Animated Joan

This is a cartoon story of Joan.  After watching a few episodes I found many inaccuracies.  Although some of the episodes were rather interesting to watch.  In the youtube link below, Joan meets the Dauphin.  And with her is another girl named Leanne.  I could not find all the episodes chronologically so I missed what her connection with Joan is.

This small animated series is interesting but should not be taken at face value.  In another episode there is a Digimon like character that is half lion, half man.  But it is interesting to see another female warrior fighting with Joan in this mystical land.  Perhaps it will make the Hundred Year War more interesting to young learners.  But is the pro of being “more interesting” worth the cost of facts?

I found the series to be entertaining but I’m troubled that some might think Joan had a female companion by her side fighting.  I doubt anyone would believe a half man, half lion figure fought in that time.  Perhaps I’m wrong and the animated series will encourage viewers to do research Joan on their own.  In one clip she falls into a seemingly endless abyss.

 

Do you think facts should be sacrificed for entertainment?

After watching one of or both of the clips, what did you think of cartoon Joan?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McsmZK7itXg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvqkP1_DZxE

Joan: Not in Fire, but Arcade Fire

Recently, I randomly came across a song by Arcade Fire called Joan of Arc. Interestingly enough, the song does frequently make clear references to Joan’s narrative, even somewhat painting a timeline of major events within the lyrics. For instance, the song refers to Joan’s voices in the beginning, stating:

             You had a vision they couldn't see so

They put you down

               But everything that you said would happen

                It came around

This specifically invokes the fact that Joan predicted (via God) the victory at Orleans. It immediately calls up the idea of Joan telling her interrogators at Poitiers, “take me to Orleans, I will show you the signs for which I have been sent” (Pernoud 56). One can also hear some of the assertiveness that Joan utilized to address her interrogators echoed in the lyrics, if somewhat different in effect. The song goes on to both incorporate mentions of Joan’s burning and the cutting of her hair. The song even plays on the idea that Joan was abandoned by the French, stating:

                But where were they when they called your name

 And they lit the fire?

Additionally, on the same note, (actually reminiscent of the way in which The Messenger portrays Joan’s lack of support from King Charles after her capture) the song repeats:

                First they love you

                Then they kill you

Of course, the purpose of such lyrics is not simply to relay Joan history and the words hold their own meaning within the song. However, it is interesting that the song, in a fairly direct fashion, centers its initial theme upon Joan, using her story to tell its own.

Here are just the lyrics:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/arcadefire/joanofarc.html

 

Here is the band performing the song live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpDYEreUkP8&noredirect=1

A Timid Joan?

    Currently we are watching the film The Messenger which tells the story of Joan of Arc in an ominous manner. Luc Besson the director of the film has taken Joan's story and focused on the dark elements within it, some that have no record of ever having occurred. While the film is entertaining one element that strongly resonated with me was Milla Jovovich's portrayal of Joan in the scene where she meets Charles at Chinon.
     This is the first scene in which viewers see Joan as a teenager, although Jovovich looks much older than the age of eighteen. Regardless of her looks, the manner in which Jovovich enters the room where Charles is hiding amongst his supporters, is of note. Jovovich is timid, even scared by her surroundings. Her eyes dart around the room and it is obvious that Jovovich is portraying the idea that Joan was nervous and perhaps even afraid of meeting Charles. What are your opinions on this?
     From what we have read of Joan and those who witnessed her first encounter with Charles, I have envisioned Joan as strong and determined. I imagine her walking into the room with a purpose and immediately finding Charles within the crowd. Since many of the sources reference the persistence and determination of Joan, why do you think Besson choose to depict Joan's encounter with Charles with Jovovich looking timid, nervous, and afraid? Could it possibly have something to do with aiding in the purpose of trying to make Jovovich seem younger to present Joan as a young, naive girl?
    Timidness is also shown in the scene in which Joan has arrived at Orleans and is in a meeting with the captains of the French army. Jovovich is dressed in armor which is historically accurate but when the captains refuse to listen to her she yells and throws what I would consider a mild "temper-tantrum." I cannot recall a moment in the sources we have read that Joan loses her self-control at such a level simply because she is frustrated. But what is striking is that after her mild "fit of frustration", Jovovich's eyes again dart around the room in a frantic manner, making her look timid yet again. I have come to see Joan as never being timid in any event in which she was discussing matters of war. Do you think this reference back to timidness is Besson's way of showing the youth Joan had while at Orleans?
    While I know this is a small matter within the film I do think it is worth mentioning. Have any of you seen Joan as being timid in either the meeting with Charles or while at Orleans? If not, why then do you think Besson choose to have Jovovich look timid in these key moments of retelling the story of Joan of Arc?

