Back to Camelot

The latest movie blockbuster opens today, the story of a youth who has been chosen for a special destiny, mentored by an older man with extraordinary powers. The hero must take on evil personified....

You mean they remade “Camelot”?

The long lines outside theaters for “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” are the most recent proof of the sturdiness of the Arthurian legend. We saw it a year and a half ago as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy wound up, and we’ll see it again in July when booksellers release the sixth Harry Potter novel.

A boy (Arthur, Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Harry) lives for years with foster parents thinking he’s a regular kid. He is marked for a special but difficult destiny by a peculiar token (a sword in a stone, a ring, a light saber, a lightning-shaped scar) and taken under the wing of a white-bearded mentor with powers of wizardry (Merlin, Gandalf, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dumbledore) who helps him in his quest against the dark side (Mordred, Sauron, Darth Vader, Voldemort).

J.R.R. Tolkien credited the story of Arthur as source material for the Rings trilogy. George Lucas mentions Tolkien as his inspiration. J.K. Rowling hasn’t said, but at a British conference on her works this July, one speaker will address “Elements of the Arthurian Tradition in Harry Potter.”

The Arthurian movie that strangely had the least in common with the classic tale of King Arthur, and that fared the worst at the box office, was last year’s “King Arthur.” Keira Knightley, playing Guinevere, was no match for rich allegory. Audiences can’t relate; few of us look that good in body paint.

By contrast, the haunting, hopeful tale of Arthur is universal. We can all see ourselves as unremarkable today, yet potential heroes, awaiting the mark of destiny. We fear the ultimate darkness; we struggle to be strong in its face. What Lucas’ “Star Wars” franchise lacks in scripting or acting is made up by the power of legend. Even -- perhaps especially -- when the hero fails, as in the latest Arthur incarnation, “Revenge of the Sith.”

Anakin Skywalker, marked by his midichlorian count (if you don’t know, don’t ask), is taken under Obi-Wan’s wing to fight Darth Sidious. Instead of conquering evil, Anakin is subsumed by it -- until his son Luke repeats the Arthur pattern, enabling Anakin/Darth Vader to resume his intended role as the chosen one who vanquishes the evil emperor. He, in turn, is killed by the emperor, bringing the tale full circle back to Arthur, who killed Mordred but was fatally stabbed by him. Heroes die, just not their legends. Not in Hollywood, anyway.