I hope my question isn't off topic (if it is I'm sorry).
I am currently finishing a master's degree in History, and the time has come for me to choose a subject for my thesis. As a Middle Ages junkie, I want to focus on this period. A topic that interests me deeply is the way the Middle Ages are depicted in movies, TV shows, (fantasy) novel etc. What stereotypes/representations are used, are they historically accurate, if they are not, why do they succeed in evoking the Middle Ages in the audience's mind, etc.?
However, I don't know where to start my research, hence my question. Do you know of any monograph or article(s) that have been published on this topic?
Thank you very much!
There is an entire subfield known as "medievalism" that studies exactly that--representations of the Middle Ages in later eras. Most of the scholarship is coming out of literary studies, though, not history, and what you're describing seems to me to be more of a lit project.
But as for sources--there are multiple journals about this, about half the entries in the Palgrave "The New Middle Ages" series...run some searches for medievalism and neomedievalism. And be sure to communicate with your advisor on how to keep it a history project.
Remember, you won't actually be studying the Middle Ages if you go this route. You'll be studying the modern era (or the 19th century, or whatever). Ivanhoe doesn't tell us anything about medieval romance; it tells us about people's ideas in 1820.
(That's why medievalism is so popular especially in English lit--no Latin.)