There are many ways that the movie First Knight (1995) brought the stories of king Arthur and his knights of the round table to life as well as many ways in which they put new focus and plot twists into these stories. This movie used both visual aids as well as plot lines and character development to represent these stories.
The first way they made the story come to life is the way they costumed the characters. Each set of characters was dressed differently. All of those who either worked or lived in King Arthur’s court and those on the side of king Arthur dressed in blue. The knights wore deep blue when they were in their armor, the servants and lords and ladies wore bright blue, even Lady Guinevere sometimes wore blue and sometimes wore yellow or orange or sometimes both blue and yellow to represent the joining of the kingdom of Camelot and the kingdom of Lyonesse. Even the cushions on the wooden chairs of the round table were bright blue. Those who were part of the kingdom of Lyonesse wore many shades of red, orange, or yellow. The villagers and peasants wore duller hues of grays and browns.
The plot of the movie focuses very much on Lancelot and how he became a knight and his love for lady Guinevere. Lancelot started out as wandering vagabond who lost his parents and home in a fire when he was young, but was skilled with a sword so he made money sword fighting in the villages and towns that he visited. He falls in love with Lady Guinevere the first time they meet after he rescues her from an attack on her escort by Prince Malagant but she refuses to admit to loving him because she has pledged her love to King Arthur and is betrothed to marry him. Lancelot then later on saves her again after she is kidnapped by Prince Malagant and is made a knight of the round table.
There are also other visual aids and plot changes made to bring this movie to life in an interesting way. There was no mention of Merlin, Morgana, Nimue, Allewes, or any other enchanter or sage in this movie whatsoever. In this version there are no mentions of prophecy or anything of that topic. There is no magic in King Arthur’s kingdom and everything is done based on peoples own decisions and abilities. There is no Siege Perilous, there are no stone chairs with knights names written on them at the round table only cushioned wooden chairs. There are only eleven knights of the round table because there were twelve but Prince Malagant challenged King Arthur and split the kingdom between those loyal to himself and those loyal to King Arthur, but there were once again twelve when Lancelot became a knight.
These are some of the ways that were used to make the story of king Arthur interesting and to bring it to life in the form of the movie First Knight (1995). These and many others were used to produce plot twists and make it more interesting to viewers.
Life as Rae 