Classical Myth and Film in the New Millennium

by Patricia Salzman-Mitchell, Jean Alvares

Overview

Offering unique and in-depth discussions of films that have been released since 2000, Classical Myth and Film in the New Millennium uses various modern approaches—ranging from myth criticism to psychology and gender studies—to analyze popular movies that make use of themes and stories from Greek and Roman mythology, including Troy, The Hunger Games, Pan's Labyrinth, and Clash of the Titans.

FEATURES

* Provides a critical analysis of thirteen movies, exploring the themes, characters, and plots that arise from Greek and Roman mythology and also from other Western and contemporary traditions

* Covers films that today's students may already be familiar with and enjoy, resulting in a relevant and interesting text

* Addresses themes central to the new millennium: the environment, the perils of materialism and excessive consumerism, gender oppression and equality, broken families, and the constant threat of violence

* Organizes films into five thematic parts—Homeric Echoes, The Reluctant Hero, Women in the Margins, Coming of Age in the New Millennium, and New Versions of Pygmalion—that provide an interpretive framework for examining archetypes

* A substantial general Introduction provides a foundation for studying myth and film, and each part includes an introduction and discussion questions

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190204167
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/30/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	976,192
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Patricia Salzman-Mitchell is Professor of Classics and General Humanities at Montclair State University.

Jean Alvares is Associate Professor of Classics and General Humanities at Montclair State University.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsINTRODUCTION: CLASSICAL MYTH AND FILM IN THE NEW MILLENNIUMWhy We Are Here and What We Are DoingRe-presenting the PastClassics and FilmMyth Theories, Structures of Meaning, and Archetypes, The Three Categories of Myth: Myth and Truth, Myth, Structure, and Archetype, Myth, Structure, and Psychology, Gender, Otherness, and Myth InterpretationSome Overarching Narrative and Symbolic Structures, Titans vs. Olympians: Creation and Succession Myths, The Hero and the Components of the Hero's Career, What Is Myth Good For?ReferencesPART I: HOMERIC ECHOESIntroduction: "Sing, Oh Muse!" Homeric Echoes, Modern Issues in Millennial FilmsChapter 1. Petersen's Troy: Reimagining Homeric HeroesThe Matter of TroyHistory MythologizedNo Gods, Just HeroesAchilles: Life, Death, Passion, and GloryBriseis: Eros and ThanatosHector: For Family and MotherlandParis: When Love Is Not EnoughHeroes at the EndTroy and the MillenniumReferencesChapter 2. Resinging the Odyssey: Myth and Myth Making in O Brother, Where Art Thou?Odysseus' Journey and O BrotherReal and Mythologized History: American Myth and CinemaSing O Muse! The Power of SongOdysseus RebootedEverett's Odyssey, Escape and Descent, The Recovery of Music, Descending Deeper, Hitting Rock Bottom, The Ascent Upwards Begins, The Suitor Defeated, an Evil Purged, The Test and Death StruggleThe Happy Ending and Looking ForwardIdeal Dimensions in Regressive Times: Public Benefit, Community, and Individual RedemptionReferencesDiscussion Questions for Part IPART II: THE RELUCTANT HEROIntroduction: Hercules, The Clash of the Titans/Wrath of the Titans, and Immortals: The Fate of Humans, The Fate of the GodsChapter 3. What's Old Is Newish Again: HerculesHeracles, the Hero, and His Canonical CareerHercules/Heracles and the Sword-and-Sandals or Peplum MovieHeracles/Hercules in the MoviesOur Hercules: Archetypal Patterns, Myth into Truth, Truth into Myth, and the Need for a HeroArchetypal Patterns and the Mythical ArcFate, Prophecy, and the Final Confirmation of IdentitiesThe Call of the Military, the Logic of EmpireHercules the Mythical and the Reshaped Hero: A Movie for the MillenniumReferencesChapter 4. Clash of the Titans/Wrath of the Titans: Altered Prototypes and Aeschylean, Wagnerian DimensionsThe Prelude: Clash of the Titans IThe Archetypes and Themes: Creation to ApocalypseClash of the Titans: Perseus' Tragic BeginningThe Quest for MedusaPerseus, the Kraken, and Andromeda: The Apparent First Ending—Perseus Gets IoWrath of the Titans: Heroism Rejected, the Death of the Gods BeginsAgenor and the Search for the Fallen OneThe Labyrinth of Tartarus and the Hero's OrdealPerseus and the Second TitanomachyThe End of the Gods, a Reconciliation, a New BeginningClash/Wrath: Two Movies for the MillenniumReferencesChapter 5. Theseus in Immortals: An Ideal Hero for a Rough AgeTitans and OlympiansTheseus the Hero in Classical MythHyperionTheseus' Beginnings in Immortals"It must be his choice"Bearing the Cross, Rescued by the Mystic Lady of Sorrow, Hope RegainedAt the Heart of the Labyrinth; Burial and RebirthPrelude to an ArmageddonThe Struggle for Life, Death, Memory, and History BeginsVictory, Apotheosis, and the FutureThe Millennium and the Dream of the Moral and DivineReferencesDiscussion Questions for Part IIPART III: WOMEN IN THE MARGINSIntroduction: Mythical Women in the MarginsChapter 6. Blooming Maiden and Fertile Goddess: The Myths of Pan's LabyrinthThe Spanish Civil War and Films of Resistance: Rebirth After WarA Quest for RebirthThe World Below, the World AboveFaunusForests and Magical WoodlandsBlood, Slime, Sexuality, and LifeDemeter-PersephoneThe Child-Killing King of DeathBlood, Sacrifice, Birth, and RebirthUnder the MoonPan's Labyrinth and the MillenniumReferencesChapter 7. The Perils of Oppression: The Myth of Medea in Arturo Ripstein's Such Is LifeMyths of MedeaMedea in the MoviesRipstein and His CinemaOf Love, Marriage, and IraThe Exile, the Witch, the Lost WifeNew Millennium, New BeginningsReferencesDiscussion Questions for Part IIIPART IV: COMING OF AGE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUMIntroduction: Growing up in a Different WorldChapter 8. Gaze, Knowledge, Snakes, and Riddles: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Foundation MythGods, Titans, and GiantsSerpents, Beginnings, and Deadly GazesPerseus, Harry, Mycenae, and Medusa's Gaze, The Hero and His Attributes, The Hero's Descent, A Dangerous "Book of the Dead", The Damsel in DistressThebes and the Sins of the Past, Vision and Darkness, The Hero as Exile and Survivor, Oedipal ComplexitiesHarry Potter and the New MillenniumReferencesChapter 9. Arrows, Roots, Bread, and Song: Mythical Aspects of The Hunger GamesPrimeval Battles and Their AftermathA World of ContrastsMaidenhood and the HuntKatniss KourotrophosKatniss and the EarthThe Bread of LifeKatniss and the Coming of AgeEchoes of War at the New MillenniumReferencesChapter 10. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, an American Parody of the Hero's JourneyParody and the Parodic JourneyThe Magical Child and the Problematic ParentThe HeroThe Quest, Call to Adventure, A New World, The Jersey Gorgon, American Athena, Millennial Lotus Eaters, Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter the Hollywood HillsGods and Demigods: The Return HomeMyth Makes the MillenniumReferencesDiscussion Questions for Part IVPART V: NEW VERSIONS OF PYGMALIONIntroduction: New and Old PygmalionsChapter 11. Lars and the Real Girl and the Pygmalion Myth: Trauma, Community, and DesireOvid's Pygmalion Myth: Three ThemesPygmalion and TraumaPygmalion and the Word of the FatherPygmalion as (Tragic) Hero-ProtagonistWhat About Galatea? The Role of the CommunityLars and the Real Girl: Lars Creates His BiancaLars's Trauma and BiancaDr. Dagmar, the Community, and the Healing of LarsLars Begins to HealLars and the Death of BiancaConclusions: Lessons from LarsReferencesChapter 12. Ruby Sparks: Rereading Pygmalion and NarcissusThe Coming-of-Age and Hero's-Journey ParadigmWoman as TextReflections in the Pool: Calvin's NarcissismThe Artist's IsolationNot-So-Ideal WomenResisting ReadingsRuby Wakes UpHappy Ending?Ruby Sparks as a Movie for Our TimeReferencesDiscussion Questions for Part VEpilogue: Myths and Movies, Movies and Myths

