist communities, I want to assure you that this movie shows the medieval period in all of its gritty glory. There is not the high glossed shine of some movies set in medieval times with a romanticized look and women appearing to have mascara, lipstick, and wearing silken finery. Not in this movie. Thankfully the smells of the farm animals and the unwashed masses are not transmitted through the screen to the audiences.

Nor does this movie portray idealized righteous kings. Charlemagne's grandson Lothar is shown feuding with the papacy. I was happy to recognize that the crown worn by Lothar appears to be the one that once belonged to his grandfather.

A replica of Charlemagne's crown from the Rathaus in Aachen, Germany

Similarly, the armor worn by the knights in this movie is scale armor and is not the brightly polished plate armor depicted in medieval fantasies such as Excalibur.

There is also not the problem of modern sensibilities being injected into the past as if the only difference between life then and now was wardrobe and hygiene.

Instead, it is clearly shown as a time when women had little power of their own.

Overview of movie with minimalist spoilers

Here is the theatrical trailer:



Johanna (Joan) is born the same day that Charlemagne dies (January 28, 814), and is the beginning reference point for the story. There are also mentions of the Saxons having been forcibly converted to Christianity by Charlemagne and those who refused having been put to death.

Johanna's father is a village canon and is a cruel man with a violent temper.

Naturally curious, Johanna pays attentions to the lessons her father gives to her two brothers and discovers that she comprehends and remembers more than the younger son. She begs her oldest brother to teach her to read and write. He does so, but only in secret.

Later her father is horrified to learn that his daughter has become literate. An opportunity presents itself for Johanna to leave her abusive father and attend a school. She begins a new life where she is once again ridiculed for being female and seeking to be a part of the male world.

The local bishop allows Johanna to enter the schola in Dorstadt. He is shown as a man who enjoys wine, women and song. He finds the prospect of a girl in the school to be an amusing novelty and calls for her admission over the objections of the schoolmaster.

Violence in the movie is unflinching, but is merciful in its brevity. A finger is chopped off to remove a ring with ease, a head lopped off with a single stroke of a sword, as well as the aftermath of a Viking raid where dozens of corpses are lined up to help with identification of the dead.

Johanna reaches a crossroads in her life and finds that her best chance of survival is to assume her brother's identity and enter a monastery. There, for the first time in her life, she is given the recognition she deserves for her piety and her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, but only because she is believed to be a man. She is called Johannes Anglicus (or John Anglicus). Anglicus in reference to her father being English.

During her time in the monastery she works as a healer and translates books by Hippocrates from Greek to Latin. Her knowledge of medicine is what brings her acclaim, but also possibly her downfall. At one point after working with the sick, she develops a fever and is almost forced by her fellow monks to disrobe for treatment. It is the fear of being discovered as a woman that forces her to flee the monastery.

After her recovery from illness, she decides on a pilgrimage to Rome. It is there that she achieves her life's destiny.

Pope Sergius is near death. The physicians have bled him repeatedly and he looks doomed.
John Goodman plays the part of gluttonous Pope Sergius. Goodman was made for the role. Not only the body type, but he shows the range of behavior similar to a pendulum swing from violent excess when drunk to having a keen intellect when sober.

Anatole Taubman is the conniving Anastasius who plots his own ascension for the papal throne. He is afraid that if Sergius dies too soon that he will passed over in consideration. He needs time to consolidate his power and in desperation, he seeks an outside healer, John Anglicus, whose good works have come to be renowned since his arrival in Rome.

Taubman played the part of Remigius in the mini series Pillars of the Earth (being rebroadcast starting December 3rd also on REELZ channel). After Pope Joan and Pillars, he may get typecast as wily, untrustworthy, utterly ambitious villains. The good news for him is that there are many of those roles in movies so he could have a long film career.

Other familiar faces on the screen include David Wenham, Faramir of Lord of the Rings fame. He plays Count Gerold, a kind man who took pity on Johanna when she first came to the schola in Dorstadt and offered lodging in his family's home for her. They develop a strong bond as Johanna grows from a child to a young woman.

Johanna Wokalek plays the title role from late teens to Johanna's death in her forties. She does a marvelous job of playing a character who has mastered patience in the face of adversity. Many actors are called to gain or lose weight for parts, but not many actresses are asked to be tonsured. Part of my brain while watching the movie was paying attention to the length of hair stubble appearing on the crown of her head.

