The collected essays in this volume focus on the presentation, representation and interpretation of ancient violence from war to slavery, , rape and murder in the modern visual and performing arts, with special attention to videogames and dance as well as the more usual media of film, literature and theatre. Violence, fury and the dread that they provoke are factors that appear frequently in the ancient sources. The dark side of antiquity, so distant from the ideal of purity and harmony that the classical heritage until recently usually called forth, has repeatedly struck the imagination of artists, writers and scholars across ages and cultures. A global assembly of contributors, from Europe to Brazil and from the US to New Zealand, consider historical and mythical violence in Stanley Kubricks Spartacus and the 2010 TV series of the same name, in Ridley Scotts Gladiator, in the work of Lars von Trier, in Soviet ballet and the choreography of Martha Graham and Anita Berber. Representations of Roman warfare appear in videogames from Ryse: son of Rometo Total War, as well as recent comics. Finally, interviews with two artists offer insight to the way practitioners understand the complex reception of these themes.
Author(s): Irene Berti, Maria G. Castello, Carla Scilabra
Series: IMAGINES – Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing Arts
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 320
City: London
Cover page
Halftitle page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
CONTENTS
FIGURES
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NOTE ON THE TEXT
CHAPTER 1 THE THRILL OF ANCIENT VIOLENCE: AN INTRODUCTION
Definition(s) of violence
Violence from a transcultural perspective
The spectacle of violence
Structure of the volume
PART I ANCIENT VIOLENCE IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY PAINTING
CHAPTER 2 ANCIENT WAR AND MODERN ART: SOME REMARKS ON HISTORICAL PAINTING FROM THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES
Some modern debates concerning the representation of war, violence and pain
War in Spanish historical painting during the nineteenth century
A new vision of the dark side of war and violence
Some brief final remarks: ethics instead of epic?
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 3 VIOLENCE TO VALOUR: VISUALIZING THAIS OF ATHENS
Introduction
All her fault: Thais, Persepolis and Alexander in Antiquity
From codex to canvas: Thais in the Renaissance and Baroque periods
Thais goes to England
Thais goes viral
Sua Thais cuique: conclusions
Acknowledgements
PART II EMBODYING ANCIENT AND MODERN VIOLENCE IN CINEMA AND IN THEATRE
CHAPTER 4 SCREENING THE FACE OF ROMAN BATTLE: VIOLENCE THROUGH THE EYES OF SOLDIERS IN FILM
Introduction
The face of battle: from Keegan to ancient Rome
Fictionalization of soldiers’ experience in battle: literature and cinema
The ‘battle piece’ in Roman epics before Gladiator
Screening the ‘face of Roman battle’ in the twenty-first century
Conclusions
Filmography
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 5 PERFORMING VIOLENCE AND WAR TRAUMA: AJAX ON THE SILVER SCREEN
The fear and the fury on screen
Performing madness
Performing suicide
Performing violence
Filmography
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 6 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL VIOLENCE WITHIN THE MYTH OF IPHIGENIA: STAGING MYTH TODAY
Iphigenia’s myth – the index of violence
Iphigenia by Antonina Grzegorzewska – the page-and-stage incident14
Conclusion
CHAPTER 7 KSENI, THE FOREIGNER: A BRAZILIAN MEDEA IN ACTION
Introduction
Contexts: Brazilian Medeas and Oliveira’s operas
Kseni and the production of Oliveira
From Kseni to Medea
Global Medea in action and conclusion
Acknowledgements
PART III DANCING VIOLENCE ON THE BALLET STAGE
CHAPTER 8 CHOREOGRAPHIES OF VIOLENCE: SPARTACUS FROM THE SOVIET BALLET TO THE GLOBAL STAGE
Introduction
Spartacus: choreography and bodies through film
Spartacus in ballet
Leonid Yakobson: Pictures of Roman Life (1956–62)
Yuri Grigorovich: Spartacus (1968)
Carlos Acosta: the body of Spartacus
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 9 IOCASTE’S DAUGHTERS IN MODERNITY: ANITA BERBER AND VALESKA GERT
The presence of metaphysical death in (philosophical) life
The absence of physical death on the stage of classical theatre
Heidegger’s philosophy and the presence of death in life
Modernity and the presence of physical death in dance
The film Just for Fun
CHAPTER 10 DARK TERRITORIES OF THE SOUL: MARTHA GRAHAM’S CLYTEMNESTRA
PART IV VIOLENT ANTIQUITY IN VIDEO GAMES AND COMICS
CHAPTER 11 SI VIS LUDUM PARA BELLUM: VIOLENCE AND WAR AS THE PREDOMINANT LANGUAGE OF ANTIQUITY IN VIDEO GAMES
Introduction
The evolution of games: a history of violence?
Why violence?
A cultural and commercial phenomenon?
A matter of (cultural) historical distance?
CHAPTER 12 WAGING TOTAL WAR PLAYING ATTILA: A VIDEO GAME’S TAKE ON THE MIGRATION PERIOD
The scenario of TWA
The migration period in scholarship and popular culture
TWA’s Huns – masters of violence?
Hordes and the Hunnic nature
(New) violent gameplay features
Scorched Earth (campaign map)
Dynamic fires and civilians (battles)
Decimatio (campaign map)
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 13 SEXY GORY ROME: JUXTAPOSITIONS O FSEX AND VIOLENCE IN COMIC BOOK REPRESENTATIONS OF ANCIENT ROME
Rome: sex and violence
Comics ‘for adults’
The Golden Ass
Julius Caesar
Caligula
Messalina
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 14 ARCHIMEDES AND THE WAR IN ITOSHI IWĀKI’S EUREKA
Introduction
A new Archimedes from Japan
Archimedes at war: a brief history of a tradition
Conclusion
PART V MAKING RECEPTION: ANCIENT VIOLENCE AND LIVING HISTORY
CHAPTER 15 FROM ANCIENT VIOLENCE TO MODERN CELEBRATION: COMPLEX RECEPTIONS OF ANCIENT CONQUEST WARS IN LAS GUERRAS CÁNTABRAS FESTIVAL
A new way to approach the past: historical festivals
Historical festivals in Spain
Cantabria and Antiquity
Las Guerras Cántabras Festival: war as the main topic
Episodes and characters
Conclusions
CHAPTER 16 DRAWING RECEPTION
CHAPTER 17 RE-ENACTING SOLDIERS AND DRESSING ROMAN WOMEN: AN INTERVIEW WITH DANIELLE FIORE
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
