Classics and Cinema

Assessment: essay (2500 words) [50%], unseen paper (90 min.) [50%]
This module explores how ancient Greece and Rome are represented in film through an examination of the use of archaeological and literary sources in visual and narrative recreation and a consideration of the relationship between these recreations and academic approaches to the classical past. Often, interpretations of the past are complicated by the presence of an intermediary as historical films draw on works of fiction and art, themselves modern receptions of antiquity. This module will offer a discussion of the relationships between the classical world, modern receptions and cinematic representation through a detailed examination of individual films which all explore classical themes in different ways.