BMCR 2009.04.62: Bittarello on Lowe, Classics for All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture

Dunstan Lowe, Kim Shahabudin (ed.), Classics for All: Reworking
Antiquity in Mass Culture.  Newcastle upon Tyne:  Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, Pp. xviii, 287.  ISBN 9781443801201.  L44.99.

Reviewed by Maria Beatrice Bittarello, Rome ([email protected])
Word count:  1818 words
-------------------------------
To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-04-62.html
To comment on this review, see
http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/04/20090462.html
-------------------------------

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

This remarkable volume of collected essays originates in a conference
held at the University of Reading in April 2007. The book offers a good
overview of the current state of reception studies (particularly in the
UK), of its purposes and methodologies. The volume is a welcome
addition to the growing number of studies examining the reception of
the classics in contemporary culture, especially because it examines
areas rarely explored until now (such as, for example, videogames,
Internet newsgroups, radio or children's books), thus witnessing the
continued presence of the classical world--distilled, diluted,
selected, and re-crafted in a number of different ways--in our
contemporary culture and everyday life.

Classics for All is divided into four sections that explore a variety
of either representations of the classical world or translations and
adaptations of classical works. The first section (Chapter 1 to 3),
focuses on TV documentaries, radio, comics and children books; the
second (Chapter 4 to 6) examines videogames, classical antiquity in the
press and information media; the third (Chapter 7 to 9) analyses genre
films and Internet newsgroups; the final section (Chapter 10 to 12)
explores 'fantasies' of the classical world in genre films and TV
series. The book is completed by a (perhaps too selective) index that
condenses a geographical, a thematic, and a name index.[[1]]

The introduction, written by the editors of the volume, Dunstan Lowe
and Kim Shahabudin, outlines the development of classical reception
(ix-x), discusses the current state, aims, and methodologies of this
relatively recent branch of classical studies, and takes the
opportunity to reply to objections often moved to the discipline
(xi-xii). The book well illustrates two main methodological tenets of
classical reception,[[2]] since it offers insights into our
contemporary society; at the same time, several essays help to re-focus
investigation on ancient texts and to ask  new (and different)
questions of  ancient texts--as the editors point out: "Our modern
concerns shed light on areas neglected by previous generations" (ix).
It is also particularly concerned with the (anti-elitist) educational
potential of classical reception, which has the ability to attract the
interest of younger generations. In other words, videogames, the
Internet, radio and TV series may be a starting point for non
classicists, and contemporary re-workings of classical themes may help
classicists to gain a fresh look at ancient materials.

In the first chapter, Bettany Hughes, author of several successful
documentaries on the ancient world, offers a lively account of the
challenges she encountered as a classicist attempting to bring
classical antiquity on TV.

In Chapter 2, Helen Lovatt examines how the myth of Jason and Medea is
'adapted' in books for children and young people. Her study highlights
the deep differences between different adaptations of the story; the
comparisons between earlier adaptations (such as that by Nathaniel
Hawthorne) and contemporary re-tellings are particularly enlightening
with regard to unchanging attitudes towards violence and gender
relationships in modern societies.

In the following chapter, Amanda Wrigley brings to the readers'
attention some examples of translations of classical works for the
radio. Wrigley explores the multiple political implications of the poet
Louis MacNeice's translations and adaptations for the radio of
Aristophanes and other classical authors during WWII and in the
post-war period. The chapter is especially fascinating as it presents
us with the issue of the written word coming alive and stimulating the
imagination of listeners; it also highlights the ability of classical
texts to capture the interest of the masses (as the BBC Listener
Research Reports quoted and commented upon by Wrigley show).

Dunstan Lowe is the author of Chapter 4, which offers an introduction
to the use of the classical world in videogames. Lowe examines various
types of games, showing how classical history is used in games based on
strategic empire building, but classical myth in games based on an
individual character's exploits. Lowe's study points out how "every
manifestation of the classical tradition in mass culture in some way
reduces antiquity to a simplified code of signs" (74), an aspect that
emerges also in other contributions to this volume.

