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Popular Culture Review
situation, Merlin really is a fatherless child since no male appears to be involved
at all, only Mab and a human mother. It also makes the same masculine to
feminine creativity switch from the movie Excalibur which early in the movie
has Merlin “create” Arthur through magic in bringing Uther and Igrayne
together. While Merlin does the same in this film, the initial creative energy is
feminine in Merlin because of Mab while it is masculine in Excalibur. This
establishes a potential for positive female energy in the movie that is lost almost
immediately when Mab lets Merlin’s mother die.
In the medieval text, a choice is presented to Merlin between his demonic
and his human self, or essentially between evil and good. A similar choice is
presented in the film, although it bears no other resemblance to the literature. In
the movie the essence of his non-human side is ambiguous, and he is not shown
as being the son of a demon, but Merlin must choose whether to use magic and
align himself with Mab or to resist the magic and fight against Mab (this is not
necessarily portrayed as clearly good and evil). Upon the death of his foster
mother, Merlin vows that he will use magic only to oppose Mab. When he does
use magic, it is non-aggressive and non-violent. For example, when he saves
Nimue from the dragon, he does it by trapping the dragon in mud and vines. The
movie puts a high value on non-violence as when it shows Arthur winning over
Lot, who was the last lord who opposed him, not through the war that was on the
verge of beginning, but by putting himself in Lot’s power, by handing him
Excalibur, and telling Lot to kill him if he really believes he deserves to be king
instead of Arthur. The bold gesture wins the day, and the war is averted.
The only questionable act of magic that Merlin commits is to change Uther
into Cornwall’s likeness to allow him to be with Igraine. Although the scene in
this movie is not quite as violent as in Excalibur, it is still clear that Igraine is a
loving and loyal wife to Cornwall, and Cornwall is killed during this time.
Merlin comments in the narration that this is always something that he regrets.
Significantly, it is the only time he says he uses magic because he believes the
“end justifies the means,” which is a rationale that Mab had used not long before
this scene. Therefore, this rationale has linked this use of Merlin’s magic to
Mab’s kind of magic more than at any other time, and it is the time he regrets
the most.
Besides Mab the old ways are also represented by the mysterious Lady of
the Lake, who is positive, yet she has much less effect on the action and plot of
the story. She appears several times as a mysterious presence in the lake who
speaks to and guides Merlin, but does not actively take part in any action in the
plot. Significantly, she is all white while Mab mostly wears black, has black