For the Medieval Fiefosphere (maybe illuminatosphere -- for illuminated texts would be better), I am naturally referring to the Medieval scholar portion of the blogosphere, comes the soon to be released film version of the classic romance "Tristan and Isolde" (You can view the trailer here).
The tale of Tristan and Isolde (Tristram and Isaud, etc.) is one that is often intertwined with Arthurian romances, but it is its own tale which happens to share many of the narrative tropes of the Arthurian romance. If you look to the love triangle traditionally told involving Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere you will find some similarities, but I have always found Tristan and Isolde a more plausible tragic romance (I also like Peleas and Etard).
Chief among my reasons for favoring T/I is that in the A/L/G romance Guenevere is often portrayed in less than a flattering light, largely due to the fact that Arthur and Lancelot ought to be men of exceeding virtue. A good part of the reason for this co-out is that Camelot is a fictional place and thus authors have never provided a significant political reason for the Arthur/Guenevere marriage or a romantically powerful reason for her attraction to Lancelot. Filmically, there have been several poor adapatations of the A/G relationship (think First -- she likes Richard Gere more than Sean Connery? -- Knight, King --We will largely ignore it -- Arthur (2004), or even the otherwise well done Excalibur where she was merely too young when she first met Arthur).
Anyway...if he reads this, I am certain that Unlocked Wordhoard will have an indepth discussion of the romance in the near future.
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