In Chapter 5, Joanna Paul examines how American media have used Pompeii
in news comments on natural disaster (such as Hurricane Katrina, which
devastated New Orleans) and the 9/11 events. Paul succeeds in analysing
and unravelling the cultural layering present in such uses of the
ancient world; she highlights how Pompeii's image today recalls, in
contemporary mass culture, two different images--that of  catastrophic
destruction, and that of 'sinful' place. Because of the established
connection made in American thought between the USA and Rome, Pompeii
along with the multiple meanings it conveys, strongly resonates with
American contemporary culture.

Chapter 6 deals with the appropriation of videogames by communities of
players interested in the classical world. The authors present and
evaluate their own experience in re-crafting a popular videogame set in
ancient Rome by making it as historically accurate as possible. The way
they have proceeded and the principles that have inspired their work
present several elements of interest for readers interested in the
educational potential of videogames in teaching classics.

Susanne Turner's analysis of 300, a low budget film representing the
Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae, which gained an unexpected
success in early 2007, uncovers the cultural layering that underpins
the director's choices in his portrayal of Sparta. Turner's exemplary
analysis compares the ancient Greek male nude statues to the
representation of the Spartans' bodies in the film, highlighting the
ideological differences between the two.

In Chapter 8, Gideon Nisbet examines how a stylised and diluted idea of
Rome, resulting from a series of stereotyped representations of Rome
rooted in Victorian readings and, even more, in gladiator movies of the
1950s and 1960s , is used in  hardcore and softcore porn films.

In their piece, Kate Fisher and Rebecca Langlands focus on Internet
chat discussions of the explicit content of the famous frescoes in the
so called brothel of Pompeii. Classicists have the opportunity to be
confronted with the reactions of the public to material   popularly
perceived as not needing translation. Among the many interesting
aspects of this paper--including the variety of reactions and the
struggle in so many visitors, to deny the harsh reality of exploitation
that took place in the brothel--is the attention paid to the different
public spaces in which visitors experience, consume, and comment on the
frescoes (i.e. the ancient location and the Internet).

The final section opens with Kim Shahabudin's analysis of the 'pepla',
the epic films drawing on classical mythology produced between the
1950s and 1960s in Italy. Shahabudin's re-evaluation of these films
shows how they are potentially rich texts, re-fashioning ancient
materials to serve contemporary concerns.

Amanda Potter's article examines how two American TV series, Charmed
and Xena: Warrior Princess, both specifically aimed at young adults
(and, especially the former, at young women), represent the Furies and
what viewers--whether classicists or not--make of such
representations.The attention paid to viewers' reactions in the paper
is especially interesting.

Paula James' article is an exciting exploration of the resonances
between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an American series created by
screenwriter Joss Whedon, and the Aeneid. This is far from a futile
exercise in 'comparative literature'; the paper highlights analogies
between the use of narrative structures in the series and in the
ancient epic, between themes, character construction, and even
re-workings of myths, and reveals substantial connexions between the
construction of Buffy and of Aeneas as heroes.

One of the most interesting aspects that emerge from reading such
diverse articles is that in the reception of the classical world
accretion and selection are simultaneously at work: interpretations
accumulate in time, but only some   may end up being selected by
contemporary users.[[3]]

As already noted above, the variety of topics and approaches is one of
the winning points of the book, even if the presence of
Internet-focused studies is limited to Fisher's and Langlands' article
and to some mentions of videogames played online. Re-craftings of the
classical world on the Internet are indeed a potentially rich field of
study: from Google Earth's offering reconstructions of ancient Rome
online, to websites devoted to classical mythology and religions, to
the presence of the ancient world in Second Life.[[4]] It is to be
hoped that future works will focus also on such issues.