Editorial Reviews

"A vast and exciting field stretches before scholars and instructors who engage with the question of why the material that we have come to cherish and steward professionally continues to fascinate and delight audiences with no skin in the game of classics-but who may yet be induced to appreciate how their current fandom for Percy Jackson constitutes their participation in the classical tradition. Classical Myth and Film in the New Millennium embraces that project wholeheartedly." —Meredith E. Safran, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This is the first book devoted exclusively to the cinematic reception of Greek mythology in the new millennium. Using theoretical approaches from structural analysis to psychoanalysis to feminist criticism, the book offers several lenses through which to understand the selected films, which range from epic films, including Troy and The Hunger Games, to lesser-known independent movies, like Ruby Sparks and the Mexican film Such Is Life. The book's detailed discussions of the films and the myths to which they respond are comprehensive enough for use as the stand-alone textbook in a course on classics and film, while individual sections and chapters could be excerpted to supplement modules for a myth course."—Emma Scioli, University of Kansas

"Salzman and Alvares bring original and lively insights to bear on both the myths and the movies they have selected for scrutiny in this wide-ranging book about classical motifs, texts, heroes, and monsters at the cinema. There are some controversial readings along the way, as is to be expected in any work of stimulating scholarship, and the authors have provided interesting questions for their readers at the end of each chapter, so no one has to be a passive consumer of this book! It can proudly take its place in the ever-growing collection of teaching and research volumes on the reception of classical myth in the modern media."—Paula James, Open University

From the Publisher