DOCSLIB.ORG

Gunnelsj61853.Pdf (999.5Kb)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Gunnelsj61853.Pdf (999.5Kb) Copyright by Jennifer Sue Gunnels 2004 The Dissertation Committee for Jennifer Sue Gunnels Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Let the Car Burn, We’re Going to the Faire: History, Performance, Community and Identity within the Renaissance Festival Committee: Charlotte Canning, Supervisor Lynn Miller Joni Jones Stacy Wolf Miodrag Mitrasinovic Let the Car Burn, We’re Going to the Faire: History, Performance, Community and Identity within the Renaissance Festival by Jennifer Sue Gunnels, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2004 Dedication For all the Rennies and the die hard audiences of Renaissance festivals everywhere. Acknowledgements I would be remiss in not taking the time to thank the many people who helped in the creation of this document. Most important are those festival personnel, especially Coy Sevier, Orvis Melvin, and Jessica Land, who took the time to answer copious questions, sent me helpful material, and let me nose around the backstage areas of their festivals. Thank you also to the many festival performers, both friends and colleagues, who have enriched this study with their thoughts and opinions. I also extend warm appreciation for the audience members who took the time to speak with me and share their love for and experiences of the Renaissance festivals. Finally, I would like to thank Tony Korol, my colleague and fellow Rennie, and Dr. Georg Schuttler I appreciated your tireless cheerleading and support in completing the process. Thank you also to Esther Mes and my mother, who both slogged through the mud to log film and juggle equipment during my field work. Most of all I cannot express my gratitude for my friends and family, especially my husband John. You all kept me sane and reasonably sober. I would also like to thank Bob Penman for his remarkable kindness in helping to rectify errors in the formatting. v Let the Car Burn, We’re Going to the Faire: History, Performance, Community and Identity within the Renaissance Festival Publication No._____________ Jennifer Sue Gunnels, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2004 Supervisor: Charlotte Canning Abstract: The Renaissance festival is an interactive venue which utilizes popular and fantastic views of history to encourage audience members to participate in the performance. While these festivals share much in common with living history presentations, the open use of myth and romanticized history at the Renaissance festival, while sometimes criticized, allows the festivals to incorporate people in the performance in ways that other venues cannot. Living histories, usually heritage sites, seek to confirm and validate identity or membership within a specific community. Their methods of presentation leave little room for playing with or questioning these historically predetermined roles. The Renaissance festival, based as it is in a much earlier history and a romanticized one at that, creates more flexible group and individual identification. Because the Renaissance festival encourages the exploration of identity and community beyond those determined by the history of the historical performance, it carries vi the potential to change the ways in which individuals view themselves, performance, history, and community. It does so through encouraging new constructions of identity for the individual as well as new group affiliations based on interpersonal interactions, commerce, and myth. These will be viewed through the use of three case studies of the Scarborough Faire, Texas Renaissance Festival, and Michigan Renaissance Festival. Participation in these performances can encourage a questioning of how community and identity can be built and what they mean. vii Table of Contents The Renaissance Festival: An Introduction ............................................................1 Chapter 1 Stamping Passports and Passing Immigration: Theorizing the Renaissance Festival as a Foreign Country.................................................. 51 Chapter 2 Are You Going to Scarborough Faire?: Using Interpersonal Acting to Build Community and Identity.................................................................97 Chapter 3 Off-the-Rack History and Ready-to-Wear Identity: Commerce as Community at the Texas Renaissance Festival.......................................... 147 Chapter 4 The Spectator with a Thousand Faces: Myth and History within the Michigan Renaissance Festival ..................................................................193 Afterword: You Don't Have to Go Home, But You Can't Stay Here ................. 238 List of Works Cited............................................................................................. 243 Vita ................................................................................................................... 