Like all ground-breaking studies, this too raises some questions and
sometimes perplexities: for example, at some points (particularly in
Nisbet's and Ghita's and Andrikopoulos' chapters) it is not always
quite clear if (and how) authors assume common (or universal) reactions
in viewers (or players). Also, the analyses of the work of contemporary
TV writers could have taken into account the fact that they do not work
in isolation, and that, at times, the development of a series may be
influenced, to an extent not easily measurable, by fan responses and
even by academic evaluations. Finally, apart from some relevant
considerations in Wrigley's and Shahabudin's work, the book lacks any
sustained attention to socio-economic issues of access to cultural
resources; it would probably have been worth reminding readers that the
percentage of the global population with access to the Internet, or to
videogames, and thus to new media re-workings of the classical world,
is still very low.

On the whole, the book is true to its title (Classics for All), as it
is one of those happy cases in which a text succeeds in being worth the
attention of the academic community, of readers interested in
approaching the classical world, and of students interested in
classics.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Images vii

Preface viii

Introduction ix

Part I: Ancient Worlds, Modern Audiences


"Terrible, Excruciating, Wrong-Headed And Ineffectual": The Perils and
Pleasures of Presenting Antiquity to a Television Audience
Bettany Hughes 2


Gutting the Argonautica? How to Make Jason and the Argonauts Suitable
for Children
Helen Lovatt 17


Louis MacNeice's Radio Classics: "All So Unimaginably Different"?
Amanda Wrigley 39

Part II: Re-Purposing Antiquity


Playing With Antiquity: Videogame Receptions of the Classical World
Dunstan Lowe 64


"I Fear it's Potentially Like Pompeii": Disaster, Mass Media and the
Ancient City
Joanna Paul 91


Total War and Total Realism: A Battle for Antiquity in Computer Game
History
Cristian Ghita & Georgios Andrikopoulos 109

Part III: Classica Erotica


"Only Spartan Women Give Birth To Real Men": Zack Snyder's 300 and the
Male Nude
Susanne Turner 128


"Dickus Maximus": Rome as Pornotopia
Gideon Nisbet 150


"This Way to the Red Light District": The Internet Generation Visits
the Brothel in Pompeii
Kate Fisher & Rebecca Langlands 172

Part IV: Fantasising the Classics


Ancient Mythology and Modern Myths: Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961)
Kim Shahabudin 196


Hell Hath no Fury like a Dissatisfied Viewer: Audience Responses to the
Presentation of the Furies in Xena: Warrior Princess and Charmed
Amanda Potter 217


Crossing Classical Thresholds: Gods, Monsters and Hell: Dimensions in
the Whedon Universe
Paula James 237

Bibliography 262

Contributors 282

Index 285


------------------
Notes:


1.   Not all ethnic or geographical names are included in the index:
for example, Mossynoeci is in the text p. 123, but not in the index. On
the whole, the editorial work is very good; I could find only a couple
of typos: n. 29 p. 75 ('Gita' for 'Ghita'); and p. 142 (',.' for '.').

2.   Cf. Lorna Hardwick, Reception Studies. Greece and Rome New Surveys
in the Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 4-10.

3.   For example, Ridley Scott's Gladiator, mentioned in several
articles, heavily draws on Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire
(1964), a point that adds to the panorama of re-craftings and cultural
layering so carefully outlined in this volume.

4.   On 3D ancient Rome in Google Earth see
http://sites.google.com/site/3dancientrome/
(http://sites.google.com/site/3dancientrome/) . For successful websites
dealing with classical mythology created by non academics, see Theoi
Project (http://www.theoi.com (http://www.theoi.com) ); On a playful
reconstruction of Ancient Rome in Second Life see: "Ancient Rome
brought back to life" 12 June 2007, (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6743991.stm
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6743991.stm) ).




-------------------------------
The BMCR website (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu) contains a complete and
searchable archive of BMCR reviews since our first issue in 1990.

Please do not reply to this email as this is an unmonitored mailbox.
You can contact us by sending e-mail to [email protected]. To
subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list, visit
http://newmailman.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/bmcr-l. To unsubscribe,
you may also send a blank e-mail to [email protected] with
the word Unsubscribe in the subject line.

_______________________________________________
BMCR-L mailing list
[email protected]
http://newmailman.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/bmcr-l