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Popular Culture Review
means of all—ignoring her. Acting upon a hint from the Lady of the Lake, he
tells Mab, “We forget you Queen Mab,” and he and all the men (they are only
men) in the court turn their backs on her as she stands alone behind the Round
Table. Then Mab dissolves much like the Wicked Witch at the end of The
Wizard o f Oz. At the end of this movie, there is no female character who retains
any power, positive or negative. Although the masculine presence has not been
as overwhelmingly aggressive as in Excalibur; nevertheless, in Merlin the
masculine is still opposed to feminine power, even if femininity is defeated by
simply ignoring it.
Strongly contrasting these two depictions of masculine power, whether
physical or magical, is the TNT adaptation of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The
Mists o f Avalon, which finally presents a positive Morgaine, one who does not
plot against Arthur or Merlin. The main conflict in the movie, as in the novel, is
that between the pagan religion of the Goddess, represented by Morgaine and
Viviane, and that of Christianity, represented by Gwenwhyfar. The religious
conflict is much more developed than in Merlin, incorporating much of the
religious material from Bradley’s novel. Women (the positive ones) in the
telefilm version of Mists are outspoken about their ideas, believe in honor,
believe in religion, and help each other. When the women become negative is
when they abandon honor for selfish motives. The women also value love
relationships with men and passion. However, Gavin Scott’s TNT adaptation
makes some major alterations in the story, possibly to save time (an almost 900page book was reduced to three hours), and in consequence ends up portraying a
much weakened Morgaine.
Viviane is a strong woman but also is portrayed as manipulating people all
through the film, as she does in the novel. However, she does this solely for the
goal of preserving the Goddess religion and not for any personal gain. When
Morgaine asks her if preserving Avalon means