Merlin's Enclosure

After trying and failing to advance the Shakespeare project I've decided that it was in my best interest to change topics. Still remaining with the inspiration of literature I've gone down a different route and I've chosen a particular character (or archetype in this case): Merlin. 

Merlin as a Old Man, his most recognisable appearance in media.

I'm a huge fan of arthurian legends and I find them very interesting so that's what I'm going to spend my time researching. The downside to this project is right now there is an outcome idea but it's a very vague one and it won't become apparent until I have that moment of 'clarity' - I guess is what you could call it. At the moment the idea of Merlins Enclosure is in reference to how Britain (and British influenced media) have represented the idea of Merlin throughout history. At one point Britain was actually nicknamed Merlins Enclosure. I want to explore what that means, why was it called that? Why Britain and not Italy? Why's Merlin so special? 

When I imagine the project I think of 'something' representing the magic and knowledge that make the archetype what it is, a camera moving through this sea of particles - almost like a galactic adventure. The particles are coming of of 'something' and with each new colour or shape you get a new representation of Merlin so anything from a popular character like Gandalf (very much an incarnation of Merlin) to a mention of him in Medieval literature (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight). The camera travels through this space but never get's close enough to see the object producing the magic because we don't have a solid idea of who or what Merlin the 'person' was. So instead of satisfying the audience with the knowledge of who this person is they get the essence of incarnations instead. Before eventually zooming back through the galaxy to show that it's all neatly kept within a box (note: for now anyway I need to do so further research into iconography) hence - Merlins Enclosure.

Painting by Tracie Cheng. 

I want the magic/knowledge to be abstract, as demonstrated by Tracie Cheng's painting, when I look at this painting I see something that is solid but also free, whimsical but structured and ethereal yet present. These are the qualities I want for the animation. The idea of magic being real is crazy yet for some reason when you mention Merlin to anyone in Britain the have an image in their head of a wizard, they all have a different image in their head depending on their generation or sheer interest in mythology but they will never question the structure in which this character is placed. I want to explore that structure and divulge the essence of this archetype, have the audience captivated in something new but at the same time nostalgic. 

As per the title I'm narrowing my search area by keeping the research within a British context simply due to time, the amount of research need and because the idea came from the discovery of 'Merlins Enclosure' being a name for Britain in academic texts. 

Researching Merlin is a bit like a rabbit hole - you never know what you're going to find.

A theory I like is one in which they say that Merlin represented the morning star whilst his sister Ganieda represented the evening star. Reaffirming my idea of the galaxy but also giving him a status however this does bring in more characters something that other theories do but they don't give as much leverage to them as they do Merlin. 

Then you have stories of the sword and the stone, lady of the lake, the wild man, Glastonbury tor ..... there's so much I've just got the tip of the iceberg. 

So for now I'm going to read and research. Learn a bit of Maya and come back with a wider understanding of what this crazy idea actually is and what I'm getting myself in for. But right now I'm truly interested and invested in learning more which can only mean good things.