CLAS 019 SC - Classical Myth in Film: Hollywood and Avant-garde Cinema

From Cleopatra’s beguiling charms and Medea’s torrid love affair with Jason to Homer’s wily Odysseus and Oedipus’ complex, ancient culture still provides material for conceptualizing modern political, racial, social, and sexual issues as imagined in modern Hollywood films and European cinema. This course explores the relationship between modernity and antiquity through a study of cinematic adaptations of mythical narratives; central to these discussions are the relationship between aesthetics and politics and the shifting role of culture from common ground to culture industry and beyond. In addition to screening films, students will also read plays, poetry, historical narratives, film criticism, and works of critical theory.

Course Credit: 1.0
Offered: Every two years

Please refer to the course schedule on the Scripps Portal for current course offerings and details.