We are moving away from Merlin now. However, before we are to far from him I had a few thoughts on Merlin (the TV show). I watched the first episode and had a mixed reactions. So I decided to watch a few more to get a better picture of the show and... it did not improve for me. I understand that a lot of people like it, and I will admit that there are a few parts I enjoyed (specifically I really liked the character of Gaius)
That's right, don't judge me.
However, there were a couple of this that really bothered me. It is not that I have a problem with a reinvasioned story, or the telling of a story from a different perspective. The story of a young Merlin, where he is the focus, has potential for me. My problems with the show had to do with some issues and inconsistencies about armor, plot features, and some of the actions taken by characters that don't make since to me. However, that is not what I wanted to talk about, and I will spare you my thoughts on this unless someone specifically wants to hear about them. But that is probably about as likely as....
... This... happening again.
The thing that I wanted to talk about (which only took me two paragraphs and one shark to get at) is Merlin himself. In the show he struck me as, well... kind of an idiot. He does things that make no since at the time (telling a prince what to do, then after find out he is a prince Merlin continues to mess with him), does not follow simple directions (stay out of trouble and don't do magic in public), and it frequently comes back to bite him (There was one episode were every other scene shows Merlin in the stockades). Yet he really never learns. At first I chalked this up to, well, stupidity. But during our class discussion I had a thought.
What if "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" is really butter?
Many of Merlins actions make little to no sence in his time, some unspecified point in the middle Ages/fantacy world, but they make more sence for a person in our own time. Think about it. Merlin sees a guy forced to carry around a target so Arthur, a man clearly so some significant social status, can throw knives at a moving target. So Merlin, with little to no social status, goes to tell Arthur to lay off the guy. A medieval person would obviously see Arthur in this moment as a jerk (and probably mock him for it later), and they would sympathize with the poor guy Arthur was tormenting. But to go right up to Arthur's face and tell him off in the way Merlin did, was to suppose a kind of egalitarianism that was not widely endorsed at the time (whenever it was). Who is Merlin to talk to Arthur like that, especially after finding out Arthur was a prince.
"How dare you think you have the right to point out I am a jerk! Who do you think you are? A person capable of morality and independent thought?! Away with you peasant, before I laser-eye you!"
However, it makes much more since when you look at Merlin, not as a medieval person, but a person with modern values who happens to be in the Middle Ages. He believes, as we tend to that people should be viewed as equals. Thus Merlin believes that no man should be above the consequences of his actions, no matter the possession he has in society, and so Merlin was willing to stand up for that poor un-named character that Arthur was harassing. In doing so he easily identifies himself as a character that modern audiences can identify with more easily with. Also, by doing this Merlin demonstrates his willingness to stand up for others, again, making it easier for the audience to sympathize with him and rout for him. Thus some of the actions that I previously wrote off as Merlin being stupid, I now see as features that may have been given to him to make Merlin a more relatable and sympathetic character for our own time.
Although honestly, can't they give him the hat back? That hat is the cat's pajamas!
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