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Lecture 1 Outline
January 20
  
Basic issues and overview
 
 
I.     Some reasons for cinematic appeal
 
A.     Powerful personalities: Alexander, Achilles,  J(ulius) C(aesar), J(esus)
        C(hrist) , Cleopatra; timeless human issues: Homer, Oedipus
 
        screen fillers, esp.  since 1950s; epic scale
 
B.    ancient world a source of our own; e.g. , architecture (Disney HQ)
       Greece&Rome for comparison and projection of current issues (Spartacus);
       changing American views of Rome (no more: Republic = good,
       Empire = bad; Caesar’s Palace)
 
C.   bestsellers into movies: Ben Hur, Julius Caesar, Oedipus Rex, Quo Vadis
 
 
II.   The tradition
 
A.   Silent movies, starting in 1907: Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott), Last Days of
      Pompeii (Italy, 1908); epics: Cabiria (1914), D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance
     (1916) ; German: Passion plays
 
B.  1930s: all Hollywood –– romance, heroics, hatred, decadence; followed by
      post WWII lull
 
C.  Competition with nascent TV:  wide screen spectacles in color
      The Robe (1953), The 10 Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956),
      Ben Hur (1959), Spaghetti Hercules movies (Steve Reeves, 1950s and on);
      breaking the bank: Cleopatra (1963)
      Making fun of it: Bugs Bunny in Roman Legion-Hare (1955);
      A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
 
D.  A lull, then:  TV series, e.g. Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth (1977),
      Masada (1981); Odyssey (1997); Cleopatra (1999)
 
E.  Back to the cinemepic: Gladiator (2000), Troy (2004), Alexander (2004);
      HBO’s Rome (2005); 300 (Spring 2007); The Last Legion (we hope) (August 2007)


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Modified on 1/13/2010
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