Ancient Rome at the Cinema : Story and Spectacle in Hollywood and Rome (Greece and Rome Live)

Theodorakopoulos, Elena

Bristol Phoenix Press（2010/08発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 208 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781904675280
• DDC分類 791.43658

Full Description

'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a lucid study of the worlds created in Roman historical epics. Based on analysis of the visual and narrative fabric of seven films set in Ancient Rome, 'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' demonstrates how cinematic versions of Ancient Rome have been able to captivate us, and inscribe their versions of the city and its history onto our imagination. Theodorakopoulos uses film theory and criticism to examine the ways in which historical drama creates the past through story-telling and visual effects. Particular emphasis is put on the tension between narrative and spectacle which is an inherent feature of cinema, and a long-standing preoccupation of film critics and theorists from the 1930s to the present. The book also examines the techniques and the rhetoric of realism which feature especially prominently in historical films.

'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a companion volume to 'Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture' by Gideon Nisbet (9781904675785, 2008, 2nd edition).

Contents

List of Illustrations vi
Introduction 1
1 Narrative and Spectacle, Realism and Illusion, and
the Historical Film 9
2 Ben-Hur: 'Tale of the Christ' or Tale of Rome? 30
3 Spartacus and the Politics of Story-Telling 51
4 The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Filmmaker as
Historian 77
5 Gladiator: Making it New? 96
6 Fellini Satyricon: 'Farewell to Antiquity' or 'Daily
Life in Ancient Rome'? 122
7 Titus: Rome and the Penny Arcade 145
Conclusion 168
Notes 173
Further Reading and Viewing 186
Bibliography 190
Filmography 196
Index