AIBU to think "Merlin" is a pile of sexist shite...

Aha! Bastards. I take it back. This happens over and over. They did it with the Bible FFS. Men

Should probably namalt...

'
Morgan le Fay (/ˈmɔːrɡən lə ˈfeɪ/, meaning "Morgan the Fairy"), alternatively known as Morgan[n]a, Morgain[a/e], Morg[a]ne, Morgant[e], Morge[i]n, and Morgue[in] among other names and spellings (Welsh: Morgên y Dylwythen Deg, Cornish: Morgen an Spyrys), is a powerful enchantress in the Arthurian legend. Early appearances of Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a goddess, a fay, a witch, or a sorceress, generally benevolent and related to King Arthur as his magical saviour and protector. Her prominence increased over time, as did her moral ambivalence, and in some texts there is an evolutionary transformation of her to an antagonist, particularly as portrayed in cyclical prose such as the Lancelot-Grail and the Post-Vulgate Cycle. '

I agree your general point but this is based on very very old stories and she wasn't very nice in those so it's a bit different maybe?

Have you seen the film with Helen mirren I like that a lot.

Alanarthnatarct... No idea what she's actually saying but I say it to the kids and wiggle me fingers at them scarily sometimes.

They haven't seen it so they have no idea what's going on. But they think I'm slightly bonkers so that's not s problem

Unless- the story changed over the years to make the women evil etc as has happened so much through history...

Merlin's kind of cheezy tv, really, there are plenty of these kinds of tropes that just get recycled again and again.

I don't think I entirely agree though that there aren't a fair number of evil male sorcerers in stories and on tv.

I do love Merlin but I thought this season was very poor. I was particularly annoyed at it turning into boys' adventures for boys, and Gwen especially being given not very much to do other than waltz around in super low cut dresses.

Having said that, Gwen is still the most competent person in Camelot, because she in this season has twice figured out that there's a traitor inside and then actually done something about it.

Wow i never realised Avalon was a series. Or that shed written so many works. Amazing woman.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Zimmer_Bradley

I so wish that someone would make a film or series of The Mists of Avalon but only if it was EXACTLY like the book.

Fourth or fifth recommendation for the mists of Avalon, really gets to grips with how the culture moved from a feminine centric belief system to the patriarchal belief system that christinanity does seem to have a bias towards.
And the women are not evil, though Morgase has some motivations for her actions that are questionable.

Yep, the Mists of Avalon is a really top book - mind you, I think that of all her work.

I think Gwen must have been glued into her dresses, with all the riding and being carried around unconscious I don't see how else they stayed in place.

To be fair, Gwen couldn't have done much running around or fighting because she would have popped right out of her sheepdog bra

ANother recommendation for the Mists of Avalon, which is a marvellous women-centred version of the Camelot mythology.

Merlin has really gone down hill in this respect. In the first series Morgana and Gwen were on screen nearly as much as Arthur, they were interesting, they even had personalities By the end they were reduced to the baddie and the wife.

I think Gwen contradicted Arthur more as a servant than as his girlfriend/wife. And remember when she fought the raiders in Merlin's village? I really expected her to join the battle against Morgana, but no, she was happy to stay in the tent and yell for bandages In fact all the 'good' women this series were passive and wimpy, and all the ones with a backbone were evil.

Since the overall goal changed from 'legalise magic' to 'worship Arthur' I think all the characters have become less likeable. Tbh I'm glad it ended.

There were plenty of male bad users of magic (eg the one with the elixir to cure all ills) as well.

And although I was extremely irritated by how vapid Gwen became in the final series, and how low cut her dresses became, set against that is the way the knights were portrayed (beefcake Percival, shampoo ad Gawain etc). Lightweight all round, really.

When i was a teenager i read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley. Its the Camelot legend told from the point of view of the women. Its been 23 years since i read it but i remember the Beltane Fires scenes!

I know what you mean. I found it increasingly annoying that Morgana (virtually the only female character) is evil whilst almost all the men are good. Also, Merlin uses magic for good purposes whereas she uses it for bad purposes. There's also a distinct lack of female characters in it generally. In fact ds1 (7) once asked, "Weren't there any women in those times?"

I don't think much was known about Morgaine until the later writers anyway
It was all twisted anyway for merlin
as her sister was supposedly morgeuse (they kinda got that) who was the mother if gawaine and mordred.
Mordred is written about as being a baddy though
The thing with the merlin programs was that I didn't find her to be evil. Well she's wasn't nice but neither was arthur. He was dressed up to be bur thought that it was made rather obvious to the viewer that he was actually as bad as she was

I kind of assumed that nothing extraordinary would happen as she would rule well and wisely rather than rile everyone and have loads of enemys that want to kill her

Ah, right - admittedly I don't know much about Arthurian legend, either, so am not the best person to comment!

Yes good point, am expecting a follow-up series though...