Narrative technique · used in 3 films

Medieval Modern Allegory

Using a medieval or historical setting, with its plague, religion and social collapse, to talk about present-day fears. The distance of history makes it easier to look at things that feel too close.

Examples

3 films that use it

  1. The Seventh Seal (1957) poster

    The Seventh Seal

    Ingmar Bergman · 1957

    The film came out 12 years after Hiroshima, in the shadow of the Cold War and the nuclear threat. The 14th-century plague stands for the mid-20th-century bomb. The silence of God stands for the silence of any force that might stop annihilation. You can see right through Bergman's medieval setting, and the modern fear underneath is the point.

    Where to see it: The flagellant procession, people who whip themselves as penance. The medieval religious response to a death no one can understand mirrors the secular responses to the nuclear threat.

  2. Kingdom of Heaven (2005) poster

    Kingdom of Heaven

    Ridley Scott · 2005

    The film uses the Crusades to talk about conflict that is still going on. Balian argues for tolerance and spares enemies, while Guy and Raynald, on the Christian side, wreck a fragile peace. The closing text says that nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive. One reading is that the story is about the West and the Arab world today.

    Where to see it: The epilogue: closing text notes that peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive almost a thousand years later.

  3. The Green Knight (2021) poster

    The Green Knight

    David Lowery · 2021

    Lowery's Arthurian England is a dreamscape, and he makes no attempt to rebuild real history. The quest makes Gawain face death and what it means to be a man. Lowery tells it through the rituals of knightly legend because no other form could carry it.

    Where to see it: Gawain's encounter with the ghost of Winifred. The scene has no direct Arthurian source, but it feels necessary. It makes Gawain face what the knightly code costs.

Questions

Quick answers

What is medieval modern allegory in film?
Using a medieval or historical setting, with its plague, religion and social collapse, to talk about present-day fears. The distance of history makes it easier to look at things that feel too close.
Which films use medieval modern allegory?
The Seventh Seal (1957), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Green Knight (2021).
What kind of technique is medieval modern allegory?
It is a narrative technique. Related narrative techniques include Death as Personified Interlocutor, Impossible Quest Structure, Redefined Victory.

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