Works Cited

Besson, Luc. The Messenger. Perf. Milla Jovovich. Gaumont, 1999. DVD

Joan's Conflicting Voices

In class recently we just finished watching Joan of Arc: The Messenger. The movie is about Joan of Arc and her amazing journey through her short life. Story covers everything from her early childhood up until her death at the stake. After watching the movie and comparing it to what the primary sources had to say about what really happened, something interesting caught my attention. In particular her voices. The movie and the primary sources depict them in different ways.

The movie depicts Joan's "voices" as a single voice. This voice comes directly from God himself. When Joan is giving her sign to King Charles VII in the movie, she describes the voices coming to her as a strange, violent wind. She also makes no mention of saints in the film and only recalls her interaction with God. The scene where Joan tells King Charles this information is one of mystery also because no one knows what Joan and King Charles talked about in that time they were together. Therefore any movie scene made depicting this is purely speculation.

In the primary sources, Joan describes her voices as those of Sts Michael, Catherine, and Margaret. She explained that the saints were delivering God's message to her. Where the film says God himself was directly speaking to her, Joan herself said otherwise. The other interesting thing I noticed about the film was its portrayal of God. Throughout the film, God always appears as the same age as Joan. I suppose the writer made it this way to make a statement saying "Joan's notion of God changed in her own mind as she aged." As the movie progresses, we see God almost questioning Joan, asking her what has she had done and seemingly reversing his involvement with her. This happening in the film seemed a little odd to me. It's as if the writer is proposing that Joan is starting to think differently now that the attack on Paris had failed and things seemed to be heading downhill. The writer almost seems to imply that God is in her head and nothing more.

What do you all think of how the movie handled her voices? Did they seem correctly represented to you or were they wrongfully portrayed?

Link to movie: http://watch32.com/movies-online/the-messenger-the-story-of-joan-of-arc-207361/full.html

Work Cited

The Messenger. Performed by Milla Jovovich. France: Columbia Tristar Home Video, 1999. Film.

Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses. New York: Stein and Day, 1966.

La Porete vis-a-vis La Pucelle

As mentioned in class, like Joan, Marguerite de Porete was a woman in the Middle Ages who was brought to trial for heresy. Specifically, as a mystic, Marguerite de Porete believed and espoused in her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, that one did not necessarily have to go through the theocratic “red tape” so to speak of the Church to have a relationship with God. Clearly, this was related to her role as a mystic, someone who possessed a personal and direct form of communication with God. She essentially placed the development of a personal love of God above that of one guided and limited by the Church and its parameters of ritual. In response, the Church not only burned her book, but also condemned and burned Marguerite on charges of heresy in 1310. Joan and Marguerite’s trials took place for different contextual reasons; Joan can almost be considered a prisoner of war in some aspects, while Marguerite was solely under fire for her arguments laid out in The Mirror of Simple Souls.

However, their trials have interesting parallels. For example, Marguerite apparently refused to answer questions on trial which is reminiscent of Joan’s own authoritative responses that she would either answer later, keep info between her and the King or wait for her voices’ permission. Also Marguerite’s burning is described somewhat similarly as Joan’s, especially in relation to the reaction of the crowd.  A chronicler, William of Nangis, stated in 1310, “She [was] both pious and noble, in her death...For this reason the faces of many of those who witnessed it were affectionately moved to compassion for her; indeed, the eyes of many were filled with tears” (The Trail of Marguerite Porete). Additionally, Marguerite experienced a long lead up to her actual burning, as did Joan. For one, Marguerite’s book had been criticized and denounced for years before her trial and according to William of Nangis, she neither renounced her book after being excommunicated nor did “she, although having been lawfully summoned before the bishop...want to appear and held out in her hardened malice for a year and more with an obstinate soul.” Overall, due to the relative rarity of burnings in the Middle Ages, perhaps it is not surprising that Marguerite and Joan’s circumstances are somewhat comparable.

