The phenomenal success of the recent film Gladiator ensures that ancient Rome will continue to inspire moviemakers and attract audiences as it has done since the dawn of cinema. Indeed, the creators of popular culture have so often appropriated elements of Roman history and society for films and television programs, novels and comic books, advertising and computer games that most people's knowledge of ancient Rome derives from these representations. In Imperial Projections, scholars from a variety of fields-classics, history, film studies, and gender theory-provide an interdisciplinary look at how ancient Rome has been depicted in the media and what these varied portrayals tell us about contemporary culture. The essays in Imperial Projections examine such films as Spartacus, Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, and The Fall of the Roman Empire; the acclaimed BBC television series I, Claudius; the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and the Roman-themed Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace, combining ancient history and cutting-edge cultural studies in a challenging, engaging, and informative volume. Contributors: Nicholas J. Cull, William Fitzgerald, Alison Futrell, Sandra R. Joshel, Margaret Malamud, Martha Malamud, Donald T. McGuire, Jr., Martin M. Winkler, and Maria Wyke
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, Martin M. Winkler, and Maria Wyke
Contents: Introduction by Sandra R. Joshel, Margaret Malamud, and Maria Wyke Chapter 1: "Oppositions, Anxieties, and Ambiguities in the Toga Movie" by William Fitzgerald Chapter 2: "The Roman Empire in American Cinema after 1945" by Martin Winkler Chapter 3: "Seeing Red: Spartacus as Domestic Economist" by Alison Futrell Chapter 4: "I, Claudius: Projection and Imperial Soap Opera" by Sandra R. Joshel Chapter 5: "'Infamy! Infamy! They've All Got It in for Me!': Carry on Cleo and the British Camp Comedies of Ancient Rome" by Nicholas Cull Chapter 6: "Brooklyn on the Tiber: Roman Comedy on Broadway and in Film" by Margaret Malamud Chapter 7: "Serial Romans" by Martha Malamud Chapter 8: "Shared Sexualities: Roman Soldiers, Derek Jarman's Sebastiane, and British Homosexuality" by Maria Wyke Chapter 9: "Living Like Romans in Las Vegas: The Roman World at Caesar's Palace" by Margaret Malamud and Donald T. McGuire, Jr. Bibliography Filmography
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An excellent collection of essays... Among the best are Nicholas J. Cull's exploration of Carry On Cleo and its brilliant send up of the epic Cleopatra... and Margaret Malamud's careful look at the Broadway and cinema version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum... The outstanding contribution to Imperial Projections is, however, Sandra Joshel's essay on I, Claudius. -- Mary Beard Times Literary Supplement This volume aids and abets a reader's own meditation on the empires of Britain, America, and Hollywood, and the ways in which the Roman empire has been an abiding vehicle for simultaneously manifesting, indulging, interrogating, and critiquing the ambitions of these more recent empires. -- Rebecca Resinski Key Reporter Imperial Projections is a terrific book. It successfully merges modern cultural critique with sound classical scholarship, and does so in a manner that is enjoyable to read and intellectually challenging. -- Kirk Ormand Bryn Mawr Classical Review An insightful exploration into how Imperial Rome, in its various popular guises, has provided a malleable and commercially viable mythos that has found special receptivity in modern America. -- Amy Henderson History: Reviews of New Books This engaging volume capitalizes on contemporary interest in the decadence and excess that characterizes Rome in the modern, as indeed in the ancient, imagination... Read it and enjoy! -- A. M. Keith New England Classical Journal 2003 An excellent example of what might be called the allegorical mode of cinematic interpretation, in which movies are understood as texts about the cultures that make and consume them. Scope: Online Journal of Film Studies Imperial Projections provides some intriguing new perspectives on such pop culture representations of Rome and the Romans. -- Catherine Colegrove Classical Outlook 2004
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This book makes an important contribution to popular culture and classics at the same time. It seems to me that this is cultural studies at its best, most informative, and most original. This is a very serious, yet entertaining and provocative book.—Peter Bondanella, Indiana University
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This book makes an important contribution to popular culture and classics at the same time. It seems to me that this is cultural studies at its best, most informative, and most original. This is a very serious, yet entertaining and provocative book. -- Peter Bondanella, Indiana University
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780801867422
Publisert
2002-01-31
Utgiver
Vendor
Johns Hopkins University Press
Vekt
658 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
26 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
312

Biographical note

Sandra R. Joshel is a professor of history at the University of Washington. Margaret Malamud is an associate professor of history at New Mexico State University. Donald T. McGuire, Jr. is Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisement Services and adjunct assistant professor of Classics at SUNY, Buffalo.