Screening the golden ages of the classical tradition / edited by Meredith E. Safran.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Safran, Meredith E., editor.

Series:

Screening antiquity.

Screening antiquity

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historical films--History and criticism.

Historical films.

Civilization, Ancient, in motion pictures.

Civilization, Ancient, on television.

Motion pictures and history.

Television and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 329 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2019.

Summary:

"A survey of modern cinematic and televisual responses to the concept of the golden age".This collection of fourteen essays explores how the dominant media of our time - film and television - have engaged with the golden age as formulated in the Western classical tradition. Drawing on ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture, from Hesiod to Suetonius, these essays assess the far-reaching influence of the golden age concept on screen texts ranging from prestige projects like "Gladiator" and HBO's "Rome", to cult classics "Xanadu" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys", made by auteurs including Jules Dassin and the Coen Brothers. The book also looks at fantasy ("Game of Thrones"i>), science fiction ("Serenity"), horror ("The Walking Dead"), war/combat (the "300" franchise, "Centurion"), and the American Western.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Index

Series Editors’ Preface

Editor’s Acknowledgments

Contributors

Illustrations

Abbreviations

Introduction: Searching for Gold in an Age of Iron

PART I The Glory That Was Greece

1 Re-(en)gendering Heroism: Reflective Nostalgia for Peplum’s Golden Age of Heroes in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys 2.14 (1996)

2 Kissed by the Muse of Roller-Disco: Utopia versus the Golden Ages of America, Hollywood, and Classical Myth in Xanadu (1980)

3 Gilding American History through Song Culture in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

4 A Leonidas for the Golden Age of Superhero Films: The Thermopylae Tradition in 300 (2006)

5 The Dueling Greek Golden Ages of 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

6 Confronting the Ancient Greek Golden Age in Jules Dassin’s Phaedra (1962)

7 Pericles, Cincinnatus, and Zombies: Classicizing Nostalgia in The Walking Dead (2010–)

PART II The Grandeur That Was Rome

8 “All That Glitters . . .”: Problematizing Golden-Age Narratives in Vergil’s Aeneid and the Western Film Genre

9 The Golden Age and Imperial Dominance in the Aeneid and Serenity (2005)

10 Turning Gold into Lead: Sexual Pathology and the De-mythologizing of Augustus in HBO’s Rome (2005–2007)

11 The Dux Femina Ends Westeros’ Golden Age: Cersei Lannister as Agrippina the Younger in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–)

12 The Golden Aspects of Roman Imperialism in Film, 1914–2015

13 Broken Eagles: The Iron Age of Imperial Roman Warfare in Post-9/11 Film

14 Dreaming of Rome with Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000)

Filmography

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 22 Nov 2019).

ISBN:

1-4744-6027-5

1-4744-4087-8

1-4744-4086-X

OCLC:

1312726184