Sources: http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/margporete.htm

http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/medieval/julian/Marguerite.htm

Image Source:http://www.albin-michel.fr/images/couv/5/7/5/9782226221575g.jpg

 

The first illustration of Marguerite Porete on a modern copy of her work, The Mirror of Simple Souls,  is interesting when placed beside this Les Vigiles Joan of Arc illustration.

Margerite de Porete

Earlier this week, we talked about French mystics who have been condemned by the Church and burned as a heretic before Joan. And Margerite de Porete caught my eye because similar to Joan she also went through Church's inquisition. Marguerite published her spiritual work “The Mirror of Simple Souls” around 1290. According to the Web, in her writing she states that when in the state of contemplative love of God the soul has no need of Masses or prayers. That statement was clearly belittling the Church’s authority. We can understand why the church felt threaten and took action against Margerite, immediately.  

Therefore her work was quickly condemned by the bishop. During the Inquisition, the questioners focused on her writing and conflated her writings with the heresy of the Free Spirit. According to Virtual Medieval Church and its writing, Free Spirit was believed that it is possible for a human being to attain spiritual perfection in the present life, and that once an individual has attained such a state, he or she may then commit any sin with impunity (http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/medieval/julian/Marguerite.htm).

Her trial records show that Marguerite refused to acknowledge the Church’s authority. Instead she did not answer their questions. Her headstrong is admirable. I really like this part of the trial, it says,” Yet you refused to swear [the oath].  Even though you were questioned by us many times and in many places about this, you always remained contumacious and rebellious about these matters; because of your obvious and notorious contumacy and rebellion” (http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/margporete.htm).  Unfortunately her faith did get her killed. She was excommunicated and burned at the stake on June 1, 1310.

 

Sources:

http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/medieval/julian/Marguerite.htm

You can find the trial here http://www.uncg.edu/~rebarton/margporete.htm

 Images: Google 

Cause and Effect: Joan's Death

The people who had put Joan to death immediately began to regret their actions. Witnessing the death of Joan and interpreting her as truly being holy struck fear into the witnesses. Pernoud included one witnesses statement along with a couple of reasons to worry about any divine consequence. Pierre Cusquel admitted to not being there but "heard say that Master Jean Tressard, secretary to the king of England, returning from Joan's execution afflicted and groaning, wept lamentably over what he had seen in that place and said indeed: 'We are all lost, for we have burnt a good and holy person'..." (Pernoud, 233). It went on to include an Englishman confessing his sins for his role in Joan's death and that he "greatly feared to be damned for he had burned a holy woman" (Pernoud, 233). The reasons for such a change of heart came from Joan crying out Christ's name throughout her death, wishing for there to be a cross visible and a small cross with her, a white dove appearing after her death, etc. 

The idea that such an awful consequence must follow whatever group of people responsible for a great sin was shown during the middle ages with Jewish men and their need for blood libels and the curse that women have to suffer. There was a belief that Jewish men had menses as a divine punishment for the crucifixion of Jesus and women suffered from menstruation for the original sin Eve committed.

The fear that some of the Englishmen and witnesses portrayed immediately after Joan's death seemed to have been a learned fear based on the religion. If Joan was holy enough to have had a heart that could not be destroyed by fire and be reincarnated into a white dove, it would have been understandable to be concerned of God's wrath if they were religious.

Resnick, Irven M. "Medieval Roots of the Myth of Jewish Male Menses." Harvard Theological Review: 241-63. https://druryonline.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1155555-dt-content-rid-8250650_2/courses/2014_FA_RELG0385DMAINSE01/JewishMaleMenses.pdf.  

http://www.joanofarc.us/joan-of-arc-images/joan-of-arc-stake.jpg