This course will explore the entanglement between the modern and contemporary film industry and the classical and late-classical world. We will be exploring different movies and tv series (from all over the world) in which the past, and particularly the Graeco-Roman world, is depicted, treated, interpreted, and re-imagined by screenwriters, directors, actors. From silent movies to Hollywood kolossal, and through European movies and on-demand productions (Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Disney+, etc.) we will be walking through the several ways in which cinema and TV have shaped out our understanding- and adjusted our conception of the ancient worlds of Athens and Rome. We will analyze narrative choices and compare them with what we know from history, literature, and archaeology. Students will learn to think about movies and TV shows as creative acts in their contemporary world, but they will also develop critical thinking related to the use and abuse of history. The major take away for this class will be the understanding of the modern world through the interpretation and representation of the Graeco- Roman antiquity in contemporary pop culture.
- Instructor of record: Rocco Palermo