Masked Celluloid Classics? Shadows of Clytemnestra in Film Noir
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Anastasia Bakogianni
Abstract
juxtaposing two famously ‘slippery’ and hard to define genres like Greek Tragedy and film noir testifies to both the challenges and the rewards of disciplinary instability and allows us to re-examine the very processes of reception. The long shadow of Clytemnestra haunts Theo Angelopoulos’ Reconstruction (1970) and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (2013), representing opposite ends on the spectrum of possible interpretations of this divisive ancient figure and of the reception history of the stereotype of the murderous wife (and unfeeling mother). In the earlier film, Eleni is a woman under pressure whose motives are, at least in part, understandable and arguably even sympathetic, whereas in the latter Crystal is an unredeemable toxic nightmare. Drawing on feminist film theory and Adaptation Studies my work testifies to the pervasive nature of such gendered tropes and uses the classical to interrogate the modern and vice-versa.
Abstract
juxtaposing two famously ‘slippery’ and hard to define genres like Greek Tragedy and film noir testifies to both the challenges and the rewards of disciplinary instability and allows us to re-examine the very processes of reception. The long shadow of Clytemnestra haunts Theo Angelopoulos’ Reconstruction (1970) and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (2013), representing opposite ends on the spectrum of possible interpretations of this divisive ancient figure and of the reception history of the stereotype of the murderous wife (and unfeeling mother). In the earlier film, Eleni is a woman under pressure whose motives are, at least in part, understandable and arguably even sympathetic, whereas in the latter Crystal is an unredeemable toxic nightmare. Drawing on feminist film theory and Adaptation Studies my work testifies to the pervasive nature of such gendered tropes and uses the classical to interrogate the modern and vice-versa.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XIII
- Introduction: Classical Reception in the Early 2020s, Critical Times and Where to Next? 1
-
Part I: Concepts, Methods, and Intersections in Classical Reception
-
Section 1: Re-Thinking Classical Reception
- The Master’s Tools?: Towards a Politics of Reception 23
- Classics on the Surface: Classical Reception as an Emergent Process 41
- Masked Celluloid Classics? Shadows of Clytemnestra in Film Noir 61
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Section 2: Working with Archives
- The “Advent of the New Rule”: An Oresteia (1947) in Prague and the Epistemological Limits of Archivalia 87
- Karolos Koun’s Art Theatre, the Greek Dictatorship, and the Ford Foundation: From Handout to Handshake 119
- Narcissus, Adonis, and Medusa: Troubled Beauty in Classical Receptions of Film Stardom 139
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Section 3: Cultural Intersections
- Mocking the Hollywood Epic Canon: Parodies of the Classical World from Latin American Cinema’s Studio Era 169
- Suspended Temporalities and Classical Reception: Cassandra in Anne Carson’s Agamemnon 193
- Manga and the Power of the Classical Object: The Merging of Eastern and Western Traditions 215
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Part II: Classical Receptions in Response to Societal Challenges
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Section 4: Forming and Re-Negotiating Identities
- Cripping Venus: Intersections of Classics and Disability Studies in Contemporary Receptions of the Venus de Milo 239
- Social Justice-Engaged Reception Pedagogy at Wake Forest University 265
- Classics on the Italian Stage: Old Habits and ‘New Deals’ 279
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Section 5: Greek Tragedy in a Time of Pandemic
- Tragedy as an Open Network: Antigone in Ferguson (2016–) and The Nurse Antigone (2022–2023) 307
- “Where’s the Body?”: Performing Iphigenia at Aulis in New Zealand during the Pandemic (2020) 329
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Section 6: Engaging with Technology and the Wider Public
- Escaping Hades: Playing with Classical Reception 357
- Classical Reception Meets Pedagogy: The Creation and Uses of the Panoply Vase Animation Project's Our Mythical Childhood and Locus Ludi Animations 383
- List of Contributors 409
- Index 415
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XIII
- Introduction: Classical Reception in the Early 2020s, Critical Times and Where to Next? 1
-
Part I: Concepts, Methods, and Intersections in Classical Reception
-
Section 1: Re-Thinking Classical Reception
- The Master’s Tools?: Towards a Politics of Reception 23
- Classics on the Surface: Classical Reception as an Emergent Process 41
- Masked Celluloid Classics? Shadows of Clytemnestra in Film Noir 61
-
Section 2: Working with Archives
- The “Advent of the New Rule”: An Oresteia (1947) in Prague and the Epistemological Limits of Archivalia 87
- Karolos Koun’s Art Theatre, the Greek Dictatorship, and the Ford Foundation: From Handout to Handshake 119
- Narcissus, Adonis, and Medusa: Troubled Beauty in Classical Receptions of Film Stardom 139
-
Section 3: Cultural Intersections
- Mocking the Hollywood Epic Canon: Parodies of the Classical World from Latin American Cinema’s Studio Era 169
- Suspended Temporalities and Classical Reception: Cassandra in Anne Carson’s Agamemnon 193
- Manga and the Power of the Classical Object: The Merging of Eastern and Western Traditions 215
-
Part II: Classical Receptions in Response to Societal Challenges
-
Section 4: Forming and Re-Negotiating Identities
- Cripping Venus: Intersections of Classics and Disability Studies in Contemporary Receptions of the Venus de Milo 239
- Social Justice-Engaged Reception Pedagogy at Wake Forest University 265
- Classics on the Italian Stage: Old Habits and ‘New Deals’ 279
-
Section 5: Greek Tragedy in a Time of Pandemic
- Tragedy as an Open Network: Antigone in Ferguson (2016–) and The Nurse Antigone (2022–2023) 307
- “Where’s the Body?”: Performing Iphigenia at Aulis in New Zealand during the Pandemic (2020) 329
-
Section 6: Engaging with Technology and the Wider Public
- Escaping Hades: Playing with Classical Reception 357
- Classical Reception Meets Pedagogy: The Creation and Uses of the Panoply Vase Animation Project's Our Mythical Childhood and Locus Ludi Animations 383
- List of Contributors 409
- Index 415
