gender studies and sexuality

The structure of Joan of Arc's early phase invites comparison to archetypal heroic narrative: reluctant departure, rejected petitioner, gatekeepers to persuade or evade, and the acquisition of skills and resolve before the great undertaking. Whether such comparisons illuminate Joan’s experience, distort it, or reveal more about her interpreters than Joan herself is the question this panel opens. What do we actually know about Joan before she became Joan? How have scholars, hagiographers, filmmakers, and popular adapters handled the silence and ambiguity of her early life? When Joan is made to fit a pattern, which Joan gets left out?

Description: Since the 1990s, there has been an ever-growing list of adaptions on early modern women, from Elizabeth (1998) to The Tudors, to Reign, to Mary Queen of Scotts (2018), to the countless depictions of Anne Boleyn. Each of these productions attempt to negotiate a happy medium between maintaining historical accuracy and entertaining a modern audience who may not be familiar with or care about the complicated politics of the early modern world. Adaptions of early modern women are not limited to the screen, but can also be found in music, art, and pop culture.