Cinema and Classical Texts: Apollo's New Light

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 2009 M02 12 - 347 pages
Apollo was the ancient god of light and the divine patron of the arts. He is therefore a fitting metaphor for cinematography, which is the modern art of writing with moving light. This book interprets films as visual texts and provides the first systematic theoretical and practical demonstration of the affinities between Greco-Roman literature and the cinema. It examines major themes from classical myth and history such as film portrayals of gods, exemplified by Apollo and the Muses; Oedipus, antiquity's most influential mythic-tragic hero; the question of heroism and patriotism in war; and the representation of women like Helen of Troy and Cleopatra as products of male desire and fantasy. Covering a wide range of European and American directors, genres and classical authors, this study provides an innovative perspective on the two disciplines of classics and cinema and demonstrates our most influential medium's unlimited range when it adapts ancient texts.
 

Contents

A certain tendency in classical philology
20
Apollo and the Muses
70
The complexities of Oedipus
122
Sweet and fitting it is to die
154
Marriage and adultery according to Hollywood
210
Women in love
251
Bright shines the light
295
Bibliography
304
Index
339
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About the author (2009)

Martin M. Winkler is Professor of Classics at George Mason University.

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