249 viii The Renaissance Festival: An Introduction “I like this place and would willingly waste my time in it.” As You Like It, II iv What is This Place? On almost any weekend, whether it rains or shines, people climb into their cars, modern time machines, and journey to the Renaissance. On one September weekend, a friend and fellow cast member of the Michigan Renaissance Festival saw distant smoke while driving to the site that morning. As he neared the source of the smoke, he saw two men in home- made chain mail shirts walking away from a burning car. Thinking that there could only be one obvious destination for the two individuals, he offered them a ride. As they got into his car, he asked the two if they wanted to stop and phone someone about the accident. Without a backward glance, one replied, “Nah, let the car burn. We’re going to the faire.” Even without car trouble, a long drive often awaits the visitor to more than 145 Renaissance festivals across the United States. One, the Scarborough Faire near Waxahachie, Texas, gives no indication of its existence apart from a small brown sign marking an exit off of Interstate 35 for Farm Market Road 66. The land remains flat and treeless, broken only by the occasional trailer home. As the car bounces along a poorly maintained road, there is no indication that a performance of any sort happens out here. Two or three miles further, flags and pennants marking the parking lot appeared to the left, but nothing emerged to mark anything the size of a Renaissance festival. The front gates and portico demarcating the large performance area only become visible upon entering the parking lot, practically on top of the “village.” Once a ticket has been purchased, for $14.98, people enter the gates where a young woman dressed as a 1 serving wench hands out programs. At this point in the journey, I checked the map of the site inside the program, making an effort to remember where I had parked. There was no parking lot listed. According to the map, my car was on the village commons. Several miles to the southeast of the Scarborough Faire at the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF), the visitor is greeted in the street in front of the main gates. The costumed actors wonder at and make public comments on the strange clothing, cameras, and sunglasses of the audience-visitors, addressing them “lord” or “lady.” Some audience members seem to feel conspicuous, blushing at the comments of the actors and the attention of other audience members. Visitors can rent costumes at a small shop just outside the main gates, and some do so, entering into the play initiated by the actors outside the entrance. The massive gates, guarded by people costumed as Beefeaters, are set into a huge wall. Joining the line to enter, the visitor emerges into a huge representation of a Renaissance village during the reign of Henry VIII. A program purchased at a cart just inside the gate contains a map of over 250 acres (SCRIBE). A grid showing the time and place of performances lets the visitor know what the stages and street areas offer as entertainment. Asterisks next to some of the performance times denote performances in which the royal court participates. A paragraph at the beginning of the program informs the audience that: The year is 1518. Amazing sights and rambunctious rivalry rule the day! King Henry VIII, Queen Katherine of Aragon and their brilliant court have gathered at the great harvest festival at New Market to award a coveted new title: Admiral of the Oceans and Warden of New Found Lands. The honors are to go to the first intrepid explorer to present solid evidence that he has claimed a fine portion of the mysterious New World for England. And Their 2 Majesties have spent the year since their challenge was issued planning to honor the winner and showcase his exotic New World treasures royally. (TRF Program 2000) The description continues for another page and gives a hint of the scenarios involving the village characters presented during the course of the day. A smaller schedule of performances involving only the royal court and furthering the “story” of this particular Renaissance festival is displayed at the bottom corner of that same page. Similar explanations are presented at other Renaissance festivals, contextualizing the historical timeline for the audience. The Michigan Renaissance Festival (MRF) explains that the year is 1564, and the monarchs Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots are present to celebrate the signing of a peace treaty between England and
Load more

Recommended publications
  • {Download PDF} Renaissance & Medieval Costume
    RENAISSANCE & MEDIEVAL COSTUME PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Camille Bonnard,Paul Mercuri | 128 pages | 31 Oct 2008 | Dover Publications Inc. | 9780486465142 | English | New York, United States Renaissance Costumes & Medieval Clothing The Elizabethan sumptuary laws decreed that purple silk and sable fur were reserved for royals and members of the nobility. What did the rich wear during the Renaissance? The wealthy wore their opulence to parties and in portraits, such as those of the powerful Medici family of Florence or the Tudors, who led the English Renaissance. The elaborate and richly colored clothing, topped with jewelry and makeup, inspired the Renaissance costume or look of today. Are you dressing up for a Renaissance festival or a reenactment? If so, then you have come to the right place. Sign Up for the Medieval Collectibles mailing list to receive discounts, exclusive offers, and breaking news. View All Brands. Skip to content Search. I appreciate the work you've done for me. The shirt actually came in today, looks and feels great! I don't know how things work there, what your position is, but if it would do you any good with your employer, you've got my personal commendation for being on top of this. Thanks again, take care! Don P. I am very thankful for all of the wonderful help you have given me for this. I will be sure to look at your website in the future for anything I may need. Thanks again. Dan S. Wanted to give you guys a big thanks for everything, I loved the outfits and gear! Michael M.
