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| ¹ó¾±±ō³¾²õĢż¾±²Ō³¦±ō³Ü»å¾±²Ō²µ O Brother, Where Art Thou, Unforgiven and Troy will be screened in Leona MacLeod's new class, Myth IntoĀ Film: the Greek World.Ā (Danny Abriel Photo) |
Live theatre was the popcorn fare of the ancient Greeks.
āPeople came from all over the Mediterranean to view these tragedies,ā enthuses Professor Leona MacLeod. āToday, everyone comes to film. Film performs the same role in our society as it (drama) did in Athens.ā
Skeptics doubting that such classical literature could be āentertainingā to modern crowds are directed to Homerās epic poems. Filled with dramatic love affairs, massive action and tons of beach scenes, The Iliad is the original summer blockbuster.
The Iliadās staying power is epic; after presumable millennia in development hell, a silver screen Iliad remake ā Troy ā was released in 2004. Featuring Eric Bana as Hector and an implausibly stalwart Brad Pitt as Achilles, Troy is just one of manyĀ films on the syllabus when Dr. MacLeod premiers her new course offering ā Ā (CLAS 2515).
Nor is Prof. MacLeod stopping at Troy. During our interview, Iām boggled to see the DVD of 300 sitting on her desk. āYou can go and watch them as entertainment or you can get something more out of itā¦ Thereās a lot of enthusiasm out there for something like this,ā she says cheerfully, describing the course as an āintroduction to the ancient world through the medium of film.ā
āMy second love after classics is film, so this is just perfect for me, (but) I wasnāt sure how well it would go over,ā she adds. āSome classicists are a little, um, reluctant to bring in the popular culture.ā When the course was proposed, however, her peer response was overwhelmingly supportive. Now, as September looms closer, Prof. MacLeod is fine-tuning the āreading listā for Myth into Film.
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āYou can divide people into two kinds of people,ā Professor MacLeod declares, āIliad people and Odyssey people.ā She is an Iliad person. āThe very first work I read (in university) was The Iliad, and I just fell in love. Homer is a fantastic storyteller. I find myself today still impressed by his storytelling capabilities... he takes this little slice out of what is a much larger story and makes that the main level. I sometimes think weāve never surpassed it in terms of storytelling techniques.ā
Of course, no oneās going to argue that The Iliad isnāt literature. But the movie version is a harder sell. āThe first time I watched it (Troy)ā¦ā Professor MacLeod shakes her head. ā(But) you have to kind of look beyond that, see why things are the way they are. Heās much more sympathetic to the Trojans than the Greeksā¦ Why is (the director) so uncomfortable with a character like Achilles? Why all these changes? ... This movie is far more about us than it is about the ancient world.ā The divergences, the āmodernizationsā and anachronisms, are part of the point. āWe return to the Greek world again and againā¦ we find something in those stories.ā
So, what will this class have that you canāt get anywhere else? What are people going to āfindā?
āA blend of the ancient and modern world,ā Prof. MacLeod replies. āWhat the ancient world can do is offer us a broad perspective, a new way of looking at the modern world.ā
Plus Brad Pitt. Really, what more do you want?