In the film, the sword in the stone is the Excalibur, which Boorman uses to depict the power that a King has in ruling his people. The depiction of this authority in the world implied that its absence would have detrimental effects on nearly everything within the kingdom. For instance, the crops would die and the populace would starve. Hence, the sword is symbolic in that the King has to have it in his possession in order to exercise power. This is exemplified when King Uther suspends his kingship moments before his death through the act of driving the sword into the stone. However, according to the original story, the sword in the stone and Excalibur are two different swords. In addition, Excalibur was introduced by the Lady of the Lake as a divine helper to Arthur only after he had become king. Therefore, the origin of the sword in the stone was wrongly depicted and the meaning of Excalibur was undoubtedly …show more content…
In regards to what materials Camelot was built from, Boorman notes in the movie that Camelot was built of silver. However, the original story indicates that the origin of Camelot was some middle-easter myths that had a god with gold and silver citadel. Similarly, the last knight of Arthur in the film differs from the original story. In Arthurian myth, Bedivere is commanded by Arthur to cast Excalibur into a calm body of water, but Perceval portrays this role in the film. These contradictory aspects between the film and the original story also raise concern on whether Boorman paid any attention to detail or if his primary concern was making a film that could sell. Ideally, movies based on mythology should be researched before being released to the public.
The filmmakers of Excalibur use King Arthur as a platform for their agenda and a figure of hope. The figure of King Arthur has inspired an unusual degree for political proselytizing since Arthur is recreated in every version in the image of the narrator. Arthurian romance, through displacing a difficult present with a perfect past, endows the resolution of modern cultural crises with authority from the past. Moreover, it states that new order romance propose is truly the old order, the globe of idealized past were the present should be compared and discovered woefully