I fully recognize that stories told in movies are different than they are books. They are two different mediums and you must recognize that what works in one format must change in order to work in another. Several plot points of historical relevance were omitted from the movie for time considerations. This includes leaving out the sacking of St. Peter's, a fire in the Borgo that destroyed much of the Vatican, the reign of Pope Leo IV, and flooding of the Tiber River.

Those are all in the novel, but not in the movie. At least those were not included in the theatrical release of the movie. Perhaps some of those exciting historical events will be a part of the restored 25 minutes of the director's cut.

The version I saw worked as a dramatic vehicle even if it was streamlined from the events of the novel. It has all the foreshadowing and plot points necessary to tell a story that holds together. The acting is wonderful.

There are some historical inaccuracies, but those are explained by Donna Woolfolk Cross in her detailed author's notes at the end of her novel. She admits that she made some adjustments "in the interest of telling a good story." This includes changing the timing of a Viking raid in Dorstadt to coincide with a major plot point.

All in all, the novel and the movie represent good historical fiction of a legendary character.


I urge my medievalist friends to watch the miniseries and discuss it amongst your friends, classrooms and colleagues. If nothing else, as an example of a what a good medievalist movie looks like.

Full disclosure:

I first met Donna Woolfolk Cross in 1997 when she came to Sonoma County and did a benefit book signing for an organization I was president of at the time. My husband and I spent an enjoyable day with Donna and her husband Richard prior to the evening's event.

We have corresponded periodically ever since.

At the time when we met, the trade paperback version was a new release and she was just beginning her major method of promoting her novel by doing author chats via speaker phone to book groups. She has done that several times each week since then. There is a set of questions at the back of her book to stimulate discussion in book clubs and then she calls and joins the conversation in progress.

The clubs arrange a time for Donna to call by sending a message to her website www.popejoan.com . She has talked to thousands and thousands of book clubs this way over the last thirteen years and speaks with classrooms as well.

Her persistence in championing her novel served as an inspiration of my first ever blog post where I highlighted those efforts as well as those of Richard Zimler's in getting his first novel published. That post is titled Never Give Up.

Each time Donna speaks with a book group, she has the hope that the participants will tell others about their positive experience of speaking with an author and having the ability to ask questions about their novel. This positive word of mouth (WOM) campaign has led to her trade paperback being in its eighteenth printing in the U.S. alone.

Pope Joan has been translated into thirty-one languages, was ranked #1 for three years on Germany's bestseller list and is number one on the list of longtime bestselling novels in Germany.

This is borne out by my finding a copy of her novel in the train station in Aachen, Germany this summer.

Here is the wall of historical fiction:

And if you look closely you can see the word "Papstin" on a red paperback cover. That is Donna's novel.

After the movie, I was able to grab Donna for a quick photo. It was nice to see her again, and I wish her continued success with her novel of a legendary woman.

To further help out a friend, I am going to list her new social media sites to help promote the miniseries and the novel.

Pope Joan the blog
Pope Joan the Book Facebook page
Donna Woolfolk Cross on Twitter


Please spread the word about the upcoming miniseries. I also want to read reviews about it across the medievalist blogosphere after it airs.



http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2011/12/pope-joan-legend-novel-and-mini-series.html

Guest post on the Graveyard Shift

My friend Lee Lofland was gracious enough to allow me to write a guest post on his wildly popular police procedural blog The Graveyard Shift.

Please check it out, my post is about writing about laboratory procedures in fiction as well as getting the correct historical terms as well. I also have some nice photos from Hotel Dieu that dates back to the seventh century in Paris.

Back to NaNoWriMo!

Linda

Review Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha

I find the power of the internet to be amazing. Last year due to a guest post on a friend's blog, I learned of the debut novel Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha. I enjoyed reading it, and posted my review on this blog.

A few weeks later, a publicist at Simon and Schuster emailed me and wanted to know if I would be interested in a review copy for another debut novelist. I gave her my mailing address and over the last year I have periodically received novels from different Simon and Schuster publicists, mostly in the historical fiction genre.

Some I have read and blogged about, others I have not.

The most recent book I received was a follow up novel by Kamran Pasha titled Shadow of the Swords. I remembered from his author notes in Mother of the Believers that he was working on a novel about the Crusades. I would have bought this book on my own, but was delighted when I received a free copy prior to its official publication date.

On the publicity materials was a mention that he was available for interviews. After I finished reading the book, I contacted the publicist to see how I could interview him. I expected that I would be emailing him questions, but I was surprised to learn I could speak with him by phone.

