Screening the Golden Ages of the Classical Tradition (Screening Antiquity)

## 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 Screening the Golden Ages of the Classical Tradition 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Series Editors’ Preface 8 Editor’s Acknowledgments 10 Contributors 11 Illustrations 15 Abbreviations 18 Introduction: Searching for Gold in an Age of Iron 20 PART I The Glory That Was Greece 44 1 Re-(en)gendering Heroism: Reflective Nostalgia for Peplum’s Golden Age of Heroes in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys 2.14 (1996) 46 2 Kissed by the Muse of Roller-Disco: Utopia versus the Golden Ages of America, Hollywood, and Classical Myth in Xanadu (1980) 63 3 Gilding American History through Song Culture in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 84 4 A Leonidas for the Golden Age of Superhero Films: The Thermopylae Tradition in 300 (2006) 102 5 The Dueling Greek Golden Ages of 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) 120 6 Confronting the Ancient Greek Golden Age in Jules Dassin’s Phaedra (1962) 138 7 Pericles, Cincinnatus, and Zombies: Classicizing Nostalgia in The Walking Dead (2010-) 156 PART II The Grandeur That Was Rome 174 8 “All That Glitters . . .”: Problematizing Golden-Age Narratives in Vergil’s Aeneid and the Western Film Genre 176 9 The Golden Age and Imperial Dominance in the Aeneid and Serenity (2005) 194 10 Turning Gold into Lead: Sexual Pathology and the De-mythologizing of Augustus in HBO’s Rome (2005–2007) 210 11 The Dux Femina Ends Westeros’ Golden Age: Cersei Lannister as Agrippina the Younger in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–) 226 12 The Golden Aspects of Roman Imperialism in Film, 1914-2015 244 13 Broken Eagles: The Iron Age of Imperial Roman Warfare in Post-9/11 Film 262 14 Dreaming of Rome with Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) 278 Filmography 296 Bibliography 302 Index 333 "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"i>), science fiction ("Serenity"), horror ("The Walking Dead"), war/combat (the "300" franchise, "Centurion"), and the American Western Analyses of Rancière's philosophy and its potential for understanding the conversation between contemporary politics and art cinema