The Tables have Turned(Late)

"As the primaries approached, Arthur had studied the commercials of other canidates very carefully. His decison was to try and find a different angle" (David, 188).

This quote is from a scene that stuck out to me a lot from this reading. I found it cool how we are so used to Arthur being the top guy(king) and being in charge that I liked this perspective as Arthur is no longer in that position. In the story we see him running to be the next Mayor and this quote shows he is working to be the top guy in charge, against competitors who are equal to him.

Knight Life, eh

"Slowly, Elvis stood up and started to clap. Buddy joined him. And then someone who wasn't part of Arthur's group, and then another, and then within seconds, the entire studio was filled with the thunderous sound of applause." (263)


I honestly really liked this entire reading until it came to this point. If i were there, and the candidate was saying these things, my reaction would be "okay, this guy is crazy", but I'm supposed to assume that everyone here is believing this? Idk it took me out of the reading a little bit. After thinking about it though, this moment kind of brought me back to the old readings. When Arthur would give a speech before a battle and everyone would join with him in cheers and stuff, so when I thought about it like that, I really actually came to enjoy this ending. I guess my question is, was there anything in this reading that at first you didn't enjoy, but you came to appreciate considering the context of the older texts?

Chivalry in Politics

In the Knight Life, King Arthur makes some very controversial claims while he is giving his press conference and while participating in the debate. Many of these are issues that he commented on are still issues that he sees today and I thought that it was something that are political leaders in the world could look at today. However, some of the things that I found interesting was how he handled himself during these moments. Before his press conference, he said to Gwen and Percival that he was going, "to be utterly candid and not lie" (David 174). I thought that this was interesting because it felt like he was almost following a code of chivalry at the podium, something that he would have remembered from his days as a King. I feel like this is something that we don't see with many politicians anymore, no matter the party, and it was an interesting aspect to look at. In addition, during the political debate, he also was very confused when the other candidates did not actually answer the question, "You didn't answer the ques... they didn't answer the question" (David, 258). I think that this is another thing that current politicians could take into consideration because nowadays they never answer the actual question. I think that King Arthur places an important role in that because he wants people to trust him as that was such an important aspect in Camelot.

King Arthur was Spittin'

"Yes, I've heard that. People don't trust the government enough. It's odd, though. If they don't trust the government, how is it they know that they can speak against it with impunity? They must trust it on some level. Besides, the entire matter is nonsense, if you ask me, which, I suppose, you have. If the government goes bad, handguns won't save you. Better to work together to support a good government than arm oneself against a bad one." (David, 177). 

I chose this quote because as I was finished reading this part I said, out loud, "damn, Arthur!" This guy is spitting serious facts. Throughout this entire story, I could really see that my beliefs lined up with Arthur Penn's. Perhaps that's why I liked his character so much.

*Also, as a second thought: why does this Arthur character remind me so much of Oliver Queen from Arrow??? And why do they lowkey look alike???

This Was Hilarious

"You...could tell us...but you won't? Were you a Don or something?"
"No, no,  I've always been an Arthur." (p. 173)

I have to be honest: Knight Life was a breath of fresh air. It was easier to read and understand. And both the situation and the writing were so awkward that it was funny. I was actually laughing out loud at certain events in the excerpt. The reason why I chose this quote is because it is an example of the strange hilarity of this book. Arthur reminds me so much of Captain America when he has to figure out how to live in 2012 while mentally he's still in the 1940s. He's a man who has come to "save the world" so to speak, but is so far removed from the current day, that he has a hard time operating in society. Arthur is the exact same way, but worse because he's coming from an age where knights were still a thing. This feeling of being out of place is reflected in the writing style. The book might not have been the best written thing, but boy was it funny to read. 

Some things don't age well

Knight Life has aged about as well as these graphics from the PS2 game tie-in for the 2006 KIng Arthur movie

Part of the charm of the Arthurian mythos is the timeless nature of the characters. It is (relatively) easy to drop these established characters into medieval chicanery and have it come out enjoyable. More difficult is transposing the characters into the modern world, either through reincarnation or the literal fulfillment of Arthur's prophesied return, as is the case in Knight Life. The primary danger here is that the book is a product of it's time. While I'm sure the idea of a businessman politician who spoke frankly, off the cuff, trusted his gut, and refused to back down or change course once he made a decision sounded appealing in the 1980s, the political realities of today make that description uncomfortable to say the least. Good thing Arthur is, well Arthur, and not a violent egomaniac...... right?

In Which an Editor Complains About Bad Writing

How come it took so long into this book for Arthur to hold a press conference? As a writer and editor reading this, there has got to be a lot of fluff that could be cut from the beginning of the book if we’re on page 170-something and the main storyline of Arthur running for mayor is just now starting. There are inconsistencies in verb tense and POV and I can’t stand reading this because it’s just plain bad writing. Yes, this entire post is just going to be complaining about the writing because it’s that bad.

First of all, adverbs ad nauseam. Dialogue is broken up in odd places. During the press conference, all the interruptions to dialogue to allow the reporters to laugh in response… nothing was funny. The Monty Python joke was not explained well and ill-timed for the situation. Cheese balls? (p 169-70) Really? On page 188, Gwen “cuts in” when she’s not interrupting anyone and then gets a “trailing off” ellipsis when it should be a dash because she’s interrupted by Arthur’s next line. These are just a few examples of the things that irritated me. Also, who’s POV are we supposed to be in? Seems like it’s supposed to be a limited omniscient narrator, but it’s inconsistent and the POV switches mid-scene sometimes. And where was the proofreader for this book? Must’ve been his or her day off.

Merlin is a jerk and Arthur’s personality is inconsistent. I don’t fully understand Gwen’s character from this excerpt, but it seems like everyone steps over her when I feel like she’s just trying to do her job. What is this book? Because I don’t like it.