Ancient Violence in the Modern Imagination: The Fear and the Fury (IMAGINES – Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing Arts)

"The collected essays in this volume focus on the presentation, representation and interpretation of ancient violence -- from war to slavery, rape and murder -- in the modern visual and performing arts, with special attention to videogames and dance as well as the more usual media of film, literature and theatre. Violence, fury and the dread that they provoke are factors that appear frequently in the ancient sources. The dark side of antiquity, so distant from the ideal of purity and harmony that the classical heritage until recently usually called forth, has repeatedly struck the imagination of artists, writers and scholars across ages and cultures. A global assembly of contributors, from Europe to Brazil and from the US to New Zealand, consider historical and mythical violence in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus and the 2010 TV series of the same name, in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, in the work of Lars von Trier, and in Soviet ballet and the choreography of Martha Graham and Anita Berber. Representations of Roman warfare appear in videogames such as Ryse: Son of Rome and Total War, as well as recent comics, and examples from both these media are analysed in the volume. Finally, interviews with two artists offer insight into the ways in which practitioners understand and engage with the complex reception of these themes"-- Provided by publisher Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 CONTENTS 6 FIGURES 8 CONTRIBUTORS 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 13 NOTE ON THE TEXT 14 CHAPTER 1 THE THRILL OF ANCIENT VIOLENCE: AN INTRODUCTION 16 Definition(s) of violence 17 Violence from a transcultural perspective 18 The spectacle of violence 20 Structure of the volume 21 PART I ANCIENT VIOLENCE IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY PAINTING 28 CHAPTER 2 ANCIENT WAR AND MODERN ART: SOME REMARKS ON HISTORICAL PAINTING FROM THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES 30 Some modern debates concerning the representation of war, violence and pain 30 War in Spanish historical painting during the nineteenth century 33 A new vision of the dark side of war and violence 35 Some brief final remarks: ethics instead of epic? 39 Acknowledgements 40 CHAPTER 3 VIOLENCE TO VALOUR: VISUALIZING THAIS OF ATHENS 42 Introduction 42 All her fault: Thais, Persepolis and Alexander in Antiquity 43 From codex to canvas: Thais in the Renaissance and Baroque periods 45 Thais goes to England 48 Thais goes viral 52 Sua Thais cuique: conclusions 54 Acknowledgements 55 PART II EMBODYING ANCIENT AND MODERN VIOLENCE IN CINEMA AND IN THEATRE 56 CHAPTER 4 SCREENING THE FACE OF ROMAN BATTLE: VIOLENCE THROUGH THE EYES OF SOLDIERS IN FILM 58 Introduction 58 The face of battle: from Keegan to ancient Rome 59 Fictionalization of soldiers’ experience in battle: literature and cinema 62 The ‘battle piece’ in Roman epics before Gladiator 63 Screening the ‘face of Roman battle’ in the twenty-first century 65 Conclusions 70 Filmography 71 Acknowledgements 71 CHAPTER 5 PERFORMING VIOLENCE AND WAR TRAUMA: AJAX ON THE SILVER SCREEN 72 The fear and the fury on screen 74 Performing madness 76 Performing suicide 79 Performing violence 83 Filmography 85 Acknowledgements 86 CHAPTER 6 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL VIOLENCE WITHIN THE MYTH OF IPHIGENIA: STAGING MYTH TODAY 88 Iphigenia’s myth – the index of violence 88 Iphigenia by Antonina Grzegorzewska – the page-and-stage incident14 91 Conclusion 105 CHAPTER 7 KSENI, THE FOREIGNER: A BRAZILIAN MEDEA IN ACTION 108 Introduction 108 Contexts: Brazilian Medeas and Oliveira’s operas 109 Kseni and the production of Oliveira 111 From Kseni to Medea 113 Global Medea in action and conclusion 115 Acknowledgements 118 PART III DANCING VIOLENCE ON THE BALLET STAGE 120 CHAPTER 8 CHOREOGRAPHIES OF VIOLENCE: SPARTACUS FROM THE SOVIET BALLET TO THE GLOBAL STAGE 122 Introduction 122 Spartacus: choreography and bodies through film 123 Spartacus in ballet 126 Leonid Yakobson: Pictures of Roman Life (1956–62) 128 Yuri Grigorovich: Spartacus (1968) 131 Carlos Acosta: the body of Spartacus 133 Conclusions 137 Acknowledgements 138 CHAPTER 9 IOCASTE’S DAUGHTERS IN MODERNITY: ANITA BERBER AND VALESKA GERT 140 The presence of metaphysical death in (philosophical) life 140 The absence of physical death on the stage of classical theatre 141 Heidegger’s philosophy and the presence of death in life 144 Modernity and the presence of physical death in dance 144 The film Just for Fun 149 CHAPTER 10 DARK TERRITORIES OF THE SOUL: MARTHA GRAHAM’S CLYTEMNESTRA 152 PART IV VIOLENT ANTIQUITY IN VIDEO GAMES AND COMICS 164 CHAPTER 11 SI VIS LUDUM PARA BELLUM: VIOLENCE AND WAR AS THE PREDOMINANT LANGUAGE OF ANTIQUITY IN VIDEO GAMES 166 Introduction 166 The evolution of games: a history of violence? 