The Greek and Roman, or Classical, world, its history, literature, material culture, has enjoyed plenty of reinterpretations throughout the centuries, from the works of literary geniuses like Shakespeare to the renditions of the 16th and 17th century music masters. The advent of cinematography has offered yet another opportunity for modern societies to confront the fascinating Classical past. With this in mind, this course investigates how and why modern cinematography is inspired by the Classical past. In particular, it focuses on those themes the industry routinely picks and chooses from Classical history, literature, and mythology, popularizing and reinventing even the concept of “classic”. The nature of this course is multidisciplinary and includes a combination of lectures, open discussions, readings, and writing assignments based on critical appraisals of both texts and movies. As a class, we will investigate this phenomenon of appropriation of Classical culture, exploring different themes. Each thematic segment will be articulated in three main parts. In the first part, we will focus on antiquity itself, studying the ancient texts and archaeology relative to our theme. Reading assignments will include selections in translation from famous Greek and Roman prose and poetry. In the second part, we will explore the cinematic adaptations of the same theme, analyzing its cinematic history diachronically. A selection of movies and clips will be part of this second part. Last, merging part one and two, we will evaluate what aspects of the Classical world were selected out and what were deemed important, identifying the way the theme is adapted and at times re-purposed to fit modern narratives.
CLAS-2600 The Classical World in Film