Classical Myth on Screen

by M. Cyrino (Editor), M. Safran (Editor)

Overview

An examination of how screen texts embrace, refute, and reinvent the cultural heritage of antiquity, this volume looks at specific story-patterns and archetypes from Greco-Roman culture. The contributors offer a variety of perspectives, highlighting key cultural relay points at which a myth is received and reformulated for a particular audience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137486035
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	04/08/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	257
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Antony Augoustakis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA Scott A. Barnard, Rutgers University, USA David Bullen, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Dan Curley, Skidmore College, USA Seán Easton, Gustavus Adolphus College, USA Lorenzo F. Garcia Jr., University of New Mexico, USA Hunter Gardner, University of South Carolina, USA Beverly J. Graf, Pepperdine University, USA Alex McAuley, McGill University, Canada Stacie Raucci, Union College, USA Anise K. Strong, Western Michigan University, USA Kaelie Thompson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA Vincent Tomasso, Ripon College, USA Osman Umurhan, University of New Mexico, USA Lisl Walsh, Beloit College, USA

Table of Contents

Introduction: Cinemyths; Monica S. Cyrino and Meredith E. Safran PART I: THE HERO'S STRUGGLE 1. "Italian Stallion" meets "Breaker of Horses": Achilles and Hector in Rocky IV (1985); Lisl Walsh 2. The Isolated Hero: Papillon (1973), Cast Away (2000), and the Myth of Philoctetes; Scott A. Barnard 3. The Limits of Human Knowledge: Oedipal Problems in A Serious Man (2009); Osman Umurhan 4. Orpheus in a Grey Flannel Suit: George Nolfi's The Adjustment Bureau (2011); Seán Easton PART II: FASHIONING THE FEMININE 5. Dystopian Amazons: Fantasies of Patriarchy in Le Gladiatrici (1963); Antony Augoustakis 6. Arya, Katniss, and Merida: Empowering Girls through the Amazonian Archetype; Beverly J. Graf 7. The Suspense Thriller's Pygmalion Complex: Masculine Desire in Vertigo (1958), Les Biches (1968), and Body Double (1984); Kaelie Thompson 8. Plastic Surgery: Failed Pygmalions and Decomposing Women in Les Yeux Sans Visage (1960) and Bride of Re-Animator (1989); Hunter Gardner PART III: NEGOTIATINGTHE COSMIC DIVIDE 9. Savior of the Working Man: Promethean Allusions in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927); Alex McAuley 10. Magic, Music, Race: Screening "Black Enchantment" after Black Orpheus (1959); Monica S. Cyrino 11. Re-conceiving Hercules: Reframing Divine Paternity in Hercules (2004); Meredith E. Safran 12. The Twilight of Olympus: Deicide and the End of the Greek Gods; Vince Tomasso PART IV: CINEMYTH-MAKING 13. Of Marketing and Men: Making the Cinematic Greek Hero, 2010-2014; Stacie Raucci 14. John Cameron Mitchell's Aristophanic Cinema: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001); Lorenzo F. Garcia, Jr. 15. Dionysus Comes to Gotham: Forces of Disorder in The Dark Knight (2008); David Bullen 16. Hypatia and Brian: Early Christianity as Greek Mythological Drama; Anise K. Strong 17. Divine Animation: Clash of the Titans (1981); Dan Curley

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Hollywood and art-house movies use classical mythology as a means of thinking about contemporary preoccupations. Classical Myth on Screen is a fresh and energetic look at myth in the movies, with new insights on myth, gender, and religion, as well as the processes of cinematic myth-making. There are many delights in this collection; I will never think about Orpheus or Katniss Everdeen in quite the same way again." - Helen Morales, author of Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction

Editorial Reviews

This is a quite informative, useful book. … This book is full of unexpected insights and information not only of great use to the scholar, but especially to the non-specialist instructor interested in incorporating modern (and not obviously mythological) movies into a mythology class or a wide variety of other courses.” (Jean Alvares, CJ-Online, April, 2016)

From the Publisher