Classics For All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture

[Ursus]

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From: Bryn Mawr Classical Review <bmr@...>

Date: Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 5:37 AM

Subject: BMCR 2009.04.62: Bittarello on Lowe, Classics for All:

Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture

To: bmcr-l@..., bmr-l@...

 

 

Dunstan Lowe, Kim Shahabudin (ed.), Classics for All: Reworking

Antiquity in Mass Culture. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars

Publishing, Pp. xviii, 287. ISBN 9781443801201. L44.99.

 

Reviewed by Maria Beatrice Bittarello, Rome (m_bittarello@...)

Word count: 1818 words

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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

 

This remarkable volume of collected essays originates in a conference

held at the University of Reading in April 2007. The book offers a good

overview of the current state of reception studies (particularly in the

UK), of its purposes and methodologies. The volume is a welcome

addition to the growing number of studies examining the reception of

the classics in contemporary culture, especially because it examines

areas rarely explored until now (such as, for example, videogames,

Internet newsgroups, radio or children's books), thus witnessing the

continued presence of the classical world--distilled, diluted,

selected, and re-crafted in a number of different ways--in our

contemporary culture and everyday life.

 

Classics for All is divided into four sections that explore a variety

of either representations of the classical world or translations and

adaptations of classical works. The first section (Chapter 1 to 3),

focuses on TV documentaries, radio, comics and children books; the

second (Chapter 4 to 6) examines videogames, classical antiquity in the

press and information media; the third (Chapter 7 to 9) analyses genre

films and Internet newsgroups; the final section (Chapter 10 to 12)

explores 'fantasies' of the classical world in genre films and TV

series. The book is completed by a (perhaps too selective) index that

condenses a geographical, a thematic, and a name index.[[1]]

 

The introduction, written by the editors of the volume, Dunstan Lowe

and Kim Shahabudin, outlines the development of classical reception

(ix-x), discusses the current state, aims, and methodologies of this

relatively recent branch of classical studies, and takes the

opportunity to reply to objections often moved to the discipline

(xi-xii). The book well illustrates two main methodological tenets of

classical reception,[[2]] since it offers insights into our

contemporary society; at the same time, several essays help to re-focus

investigation on ancient texts and to ask new (and different)

questions of ancient texts--as the editors point out: "Our modern

concerns shed light on areas neglected by previous generations" (ix).

It is also particularly concerned with the (anti-elitist) educational

potential of classical reception, which has the ability to attract the

interest of younger generations. In other words, videogames, the

Internet, radio and TV series may be a starting point for non

classicists, and contemporary re-workings of classical themes may help

classicists to gain a fresh look at ancient materials.

 

In the first chapter, Bettany Hughes, author of several successful

documentaries on the ancient world, offers a lively account of the

challenges she encountered as a classicist attempting to bring

classical antiquity on TV.

 

In Chapter 2, Helen Lovatt examines how the myth of Jason and Medea is

'adapted' in books for children and young people. Her study highlights

the deep differences between different adaptations of the story; the

comparisons between earlier adaptations (such as that by Nathaniel

Hawthorne) and contemporary re-tellings are particularly enlightening

with regard to unchanging attitudes towards violence and gender

relationships in modern societies.

 

In the following chapter, Amanda Wrigley brings to the readers'

attention some examples of translations of classical works for the

radio. Wrigley explores the multiple political implications of the poet

Louis MacNeice's translations and adaptations for the radio of

Aristophanes and other classical authors during WWII and in the

post-war period. The chapter is especially fascinating as it presents

us with the issue of the written word coming alive and stimulating the

imagination of listeners; it also highlights the ability of classical

texts to capture the interest of the masses (as the BBC Listener

Research Reports quoted and commented upon by Wrigley show).

 

Dunstan Lowe is the author of Chapter 4, which offers an introduction

to the use of the classical world in videogames. Lowe examines various

types of games, showing how classical history is used in games based on

strategic empire building, but classical myth in games based on an

individual character's exploits. Lowe's study points out how "every

manifestation of the classical tradition in mass culture in some way

reduces antiquity to a simplified code of signs" (74), an aspect that

emerges also in other contributions to this volume.