    [Show full text]
  • Gutierrez Dissertation
    Copyright by Christina Lynn Gutierrez 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Christina Lynn Gutierrez certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance Committee: Charlotte Canning, Supervisor Daniel Birkholz Omi Osun (Joni L. Jones) Deborah Paredez Paul Bonin-Rodriguez Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance by Christina Lynn Gutierrez, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication To those who imagine the medieval, and to those who create it. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of a number of talented and generous individuals to whom I owe thanks. First, I’d like to thank my advisor, Dr. Charlotte Canning for her invaluable advice and guidance throughout the dissertation process as well as over the course of my graduate studies. Her enthusiasm for the project and continual curiosity about the Middle Ages helped me through a number of difficult moments. Next, I would like to acknowledge the continual support and assistance of Dr. Daniel Birkholz. Dr. Birkholz has been a mentor and source of inspiration from the beginning of my work on the dissertation, and it was his “Fictions of Medievalism” class that turned on the lightbulb which ultimately led to this project. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Paul Bonin Rodriguez, Dr. Deborah Paredez, and Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Performance of Gender at the American Renaissance Festival
    “WET, DIRTY WOMEN” AND “MEN WITHOUT PANTS”: THE PERFORMANCE OF GENDER AT THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL Andie Carole Markijohn A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2009 Commttee: Dr. Scott Magelssen, Advisor Dr. Ronald Shields Dr. Lesa Lockford © 2009 Andie Carole Markijohn All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Scott Magelssen, Advisor Mention the words “Renaissance festival” to your average American adult, and you’ll likely conjure up images of knights jousting on horseback, casually-dressed visitors gnawing on turkey legs, barely-restrained cleavage in tight bodices, comic variety performers on earthy wooden stages, and richly-dressed royals presiding over it all. More than diversionary entertainment, however, the American Renaissance festival provides visitors with a complex space in which elements of carnival create opportunities for identity and, most important for this thesis, gender play. Using a multidisciplinary approach that features Judith Butler’s notion of performed gender as its foundation, I examine the performances of three specific groups—the Queen and knight, the bagpipe and drum group Tartanic, and the Washing Well Wenches—in order to explore the complex gender messages each communicates both to and with their audiences. The Queen’s royal privilege and “proper” performance of femininity affect each of the subsequent performances examined, either directly or tacitly sanctioning both the masculine performances of the knights and Tartanic as well as the (un)feminine performance of the Wenches. While each of the groups tend to favor a particular gender performance (either “proper” or “improper”), each also includes moments that allow for just the opposite, from the presence of a female knight at the Joust to a male-on-male lap dance by Tartanic to the bolstering of male egos through sexual objectification at the Wash Pit.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Wwii
    UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-EAU CLAIRE WWII REENACTMENT IN WEST-CENTRAL WISCONSIN: CONTEXT OF HISTORY AND MEMORY FROM THE LAST WORLD WAR BY DANIEL J. BERENS HISTORY 489 RESEARCH SEMINAR PROFESSOR: DR. JOHN MANN COOPERATING PROFESSOR: EARL SHOEMAKER DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN MAY 2008 Copyright for this work is owned by the author. This digital version is published by McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with the consent of the author. 1 CONTENTS ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4 Chapter 1. A HISTORY OF REENACTMENT: BEFORE AND AFTER 1978...................................9 2. REMEMBERING THE PAST: HISTORY AND MEMORY............................................16 3. INTERVIEWS WITH THE SCREAMING WEASELS...................................................24 4. AN EVER-CHANING HOBBY........................................................................................27 5. ISSUES WITHIN REENACTMENT................................................................................30 6. WWII REENACTMENT AND MEMORY.......................................................................33 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................36 Appendix I. List of organized historical reenactments..........................................................................38
    [Show full text]
  • The Reenactor's Encyclopedia
    Edited By F. L. Watkins FOLUMP ENTERPRISES Urbana, Illinois Dedication,— Donlyn, Mike, Tom and George Cheers! NOTE: If you are looking for fair, unbiased writing, look elsewhere. If you are looking for your point of view, you might well have to look elsewhere. The viewpoints expressed in this book are unabashedly and unashamedly those of the author. With thanks to Carolyn Steele THE REENACTOR’S ENCYCLOPEDIA © 2004 Folump Enterprises All Rights Reserved Edited By Printed in the USA First Printing—August 2004 È F. L. Watkins È ISBN 1-55680-316-8 PUBLISHED BY FOLUMP ENTERPRISES Folump Enterprises 805 East Green Urbana, Illinois Urbana, IL 61802 www.folump.com ACCEPTANCE OF LIVING HISTORY The very existence of living history is not without controversy within both INTRODUCTION academic and non-academic circles. Because reenacting in its various incarnations is not even today an integral part of contemporary culture, it attracts criticism from any number of sides. The mass media finds historical reenactment to be a source of humor; academics decry its accuracy; PETA complains about the use of leather and It’s a Kind of Magic furs; the National Park Service and others remember the lack of safety standards in reenactment from a half a century ago. Even fellow reenactors often attack other You don’t hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school But history is about reenactors for being too inauthentic, for being too authentic, for being enamored people, and there is nothing more fascinating to people than other people, and living in a of a particular era or for having a differing interpretations of primary different time, in different circumstances—Stephen E.
