The Lyric Theatre in Downtown Blacksburg will at 12:15 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, host Professor Matthew Gabriele, medieval historian and chair of the Department of Religion & Culture, as he talks about the medieval roots of the film "The Green Knight" and the poem it is adapted from, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

“Based on a 14th-century poem, 'The Green Knight' tells a complicated story about ‘chivalry’ and masculinity set in the medieval world,” said Gabriele, a faculty member with the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. “But the medieval world of King Arthur was itself quite complicated, with no one single tradition dominating. Instead, much like current superhero movies, there were overlapping and interlocking tales, told by many scribes over the course of a long period of time.”

Gabriele will discuss how the film embraces those multiple voices, even as it adds its own. He recently co-authored an article for Smithsonian Magazine, ‘The Green Knight’ adopts a Medieval approach to ‘modern’ problems. He has titled the talk, The Green Knight: Into the Arthur-verse, a play on words from a 2018 Spider-Man animated film.

The film follows the knight Sir Gawain of the Knights of the Round Table as he grapples with a challenge from the mysterious, supernatural titular character. It stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, and Ralph Ineson. It is directed, produced, and written by David Lowery. The film is rated R.

This lecture, free to the public, directly follows the 10 a.m. Aug. 23 screening of "The Green Knight." Admission to the film is $6 for the general public and $5 for Lyric Theatre members. The talk is presented as a brown bag lunch event by The Lyric Theatre.

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