 

In Chapter 5, Joanna Paul examines how American media have used Pompeii

in news comments on natural disaster (such as Hurricane Katrina, which

devastated New Orleans) and the 9/11 events. Paul succeeds in analysing

and unravelling the cultural layering present in such uses of the

ancient world; she highlights how Pompeii's image today recalls, in

contemporary mass culture, two different images--that of catastrophic

destruction, and that of 'sinful' place. Because of the established

connection made in American thought between the USA and Rome, Pompeii

along with the multiple meanings it conveys, strongly resonates with

American contemporary culture.

 

Chapter 6 deals with the appropriation of videogames by communities of

players interested in the classical world. The authors present and

evaluate their own experience in re-crafting a popular videogame set in

ancient Rome by making it as historically accurate as possible. The way

they have proceeded and the principles that have inspired their work

present several elements of interest for readers interested in the

educational potential of videogames in teaching classics.

 

Susanne Turner's analysis of 300, a low budget film representing the

Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae, which gained an unexpected

success in early 2007, uncovers the cultural layering that underpins

the director's choices in his portrayal of Sparta. Turner's exemplary

analysis compares the ancient Greek male nude statues to the

representation of the Spartans' bodies in the film, highlighting the

ideological differences between the two.

 

In Chapter 8, Gideon Nisbet examines how a stylised and diluted idea of

Rome, resulting from a series of stereotyped representations of Rome

rooted in Victorian readings and, even more, in gladiator movies of the

1950s and 1960s , is used in hardcore and softcore *or* films.

 

In their piece, Kate Fisher and Rebecca Langlands focus on Internet

chat discussions of the explicit content of the famous frescoes in the

so called brothel of Pompeii. Classicists have the opportunity to be

confronted with the reactions of the public to material popularly

perceived as not needing translation. Among the many interesting

aspects of this paper--including the variety of reactions and the

struggle in so many visitors, to deny the harsh reality of exploitation

that took place in the brothel--is the attention paid to the different

public spaces in which visitors experience, consume, and comment on the

frescoes (i.e. the ancient location and the Internet).

 

The final section opens with Kim Shahabudin's analysis of the 'pepla',

the epic films drawing on classical mythology produced between the

1950s and 1960s in Italy. Shahabudin's re-evaluation of these films

shows how they are potentially rich texts, re-fashioning ancient

materials to serve contemporary concerns.

 

Amanda Potter's article examines how two American TV series, Charmed

and Xena: Warrior Princess, both specifically aimed at young adults

(and, especially the former, at young women), represent the Furies and

what viewers--whether classicists or not--make of such

representations.The attention paid to viewers' reactions in the paper

is especially interesting.

 

Paula James' article is an exciting exploration of the resonances

between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an American series created by

screenwriter Joss Whedon, and the Aeneid. This is far from a futile

exercise in 'comparative literature'; the paper highlights analogies

between the use of narrative structures in the series and in the

ancient epic, between themes, character construction, and even

re-workings of myths, and reveals substantial connexions between the

construction of Buffy and of Aeneas as heroes.

 

One of the most interesting aspects that emerge from reading such

diverse articles is that in the reception of the classical world

accretion and selection are simultaneously at work: interpretations

accumulate in time, but only some may end up being selected by

contemporary users.[[3]]

 

As already noted above, the variety of topics and approaches is one of

the winning points of the book, even if the presence of

Internet-focused studies is limited to Fisher's and Langlands' article

and to some mentions of videogames played online. Re-craftings of the

classical world on the Internet are indeed a potentially rich field of

study: from Google Earth's offering reconstructions of ancient Rome

online, to websites devoted to classical mythology and religions, to

the presence of the ancient world in Second Life.[[4]] It is to be

hoped that future works will focus also on such issues.