    [Show full text]
  • (Reenactment) Attractiveness Factors
    PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6th INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE "APPROACHES IN ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT" 15-16 November 2012, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA THE ROLE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN THE FORMATION OF HISTORICAL TOURISM ATTRACTIVENESS FACTORS Cristian Silviu BANACU1 ABSTRACT The paper analyse the possibility of using the project management for reenactment activities as a tool for building attractiveness factors in the counties of Romania according to their historical heritage. A problem that is obvious in Romanian tourism is the low degree of occupation of hotel rooms during the whole year. It is estimated to be around an average of 31.5 % degree of occupation of hotel rooms situating. Romanian tourism is on the last places in Europe and very few attractive from the point of view of profitability. For a good efficiency of putting into practice the solving of the up mentioned problem Project Management will be used for Reenactment Developing Projects in order to create the factors of attractiveness. In the paper we consider the following methods for the valuation of the potential for re-enactment activities and investments in rehabilitation of old historical sites and buildings: The contingent value method, The travel cost method, Hedonic Price Method. In order to relate the creation of attractiveness factors by re-enactment activities and tourism investments we propose an econometric model. This model is useful for the establishing of a relation between BETA variable that quantify the income from re-enactment tourism and the development of the local development due to historical tourism and antique (ancient) souvenir production expressed by four variables. Using statistical model and ANOVA simulation, we link the value of regression parameters.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Summer 2019 Issue (PDF)
    THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE SUMMER 2019 Q&A: MEET THE PRESS HOST CHUCK TODD TALKS ABOUT JOURNALISM, POLITICS AND THE FIGHT FOR "SOMETIMES I THINK WHEN YOU’RE IN “We’re so much more combative THE MIDDLE OF IT, YOU DON’T FULLY in some ways with people today, APPRECIATE THE MASSIVE CHANGES and I think people think we’re not THAT ARE TAKING PLACE.” combative enough.” “I wish I could fall back on some historical “YOU HAVE TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AND ACCEPT THE FACT context to know how another generation of journalists dealt with similar situations, THAT YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE PEOPLE MAD.” but I don’t think we’ve had a similar situation.” “At the end of the day, “I THINK THE FUTURE OF I’m pretty cynical, but JOURNALISM AS WE KNOW I don’t like to be as IT IS ACTUALLY AT STAKE IN SOME WAYS.” cynical on TV.” Inside on... ...Page 30 gw magazine / Summer 2019 GW MAGAZINE SUMMER 2019 A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS CONTENTS FEATURES 30 / ‘A Competition For Facts’ Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, who attended GW in the 1990s, Q&As with GW Magazine about political journalism, “both sides” and the slow death of good faith. / By Matthew Stoss / 38 / The Border Ball For more than a century, a U.S. border town and its Mexican counterpart have thrown a festival to mark George Washington’s birthday. GW professor Elaine Peña went home to understand why, and what it says about people and dividing lines. / By Matthew Stoss / 48 / Any Place of Worship As a Muslim, Sana Ullah, MA ’17, is required to pray five times a day.
