Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture

Author: Gideon Nisbet
Publisher: Bristol Phoenix Press
ISBN: 9781904675129
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
This revised and expanded second edition responds to new developments in the reception of Greece in contemporary popular culture, and particularly the impact of the film 300 (2006).Why, in a century of film-making, have so few versions of the story of Alexander the Great - or that of Troy's fall - made it to the big screen? In the aftermath of Gladiator (2000), with Hollywood studios rushing to revisit the ancient world with Troy and Alexander (both 2004), this question takes on renewed significance.Nisbet unpacks the ideas that continue to make Greece hot property - often too hot for Hollywood to handle. His lively explorations, which assume no prior expertise in classical or film studies, will appeal to all with an interest in 'reception': the present day's re-use and re-invention of the past.

A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen

Author: Arthur J. Pomeroy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118741447
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 553

Book Description
A comprehensive treatment of the Classical World in film and television, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen closely examines the films and TV shows centered on Greek and Roman cultures and explores the tension between pagan and Christian worlds. Written by a team of experts in their fields, this work considers productions that discuss social settings as reflections of their times and as indicative of the technical advances in production and the economics of film and television. Productions included are a mix of Hollywood and European spanning from the silent film era though modern day television series, and topics discussed include Hollywood politics in film, soundtrack and sound design, high art and low art, European art cinemas, and the ancient world as comedy. Written for students of film and television as well as those interested in studies of ancient Rome and Greece, A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen provides comprehensive, current thinking on how the depiction of Ancient Greece and Rome on screen has developed over the past century. It reviews how films of the ancient world mirrored shifting attitudes towards Christianity, the impact of changing techniques in film production, and fascinating explorations of science fiction and technical fantasy in the ancient world on popular TV shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and Dr. Who.

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Author: Brett M. Rogers
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190228334
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Book Description
For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection in English dedicated to the study of science fiction as a site of classical receptions, offering a much-needed mapping of that important cultural and intellectual terrain. This volume discusses a wide variety of representative examples from both classical antiquity and the past four hundred years of science fiction, beginning with science fiction's "rosy-fingered dawn" and moving toward the other-worldly literature of the present day. As it makes its way through the eras of science fiction, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction exposes the many levels on which science fiction engages the ideas of the ancient world, from minute matters of language and structure to the larger thematic and philosophical concerns.

The Modern Hercules

Author: Alastair J.L. Blanshard
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004440062
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 698

Book Description
The Modern Hercules explores the reception of the ancient Greek hero Herakles – the Roman Hercules – in western culture from the nineteenth century to the present day, exploring the hero’s transformations of identity and significance in a wide range of media.

Blockbusters and the Ancient World

Author: Chris Davies
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350105015
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Following the release of Ridley Scott's Gladiator in 2000 the ancient world epic has experienced a revival in studio and audience interest. Building on existing scholarship on the Cold War epics of the 1950s-60s, including Ben-Hur, Spartacus and The Robe, this original study explores the current cycle of ancient world epics in cinema within the social and political climate created by September 11th 2001. Examining films produced against the backdrop of the War on Terror and subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, this book assesses the relationship between mainstream cinema and American society through depictions of the ancient world, conflict and faith. Davies explores how these films evoke depictions of the Second World War, the Vietnam War and the Western in portraying warfare in the ancient world, as well as discussing the influence of genre hybridisation, narration and reception theory. He questions the extent to which ancient world epics utilise allegory, analogy and allusion to parallel past and present in an industry often dictated by market forces. Featuring analysis of Alexander, Troy, 300, Centurion, The Eagle, The Passion of the Christ and more, this book offers new insight on the continued evolution of the ancient world epic in cinema.

Classics and Comics

Author: George Kovacs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199734194
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Classics and Comics is the first book to explore the engagement of classics with the epitome of modern popular literature, the comic book. This volume collects fifteen articles, all specially commissioned for this volume, that look at how classical content is deployed in comics and reconfigured for a modern audience.

A Companion to Persius and Juvenal

Author: Susanna Braund
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118301986
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 645

Book Description
A Companion to Persius and Juvenal breaks new ground in its in-depth focus on both authors as "satiric successors"; detailed individual contributions suggest original perspectives on their work, and provide an in-depth exploration of Persius' and Juvenal's afterlives. Provides detailed and up-to-date guidance on the texts and contexts of Persius and Juvenal Offers substantial discussion of the reception of both authors, reflecting some of the most innovative work being done in contemporary Classics Contains a thorough exploration of Persius' and Juvenal's afterlives

Ancient Rome at the Cinema

Author: Elena Theodorakopoulos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781904675280
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a lucid study of the worlds created in Roman historical epics. Based on analysis of the visual and narrative fabric of seven films set in Ancient Rome, 'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' demonstrates how cinematic versions of Ancient Rome have been able to captivate us, and inscribe their versions of the city and its history onto our imagination. Theodorakopoulos uses film theory and criticism to examine the ways in which historical drama creates the past through story-telling and visual effects. Particular emphasis is put on the tension between narrative and spectacle which is an inherent feature of cinema, and a long-standing preoccupation of film critics and theorists from the 1930s to the present. The book also examines the techniques and the rhetoric of realism which feature especially prominently in historical films. 'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a companion volume to 'Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture' by Gideon Nisbet (9781904675785, 2008, 2nd edition).

Screening the Golden Ages of the Classical Tradition

Author: Meredith E. Safran
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 147444086X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
Analyses of Rancière's philosophy and its potential for understanding the conversation between contemporary politics and art cinema.

Rhetoric in Popular Culture

Author: Barry Brummett
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 150631564X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
Rhetoric in Popular Culture, Fifth Edition, shows readers how to apply growing and cutting-edge methods of critical studies to a full spectrum of contemporary issues seen in daily life. Exploring a wide range of mass media including current movies, magazines, advertisements, social networking sites, music videos, and television shows, Barry Brummett uses critical analysis to apply key rhetorical concepts to a variety of exciting examples drawn from popular culture. Readers are guided from theory to practice in an easy-to-understand manner, providing them with a foundational understanding of the definition and history of rhetoric as well as new approaches to the rhetorical tradition. Ideal for courses in rhetorical criticism, the highly anticipated Fifth Edition includes new critical essays and case studies that demonstrate for readers how the critical methods discussed can be used to study the hidden rhetoric of popular culture.