Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture

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Semiramis
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Re: Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture

Post by Semiramis »

Paralus, in the Director's Cut there's no gurgling. FYI. :P
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Fiona
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Re: Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture

Post by Fiona »

Hi Chiliarch,
agree about Burton's horse-riding, and will definitely give Shatner another chance!
I was getting excited about the articles you mentioned, because I thought I had one, but it's not so. The one I was thinking of is by Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos and was published in Helios.
It's called 'The Alexander Bromance'.
But like the ones in your book, generally positive and very thoughtful. As you say, not a bit like the reviews that came out at the time. Some of those were so superficial. (I'm not talking about criticisms made on here, where people make valid points based on their own sound knowledge, but the ones that just went on about Colin's hair...)
Chaniotis' article sounds good. Interesting that he should mention the accents, which attracted so much criticism at the time. His point about Ben Hur reminds us that it's a very old tradition in Hollywood to use accents to show how you expect the audience to react to different characters. (A British accent always denoting a baddy, of course!)
Loved his ending, thanks for quoting that.

Nikoloutsos mentions Rossen's Alexander at length. Pointing out that it received the review 'one of the most historically faithful of all movies about the ancient world', he goes on to say, 'The veneer of historicity fades away once we begin to examine the details of the film, especially the way Alexander's erotic life is portrayed'.
He describes the attention paid to Barsine and Roxane, then quotes Nisbet on Hephaistion: 'a gaping absence in the narration'. He then shows how all the elements that invite a homoerotic reading are put onto Cleitus, which relationship is then tidily wrapped up as 'brotherly', rather like the 'homophobic disclaimer' to be found in most 'buddy movies'.
Then he moves on to Stone's Alexander, analysing it in great detail, starting with the high hopes that there were before its release, which were not fulfilled. '...Stone's Alexander is gay yet not gay enough'.
He does draw attention to those reviewers who acknowledged that it went further than anyone had gone before, eg '...openly discussing a taboo issue, that of homosexuality in classical antiquity, which previous big-budget productions had persistently avoided, or at least, glossed over'.
It's hard to do it justice, this article, because it's not blatantly pro-gay, it's really balanced and fair. I'll just give you the conclusion, which perhaps sums up its flavour best:

" Despite the repression of physical expression of homoerotic desire, Alexander does take a pioneering stand in regard to same-sex coupling by presenting the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion as a romantic bond analogous to that of companionate marriage. The two men are always framed as a couple in the film, even in public. The most notable instance of this framing is when the Macedonian army enters Babylon, Alexander leads the procession and the only officer who rides his horse next to him is Hephaestion, as if he were the queen. Their relationship is constructed as the antithesis of the kind of mating that is imposed by societal factors, as exemplified by Alexander's marriage to Roxane. Male bonding is built upon involvement in specific personal and non-personal environments (eg gymnasium, camp, battlefield, assembly). In contrast to the usual homophobic disclaimer, here the homoerotic potential of the homosocial bond is affirmed through the ring that Hephaestion gives to Alexander. This object is more than a symbol of a strong homoerotic bond; it denotes a relationship between two males which represents a unique level of social solidarity. In the film, Hephaestion is the only officer whom Alexander trusts, the only male with whom he does not have a competitive relationship. On the ideological level, Hephaestion is cast as Alexander's twin. Although there is no kiss between them, the construction of their affair as a prototype of loyalty, courage and self-sacrifice in the military/political field constitutes a remarkably positive attitude towards homosexuality for mainstream cinema. Despite the elision of gay sex, then, which so disappointed gay viewers, Stone ends up celebrating gay pair-bonding, perhaps despite himself."

Yay.
Fiona
Chiliarch wrote:Oh, come on......................Shatner's not half bad as Alexander. He certainly knows how to ride a horse (no saddle and all), which is more than can be said for Burton, whose exploits as a member of the Companion Cavalry consists of walking his horse across the battlefield of Chaeronea. Walking! I mean, really!

Another thing, I liked about the Shatner movie, is the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion/Cleander. This is non-existent in the Burton movie, but is shown very tenderly in the Shatner movie.

Shatner's Alexander movie looks like it was shot by John Ford in Monument Valley, but if you can live with this, it's still the second best Aexander movie ever shot.

And talking about movies on ancient Greece, has anyone read the book 'Hellas on Screen'? In it are four articles on movies about Alexander the Great. Plus a preface by Robin Lane Fox.

The articles are :

'Does Greece - and the Cinema - need another Alexander?' by Irene Berti and Marta Garcia Morcillo.

'Celluloid Alexander(s) : A Hero from the Past as Role Model for the Present?' by Anja Wieber.

Plutarch's and Stone's 'Alexander' by Ivana Petrovic.

'Making Alexander Fit for the Twenty-first Century : Oliver Stone's 'Alexander* by Angelos Chaniotis.

The articles are generally very positive about Stone's movie, quoting and explaining extensively from both the movie and the ancient sources. A far cry from most of the reviews of the movie at the time of its release.

I especially like Chaniotis' article. His response to the criticism of the different accents in the movie is, that the same use of accents was used in 'Ben Hur'. The Romans spoke British, the Jews American.

He concludes his article with the words :

'As a child in Greece, I often heard the legend of the mermaid, Alexander's sister - it must have gone out of fashion now, I guess. She is believed to ask sailors on the seas if Alexander the Great is alive. If they deny it, she sinks their ship. The correct response is 'he is alive, and he rules, and he conquers the world'. Oliver Stone has guessed the correct answer, and he has ensured that Alexander is alive and still conquering the world in the 21st century - including Manhattan and Vietnam'.

Susanne
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