    [Show full text]
  • Historically-Inspired Dress As a Personal Style Choice
    HISTORICALLY-INSPIRED DRESS AS A PERSONAL STYLE CHOICE by DINA CHERISE SMITH (Under the Direction of José Blanco) ABSTRACT While elements of Retro or revival dress, or for the purpose of this study, historically-inspired dress are considered characteristic of postmodern fashion, there are some individuals who appropriate retro/revival dress not due to its popularity but as a result of sartorial symbolisms (Barnard, 2002; English, 2007; Vinken, 2005; E. Wilson, 1985). Qualitative case studies were performed to explore the motivations for wearing historically-inspired dress on a daily or near- daily basis. Two approaches were utilized based on previous literature. Historically-inspired dress bears or does not bear significant meaning in connection with the time period in which it is associated. Findings indicated that one approach alone was insufficient in explaining this practice. Findings also indicated that historically-inspired dress had less in common with historic costume and/or reenactment dress because participants do not use it to portray a historic or semi- historic persona. Instead, it serves as an alternative style choice. INDEX WORDS: Motivations, Historically-inspired Dress, Costume, Persona, Retro/Revival dress, Communication, Expression HISTORICALLY-INSPIRED DRESS AS A PERSONAL STYLE CHOICE by DINA CHERISE SMITH B.S., The University of Southern Mississippi, 2006 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE ATHENS, GA 2011 © 2011 Dina Cherise Smith All Rights Reserved HISTORICALLY-INSPIRED DRESS AS A PERSONAL STYLE CHOICE by DINA CHERISE SMITH Major Professor: José Blanco Committee: Patricia K.
    [Show full text]
  • Come Ye to the Faire! Knights in Combat Fun at the Festival
    release dates: July 4-10 27-1 (09) Go dot to dot and color. © 2009 Universal Press Syndicate from The Mini Page © 2009 Universal Press Syndicate Step Into the Middle Ages Come Ye to the Faire! Have you ever dreamed of living in the Knights engage in team time of knights, lords and ladies? This combat in a battle at an SCA Renaissance festival. time is known as the Middle Ages. For most of the Middle Ages, Renaissance (reh-nuh-SAHNTS) fairs knights promised to serve in and tournaments give modern people a the king’s army for a certain taste of life in the Middle Ages and number of days each year. In Renaissance. the late Middle Ages, knights paid a tax to get out of military To learn more about Renaissance fairs, service. The Mini Page talked to an expert from This was better for the king the Society for Creative Anachronism* because knights were around (uh-NA-kruh-ni-zum), or SCA. only during wars. With the *An anachronism is something out of its proper money paid by unwilling time or place. For example, if you were watching a knights, the king could keep movie about American pioneers and somebody an army of trained fighters all pulled out a cell phone, the phone would be an photos by Ron Lutz, courtesy Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. the time. anachronism. SCA brings something from the past The Middle Ages The Renaissance into the present. It calls itself “creative” Experts disagree about the exact dates The Renaissance arrived at the end because certain modern conveniences, of the Middle Ages.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter I Introduction
    SERIOUS LEISURE, PARTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE IN TOURISM: AUTHENTICITY AND RITUAL IN A RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL A Dissertation by HYOUNGGON KIM Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2004 Major Subject: Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences SERIOUS LEISURE, PARTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE IN TOURISM: AUTHENTICITY AND RITUAL IN A RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL A Dissertation by HYOUNGGON KIM Submitted to Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved as to style and content by: Tazim B. Jamal Joseph T. O’Leary (Chair of Committee) (Member) Amanda Stronza Jane A. Sell (Member) (Member) Joseph T. O’Leary (Head of Department) December 2004 Major Subject: Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences iii ABSTRACT Serious Leisure, Participation and Experience in Tourism: Authenticity and Ritual in a Renaissance Festival. (December 2004) Hyounggon Kim, B.A., Hanyang University (Korea); M.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Tazim B. Jamal This study examined the Texas Renaissance Festival as perceived and experienced by (serious) visitors for whom this was a form of regular, repeated and highly meaningful participation. Specifically, the focus was to gain understanding of the notion of serious leisure as defined by Stebbins, in the context of festivals, and to understand the meanings associated with festival participation. Following a qualitative (constructivism paradigm) research frame, the data were collected through participant observation and 37 in-depth interviews for highly committed tourists to the Texas Renaissance Festival. The collected data were analyzed through Grounded Theory techniques specified by Glaser (1978).
    [Show full text]