Today I want to talk about Dirtbag Medievalism. Dirtbag Medievalism is a shorthand term for a kind of popular medievalism that I don't think has been fully treated in the critical literature on medievalism and I want to try to describe it here

The concept emerged from conversations I had with my students in my medievalism in fall 2019 about the limitations and affordances of Eco's famous "Ten Little Middle Ages." There was a certain kind of example they'd bring in that didn't quite fit, and it bugged me.

My thinking is also informed by David Matthews' Medievalism: A Critical History and @stephanietrigg and Thomas Prendergast's Affective Medievalism and Dinshaw's thoughts on amateurism in How Soon is Now. And Sontag on camp.

To be clear, I do not mean "dirtbag" in a fully pejorative sense. Rather, I mean it in the sense of yearning, bravado, and tentativeness best encapsulated by Wheatus's 2000 classic Teenage Dirtbag

Some key features of Dirtbag Medievalism:

1. Dirtbag medievalism is commercial, and it wants to be noticed. I'd tentatively place its origins in 19th century gothic novels, but also Medieval Times and any number of dubious ad campaigns aimed at straight men.

Dirtbag medievalism loves a themed beverage and a turkey leg.

Ancillary to this point, you better believe that Walpole's Strawberry Hill is, among other things, a prime example of early dirtbag medievalism (dirtbag medievalism is also a cousin of camp)

2. Because it is a creature of mass media, dirtbag medievalism finds you, even when it purports to be a source of arcane knowledge. Dirtbag medievalism is buying a deck of tarot cards and an incense burner shaped like a dragon at Spenser Gifts.

3. Dirtbag medievalism is accessible. It is not about nuance. Medieval TikTok is an example, a joyful one, of dirtbag medievalism. Historical fashion Instagram is not.

4. Dirtbag medievalism might gesture toward historical accuracy, but it is not too worried about it. This gesture matters, though, which distinguishes dirtbag medievalism from Eco's concept of the Middle Ages as pretext.

Sometimes, as in the case of Tolkein enthusiasts or avid D&D players the medievalism takes on its own standards of authenticity and the historical referent becomes largely superfluous (Tolkein's novels, in the first instance, are not dirtbag medievalism, however)

5. Dirtbag medievalism is exciting, it wants to thrill you. Disney traffics in a wide array of medievalisms, but mostly just the villainesses, dark inverses of the princesses, are dirtbag. How do we know? because they are that much more dramatic, and have cool outfits

6. Dirtbag medievalism, like all medievalisms, is very often more about the present telling on itself than the past.

7. Dirtbag medievalism, in contrast to some other forms of medievalism, does not aspire to cultural authority or, if it does, it situates itself in opposition to dominant forms of authority. Hence the appeal of gothic script to teenagers starting heavy metal bands.

8. Dirtbag medievalism is ideologically porous. Because of this it can be a gateway into more strident forms of ideologically motivated medievalism. Dan Brown's books (prime example of dirtbag medievalism) offer conspiracy thinking lite that's a short jump to much darker places

9. Dirtbag medievalism is affectively earnest but it is not primarily educational. The beloved children's book Strega Nona is not an example of dirtbag medievalism. Mussgorsky's the Hut of Baba Yaga is not dirtbag medievalism, but ELP's prog rock rendition of it definitely is.

10. Dirtbag medievalism can be a matter of intention or reception but it is more often the later. The writers of Big Bang Theory including a joke about the Miller's Tale is dirtbag medievalism, but probably not received as such.

Conversely, the music of Led Zeppelin is likely both intended and received as such. Scary intense Scandinavian black metal is probably not intended as such, but enjoyed in a suburban basement, it may well be.

I like thinking about Dirtbag Medievalism because it's what gets most of us, and our students, into the field in the first place. It's also gloriously messy, and recursive and weird, and more exciting than the grading I need to get back to. /fin

(also thanks to @eatthatbee for an offhand comment that sent me back to my notes on this idea as I pretended to be working on grading)

Oh and also: EDMUND SPENSER NUMBER ONE OG DIRTBAG MEDIEVALIST (which gets us back to how dirtbag medievalism links up with other forms, including the overly political ones, but that's another thread or maybe the book that, like my grading, I should be working on right now)

*overtly not overly, anyone who tries to tell you medievalism is or can be apolitical is either lying or hasn't thought about it for very long