After a few attempts at finding a mutually convenient time, Kamran and I spoke by Skype on the morning his book was released to the public. I owe having that opportunity to the power of the internet.

“(T)he rabbi knew that the marauders had ceased to think in terms of God or religion. They were like men possessed, driven by their own fears of death to kill…It was not about right or wrong, or the well-considered arguments of religious scholars. Terror was its own kind of madness and no reason, no faith, could shine a light into that darkest region of the human soul.” – Kamran Pasha, Shadow of the Swords, p. 239.

That madness is religious zealotry. It does not matter the faith of the zealot, because it is the fear and the fervor that overpowers the mind and allows atrocities to occur in the name of God. One of the most notorious examples of this kind of faith-based zealotry was during the Crusades.

However, the mere mention of that period of history can evoke emotional responses by people today:

Antagonism and defensiveness.

The choosing of sides.

The listing of atrocities perpetrated by Our Enemies that justified the actions by Our Heroes.

This entrenched mindset perpetuates itself in every new generation even though the Crusades began nearly a thousand years ago and those involved in the military campaigns have long ago been reduced to skeletons. The cultural wounds inflicted by these multiple wars between Christians and Muslims continue to cast long shadows over today's international politics.

Kamran Pasha’s new novel, Shadow of the Swords, was inspired in reaction to the horrific events of September 11, 2001. As an American Muslim, he not only felt devastated by the human tragedy, but he felt an additional burden of knowing that the culprits of those crimes claimed to be acting on behalf of his faith.

He knew the terrorists' beliefs were a perversion of Islam and recognized the attacks would fan the smoldering flames of conflict between Christians and Muslims.

As a lifelong student of history and religion, Pasha wanted to write a story examining the roots of the animosity between Christianity and Islam. He chose the time period of the Third Crusade led by the iconic figures of King Richard the Lionheart on the Christian side and Sultan Saladin on the Muslim side.

Pasha breaks the age-old Good vs. Evil dichotomy by utilizing multiple viewpoints demonstrating that everyone sees themselves as hero in their own life story. Even if they commit atrocities, they will justify their acts under the guise of heroism.

The historical figure of Saladin is revered by Muslims and respected by Christians for his uncommon acts of chivalry, some of which are depicted in this novel. Two examples: sending his own physician to treat King Richard, who was dying from an illness; offering his own horse as a replacement when King Richard’s horse was killed on the battlefield.

Whereas, while King Richard the Lionheart has a legendary mystique about him, enhanced by tales of Robin Hood when he was away on Crusade, the historic figure is less sympathetic. To counterbalance this, Pasha created the character of Sir William Chinon to depict the chivalric ideal to carry the standard for the Christians.

Pasha was not content with just showing the epic scope of the battles led by Saladin and King Richard the Lionheart, he also examines the perspective of Jews in the Levant at the time and their relationship with Muslims and Christians. The historical figure of Maimonides, a rabbi and physician to Saladin, is featured prominently as well as the character of Miriam, an educated and high-spirited Jewish woman. Miriam serves the dramatic function of interacting with both Saladin and King Richard and allows the readers to see them as human beings and not icons of legend.

It is the intersection of the three great faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that gives the novel its strength and heart. To understand where we are going, it is important to know where we came from. There is a lot of commonality in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religious traditions, hopefully Shadow of the Swords will help readers focus on those unifying areas more than the differences which divides us.

Edited to add: I had intended on writing a summary of the discussion I had with Kamran. My digital recorder started giving me fits. Modern technology can be a wonderful thing, until it has develops a mind of its own.

I discovered a website that has an online podcast interview of Kamran Pasha discussing Shadow of the Swords. Check it out on writerscast.com .

http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-shadow-of-swords-by-kamran-pasha.html

Review: The Widow's Husband by Tamim Ansary

In my last blog post, I embedded video from the keynote address that Tamim Ansary gave to the Redwood Writers Conference in October 2009. During the introduction, I mentioned that he also had an historical novel that covered the ill-fated occupation of Afghanistan by British forces in the 19th century.

Here is my review of that novel:

Good historical fiction transports the reader into another place and time and serves to bring the past back "to life." It allows the reader to understand historical events, that often appear larger than life, to be brought down to a human level through the eyes of a character.