166 Why violence? 170 A cultural and commercial phenomenon? 171 A matter of (cultural) historical distance? 173 CHAPTER 12 WAGING TOTAL WAR PLAYING ATTILA: A VIDEO GAME’S TAKE ON THE MIGRATION PERIOD 176 The scenario of TWA 178 The migration period in scholarship and popular culture 179 TWA’s Huns – masters of violence? 180 Hordes and the Hunnic nature 181 (New) violent gameplay features 181 Scorched Earth (campaign map) 182 Dynamic fires and civilians (battles) 183 Decimatio (campaign map) 184 Conclusion 185 Acknowledgements 186 CHAPTER 13 SEXY GORY ROME: JUXTAPOSITIONS O FSEX AND VIOLENCE IN COMIC BOOK REPRESENTATIONS OF ANCIENT ROME 188 Rome: sex and violence 188 Comics ‘for adults’ 189 The Golden Ass 190 Julius Caesar 192 Caligula 195 Messalina 197 Conclusions 201 Acknowledgements 201 CHAPTER 14 ARCHIMEDES AND THE WAR IN ITOSHI IWĀKI’S EUREKA 202 Introduction 202 A new Archimedes from Japan 203 Archimedes at war: a brief history of a tradition 204 Conclusion 206 PART V MAKING RECEPTION: ANCIENT VIOLENCE AND LIVING HISTORY 210 CHAPTER 15 FROM ANCIENT VIOLENCE TO MODERN CELEBRATION: COMPLEX RECEPTIONS OF ANCIENT CONQUEST WARS IN LAS GUERRAS CÁNTABRAS FESTIVAL 212 A new way to approach the past: historical festivals 212 Historical festivals in Spain 214 Cantabria and Antiquity 215 Las Guerras Cántabras Festival: war as the main topic 217 Episodes and characters 220 Conclusions 225 CHAPTER 16 DRAWING RECEPTION 228 CHAPTER 17 RE-ENACTING SOLDIERS AND DRESSING ROMAN WOMEN: AN INTERVIEW WITH DANIELLE FIORE 234 NOTES 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY 290 INDEX 320 The Thrill of Ancient Violence: an Introduction / Irene Berti -- Part I. Ancient Violence in Modern and Contemporary Painting -- Ancient War and Modern Art: Some Remarks on Historical Painting from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries / Antonio Duplá Ansuategui -- Violence to Valour: Visualising Thais of Athens / Alex McAuley -- Part II. Embodying Ancient and Modern Violence in Cinema and in Theatre -- Screening the Face of Roman Battle: Violence Through the Eyes of Soldiers in Film / Oskar Aguado -- Performing Violence and War Trauma: Ajax on Silver Screen / Anastasia Bakogianni -- External and Internal Violence within the Myth of Iphigenia: Staging Myth Today / Malgorzata Budzowska -- Kseni, the foreigner, a Brazilian Medea in action / Maria Cecilia de Miranda Nogueira Coelho -- Part III. Dancing Violence on the Ballet Stage -- Coreographies of Violence: Spartacus from the Soviet Ballet to the Global Stage / Zoa Alonso Fernández -- Iocaste's Daughters in Modernity: Anita Berber and Valeska Gert / Nicole Haitzinger -- Dark Territories of Soul: Martha Graham's Clytemnestra / Ainize González García -- Part IV. Violent Antiquity in Videogames and Comics -- Si vis ludum para bellum: Violence and War as Predominant Language of Antiquity in Video Games / David Serrano Lozano -- Waging TOTAL WAR playing ATTILA: A Video Game's Take on the Migration Period / Fabian Schulz -- Sexy Gory Rome: Juxtapositions of Sex and Violence in Comic Book Representations of Ancient Rome / Luis Unceta Gómez -- Archimedes and the War in Hitoshi Iwaaki's Eureka / Giuseppe Galeani -- Part V. Making Reception: Ancient Violence and Living History -- From Ancient Violence to Modern celebration: complex receptions of an ancient conquest wars in Las Guerras Cántabras festival / Jonatan Pérez Mostazo -- Drawing Reception / Maria G. Castello, Fabio Ruotolo -- Re-enacting soldiers and dressing Roman Women : An interview with Danielle Fiore / Carla Scilabra, Danielle Fiore The collected essays in this volume focus on the presentation, representation and interpretation of ancient violence from war to slavery, , rape and murder in the modern visual and performing arts, with special attention to videogames and dance as well as the more usual media of film, literature and theatre. Violence, fury and the dread that they provoke are factors that appear frequently in the ancient sources. The dark side of antiquity, so distant from the ideal of purity and harmony that the classical heritage until recently usually called forth, has repeatedly struck the imagination of artists, writers and scholars across ages and cultures. A global assembly of contributors, from Europe to Brazil and from the US to New Zealand, consider historical and mythical violence in Stanley Kubricks Spartacus and the 2010 TV series of the same name, in Ridley Scotts Gladiator , in the work of Lars von Trier, in Soviet ballet and the choreography of Martha Graham and Anita Berber. Representations of Roman warfare appear in videogames from Ryse: son of Rome to Total War , as well as recent comics. Finally, interviews with two artists offer insight to the way practitioners understand the complex reception of these themes.