The phenomenal success of the film, and 2000 Oscar Best Picture winner, Gladiator ensures that ancient Rome will continue to inspire moviemakers and attract audiences as it has done since the dawn of cinema. Indeed, the creators of popular culture have so often appropriated elements of Roman history and society for films and television programs, novels and comic books, advertising and computer games that most people's knowledge of ancient Rome derives from these representations. In Imperial Projections, scholars from a variety of fields—classics, history, film studies, and gender theory—provide an interdisciplinary look at how ancient Rome has been depicted in the media and what these varied portrayals tell us about contemporary culture.
The essays in Imperial Projections examine such films as Spartacus, Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, and The Fall of the Roman Empire; the acclaimed BBC television series I, Claudius; the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and the Roman-themed Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace, combining ancient history and cutting-edge cultural studies in a challenging, engaging, and informative volume.
Contributors: Nicholas J. Cull, William Fitzgerald, Alison Futrell, Sandra R. Joshel, Margaret Malamud, Martha Malamud, Donald T. McGuire, Jr., Martin M. Winkler, and Maria Wyke
Sandra R. Joshel is a professor of history at the University of Washington.
Margaret Malamud is an associate professor of history at New Mexico State University.
Donald T. McGuire, Jr. is Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisement Services and adjunct assistant professor of Classics at SUNY, Buffalo.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Sandra R. Joshel, Margaret Malamud, and Maria WykeChapter 1. "Oppositions, Anxieties, and Ambiguities in the Toga Movie" by William FitzgeraldChapter 2. "The Roman Empire in American Cinema after 1945" by Martin WinklerChapter 3. "Seeing Red: Spartacus as Domestic Economist" by Alison FutrellChapter 4. "I, Claudius: Projection and Imperial Soap Opera" by Sandra R. JoshelChapter 5. "'Infamy! Infamy! They've All Got It in for Me!': Carry on Cleo and the British Camp Comedies of Ancient Rome" by Nicholas CullChapter 6. "Brooklyn on the Tiber: Roman Comedy on Broadway and in Film" by Margaret MalamudChapter 7. "Serial Romans" by Martha MalamudChapter 8. "Shared Sexualities: Roman Soldiers, Derek Jarman's Sebastiane, and British Homosexuality" by Maria WykeChapter 9. "Living Like Romans in Las Vegas: The Roman World at Caesar's Palace" by Margaret Malamud and Donald T. McGuire, Jr.BibliographyFilmography
This book makes an important contribution to popular culture and classics at the same time. It seems to me that this is cultural studies at its best, most informative, and most original. This is a very serious, yet entertaining and provocative book.
— Peter Bondanella, Indiana University
From the Publisher
This book makes an important contribution to popular culture and classics at the same time. It seems to me that this is cultural studies at its best, most informative, and most original. This is a very serious, yet entertaining and provocative book.—Peter Bondanella, Indiana University