In The Widow's Husband we see life in a small village of Char Bagh in rural Afghanistan in the 19th century. The concerns of family, community, as well as having enough food stores to last through winter is recognizable, even if the names and customs are unusual to our "western" ears. The routine of rural life in Char Bagh is disrupted by the arrival of a stranger. Hospitality is extended to the man and it soon becomes apparent that he is not a normal traveler, but is instead a mystic. This holy man attracts pilgrims from miles around. Soon the reputation of Char Bagh is even noticed by the British military who have settled in Kabul which then threatens the peacefulness and stability of the village.

The novel shows how the British colonized Afghanistan: bribery and force.

Attempts by the British to interact with the Afghan people without attempting to understand their customs and traditions led to the inevitable clash depicted in the novel when the people revolted in response to the mistreatment of their women and girls.

The Widow's Husband serves to illuminate events from history and allow us to draw parallels to current events from our own military campaigns and why it is important to be there with the consent of the people.

The novel can be purchased as an ebook from Scribd.com or a trade paperback version is available from the publisher.

A new blog on Paris and website update on the Ozark Medieval Fortress

I have been extremely busy this last month and have not had much time for blogging.

I hope to remedy that soon by continuing my long drawn out travelogue series on my trip to France.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with my readers a blog by my friend Molly Dwyer who is doing research for her second historical novel and is living in Paris for three months.

She has far more energy than I did when I was in Paris for a week, because she has blogged every day. Molly gives her insights about the historical places she has visited as well as what it is like to be An American in Paris.

Check it out, I think you will be delighted.

I also wanted to let my readers know that the website for the Ozark Medieval Fortress has recently been updated. It looks wonderful. I am looking forward to when I can visit the site in person.

Contest to help launch new edition of Pope Joan

Today June 9th is the launch date of a new revised version of Donna Woolfolk Cross' novel Pope Joan. I met Donna ten years ago when she visited Sonoma County and was kind enough to offer to do a benefit signing for an organization I headed at the time.

I am happy that she has had such wonderful success with her novel and wish her well on the launch of the new edition and with the forthcoming movie adapted from her novel.


From her email updates comes this information:

Pope Joan Updates
from Donna Woolfolk Cross

Hello Pope Joan Readers!

Ready to walk the red carpet with me? See below!

Has any author has ever owed so much to her readers as I do? I doubt it. Abandoned by its previous publisher, Pope Joan, labor of my heart, the product of seven years of research and writing, should by all rights have had a shelf life somewhere between lettuce and yogurt!

The fact that it's still in print is testimony to the power of grass-roots promotion--to the kindness of readers who passed the word (not the book! never the book!) along. Heartfelt thanks to all who have supported my poor orphaned novel over the years.

At long last, Pope Joan may have her day. As I mentioned in the
March Update, I now have a wonderful new publisher, Three Rivers
Press. Together, we have created a whole new edition of Pope Joan.

The new version has:

• larger print (no need to squint to read it anymore!)

• corrections and additions to the text

• revised and updated Author's Note which includes new information in support of Joan's historical existence

• a new list of "Best of the Best" reading group questions, gleaned from my many years of chatting by speakerphone with reading and school groups all over the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The new edition will arrive in bookstores tomorrow, June 9th. And it's important that it "hit the ground running." The more briskly books sell right on/after June 9th, the more likely Pope Joan will finally "make her mark" on a U.S. bestseller list.

To help encourage summer sales, I've come up with a fun and unusual idea, which should appeal to anyone who has ever dreamed of walking a red carpet.

Join me and my family as we walk the red carpet on the night of the Pope Joan movie premiere!

... Includes two tickets to the movie premiere,
plus round trip airfare for two from any location in the continental United States or Canada, and one night hotel accommodation for you and your guest to share.

Want to participate? Simply buy the new Three Rivers Press edition of Pope Joan during the months of June or July 2009 and send me the original receipt. In August, I'll pick randomly from the pile of receipts to select someone and their guest to join me at the U.S. movie premiere in the fall (exact date still to be determined).

And... a special bonus for anyone who purchases the new edition of Pope Joan on its release date, Tuesday, June 9th.
Learn more at the link below.

*****************************

Link to the official Pope Joan Red Carpet entry information here.

*****************************

It's an innovative--even somewhat quirky-- idea, which is why I believe Joan herself would have liked it. It's also a very small gesture of appreciation to my wonderful readers who have done so much for Pope Joan. With your continued support, perhaps this inspirational woman, long forgotten to history, can finally get the recognition she deserves!

Donna Woolfolk Cross

June 2009