Fantasy Medievalism and Screen Media

This chapter focuses on fantasy medievalism on screen and its connection to genres of music that may be seen as equally medievalist in origin and aesthetic: progressive rock, heavy metal, and folk. It gives an overview of the medievalist features of the genres before discussing how they are used in a range of fantasy screen media from Legend to Highlander and Game of Thrones to The Witcher. There has been a historical move from the representation of the fantasy medieval through rock to its representation through folk in more recent years. This representational shift not only relies on changes in the way that medievalist fantasy positions itself for audience but also represents a change in the way that aspects such as power, gender, sex, and social structure are formulated within medievalist fantasy.