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Screening the Golden Ages of the Classical Tradition
Edited by Meredith E. Safran
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Book Presentation:
A survey of modern cinematic and televisual responses to the concept of the golden age
This collection of fourteen essays explores how the dominant media of our time – film and television – have engaged with the golden age as formulated in the Western classical tradition.
Drawing on ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture, from Hesiod to Suetonius, these essays assess the far-reaching influence of the golden age concept on screen texts ranging from prestige projects like Gladiator and HBO's Rome, to cult classics Xanadu and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, made by auteurs including Jules Dassin and the Coen Brothers. The book also looks at fantasy (Game of Thrones), science fiction (Serenity), horror (The Walking Dead), war/combat (the 300 franchise, Centurion), and the American Western.
• Draws on ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture, from Hesiod to Suetonius
• Considers prestige projects, cult classics and classical influence on genre productions
• Explores how the mythical past is invoked through political rhetoric and popular media
About the Author:
Meredith E. Safran is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (USA). She has written multiple papers for journals and edited collections. She is the co-editor of Roman Comedy: Performance, Pedagogy, Research and of Classical Myth on Screen (both 2015). Her work has also appeared in Screening Love and Sex in the Ancient World (2013) and Blackwell’s Companion to the Ancient Greek and Roman World on Screen (2017). She earned her PhD in Classics from Princeton University.
Press Reviews:
The intersection between the idea of a lost Golden Age and on-screen invocations of ancient Greece and Rome is intriguing. This should be compulsory reading for students of film, Classical reception, and anyone interested in modern popular culture’s appropriation of the past to articulate concerns very much of the present.– Emma Stafford, University of Leeds
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
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