Papers by Anastasia Bakogianni
De Gruyter eBooks, Jul 8, 2024
"Classical Heroes in the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Contemporary Cinematic Narratives of Antiquity", ed. M. Linder and N. Steffensen, in the Helden - Heroisierungen - Heroismen series by the Ergon Verlag, Baden-Baden, 2023
Audiences' expectations of how a hero should behave are shaped by how the hero measures up agains... more Audiences' expectations of how a hero should behave are shaped by how the hero measures up against characters coded as villainous. This chapter examines the interdependence of these two concepts with reference to two screen case studies with direct and indirect connections to the Trojan War as an archetype for all wars. Juxtaposing William Scofield, the accidental hero of the World War I movie 1917 (DreamWorks Pictures, 2019) with the villainous Ajax in Troy: Fall of a City (BBC/Netflix, 2018) allows us to reflect on how radically the labels of hero and villain have been recalibrated in the second decade of the new millennium. What has not changed, however, is the ongoing role that ancient Greek literature, characters, and themes play in such conversations in our popular culture.
Not all works enter into conversation with the Classics in a straightforward manner. Part I of th... more Not all works enter into conversation with the Classics in a straightforward manner. Part I of this volume, ‘Beyond Fidelity’, examines works that lay claim to an identifiable ancient source text but whose reception is sufficiently fuzzy, idiosyncratic, or impure to place the relationship between the two in question. Part II, ‘Beyond Influence’, takes up works that claim descent from diffuse notions of the ancient world, rather than specific texts, and asks whether it is not the modern work that is in fact the creator of its sources. The final part, ‘Beyond Original’, uses case studies from modern media to radically call into question the necessity for hierarchical metaphors of classical original/modern epigone, and instead explores alternative formulations such as comparison and juxtaposition.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. eBooks, Jun 9, 2017
Ajax rarely puts in an appearance on screen and when he does turn up it is usually in his epic gu... more Ajax rarely puts in an appearance on screen and when he does turn up it is usually in his epic guise as the staunch defender of the Greeks from the Iliad. Despite the recent upsurge in popularity of Sophocles’ tragic version of the hero on stage his madness and suicide have proven hard to translocate onto the big screen. But, what happens if we go on a search of the ancient hero in post 9/11 war movies? Bakogianni grapples with the question of how far we can take Classical Reception and argues for a more inclusive approach. This chapter draws on Adaptation Studies and meme theory to argue that we can form meaningful connections between the ancient Ajax and modern screen portrayals of warriors.
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2020
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2022
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Apr 30, 2021
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London, Dec 1, 2008
De Gruyter eBooks, Jul 11, 2016
Michael Cacoyannis’ (1922–2011) three cinematic receptions of Greek tragedy: ‘Electra’ (1962), ‘T... more Michael Cacoyannis’ (1922–2011) three cinematic receptions of Greek tragedy: ‘Electra’ (1962), ‘The Trojan Women’ (1971) and ‘Iphigenia’ (1977) were created in the shade of the Homeric epics. Cacoyannis’ trilogy is modeled on Euripides’ dramas, but there are also ‘masked’ layers of reception that lead further back to the Homeric epics themselves. This chapter focuses on the debt that Cacoyannis owes to the Homeric poems and the ways in which the epics shaped his directorial vision, both on the visual plane, as well as on the level of narrative and characterization.
Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 28, 2013
This essay examines the relationship between Clytemnestra and Iphigenia in Michael Cacoyannis’ &#... more This essay examines the relationship between Clytemnestra and Iphigenia in Michael Cacoyannis’ 'Iphigenia' (1977), an adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy 'Iphigenia at Aulis', and discusses how the mother-daughter bond is obliterated by men’s longing for war, plunder, and power. In Cacoyannis’ cinematic reception Iphigenia becomes the first victim of the war sacrificed by Agamemnon on the altar of his ambition. The essay explores how the loss of Iphigenia leads Clytemnestra to renounce her role as a mother. Contemporary events in postwar Greece and in the director’s native Cyprus are interwoven into the fabric of Cacoyannis’ version of Greek tragedy in order to produce a highly politicized cinematic reception. Cacoyannis references these events in his receptions of Greek tragedy by focusing on how war and politics destroy the bonds that bind families and lead to insensitive political decisions, topics that continue to be relevant today.
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Papers by Anastasia Bakogianni
Published on the Classics Confidential Channel (The Open University, UK)