Possibilities and Pitfalls in Arthurian Animation: An Exploration of the Darkstalkers Series (1995)

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Abstract

The 1990s were an important decade for furthering the presence of the Arthurian legend on screen. Animated productions were a large part of this new Matter of Britain, including ongoing content in series like Gargoyles, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Legend of Prince Valiant, and Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. Each of these series featured a serialized narrative that developed and expanded the Arthurian tradition as the season continued. In contrast, the Darkstalkers series treated its use of Arthurian figures and lore as one-offs (like most television series) and failed to make proper use of its appropriation of the Arthurian legends. In this presentation, I’d like to offer a detailed review of this neglected series and highlight how it succeeded in its incorporation of the Matter of Britain but also failed to make the best use of this material due to the show’s lack of a cohesive narrative arc like other contemporary animated shows. 
Presenter Biography
Michael A. Torregrossa (he/him/his) is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) and works as an adjunct instructor of writing and literature courses in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His research focuses on popular culture’s adaptation, appropriation, and transformation of literary classics, including the Arthurian legends, Beowulf, Dracula, Frankenstein, Robin Hood stories, and Winnie-the-Pooh, and the larger corpus of writers H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, and H. G Wells. In addition to these pursuits, Michael is the founder of The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain (2000-) and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture (2004-). He also serves as editor for these organizations' various blogs and as moderator of their discussion lists and leads the development of their conference activities. Besides this work, Michael is active in the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) and organizes sessions for their annual conference in the fall. Since 2019, Michael has been NEPCA’s Monsters and the Monstrous Area Chair, but he previously served as its Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair, a position he held from 2009-2018.

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