 

Like all ground-breaking studies, this too raises some questions and

sometimes perplexities: for example, at some points (particularly in

Nisbet's and Ghita's and Andrikopoulos' chapters) it is not always

quite clear if (and how) authors assume common (or universal) reactions

in viewers (or players). Also, the analyses of the work of contemporary

TV writers could have taken into account the fact that they do not work

in isolation, and that, at times, the development of a series may be

influenced, to an extent not easily measurable, by fan responses and

even by academic evaluations. Finally, apart from some relevant

considerations in Wrigley's and Shahabudin's work, the book lacks any

sustained attention to socio-economic issues of access to cultural

resources; it would probably have been worth reminding readers that the

percentage of the global population with access to the Internet, or to

videogames, and thus to new media re-workings of the classical world,

is still very low.

 

On the whole, the book is true to its title (Classics for All), as it

is one of those happy cases in which a text succeeds in being worth the

attention of the academic community, of readers interested in

approaching the classical world, and of students interested in

classics.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

List of Images vii

 

Preface viii

 

Introduction ix

 

Part I: Ancient Worlds, Modern Audiences

 

 

"Terrible, Excruciating, Wrong-Headed And Ineffectual": The Perils and

Pleasures of Presenting Antiquity to a Television Audience

Bettany Hughes 2

 

 

Gutting the Argonautica? How to Make Jason and the Argonauts Suitable

for Children

Helen Lovatt 17

 

 

Louis MacNeice's Radio Classics: "All So Unimaginably Different"?

Amanda Wrigley 39

 

Part II: Re-Purposing Antiquity

 

 

Playing With Antiquity: Videogame Receptions of the Classical World

Dunstan Lowe 64

 

 

"I Fear it's Potentially Like Pompeii": Disaster, Mass Media and the

Ancient City

Joanna Paul 91

 

 

Total War and Total Realism: A Battle for Antiquity in Computer Game

History

Cristian Ghita & Georgios Andrikopoulos 109

 

Part III: Classica Erotica

 

 

"Only Spartan Women Give Birth To Real Men": Zack Snyder's 300 and the

Male Nude

Susanne Turner 128

 

 

"Dickus Maximus": Rome as Pornotopia

Gideon Nisbet 150

 

 

"This Way to the Red Light District": The Internet Generation Visits

the Brothel in Pompeii

Kate Fisher & Rebecca Langlands 172

 

Part IV: Fantasising the Classics

 

 

Ancient Mythology and Modern Myths: Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961)

Kim Shahabudin 196

 

 

Hell Hath no Fury like a Dissatisfied Viewer: Audience Responses to the

Presentation of the Furies in Xena: Warrior Princess and Charmed

Amanda Potter 217

 

 

Crossing Classical Thresholds: Gods, Monsters and Hell: Dimensions in

the Whedon Universe

Paula James 237

 

Bibliography 262

 

Contributors 282

 

Index 285

 

 

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Notes:

 

 

1. Not all ethnic or geographical names are included in the index:

for example, Mossynoeci is in the text p. 123, but not in the index. On

the whole, the editorial work is very good; I could find only a couple

of typos: n. 29 p. 75 ('Gita' for 'Ghita'); and p. 142 (',.' for '.').

 

2. Cf. Lorna Hardwick, Reception Studies. Greece and Rome New Surveys

in the Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 4-10.

 

3. For example, Ridley Scott's Gladiator, mentioned in several

articles, heavily draws on Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire

(1964), a point that adds to the panorama of re-craftings and cultural

layering so carefully outlined in this volume.

 

4. On 3D ancient Rome in Google Earth see

http://sites.google.com/site/3dancientrome/

(http://sites.google.com/site/3dancientrome/) . For successful websites

dealing with classical mythology created by non academics, see Theoi

Project (http://www.theoi.com (http://www.theoi.com) ); On a playful

reconstruction of Ancient Rome in Second Life see: "Ancient Rome

brought back to life" 12 June 2007, (

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6743991.stm

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6743991.stm) ).

 

 

 

 

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[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Yep, I'd received the BMCR message too, it looks interesting. Has anyone here read it ?

[M. Porcius Cato]

I haven't, but I'd love to read the comparison between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Aeneid (Aeneas, the Rutuli-Slayer?)

[Ursus]

Yep, I'd received the BMCR message too, it looks interesting. Has anyone here read it ?

 

 

It's a bit too pricey for purchase, unfortunately.