Thursday, October 6, 2016

Assignment for Tuesday, 10-11-16

Dear Mythologists,

For Tuesday, October 11, please do the following:

(1) Watch the third-wave peplum Hercules (Luigi Cozzi, 1983), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon (though, oddly, the "cover" image there is from the 1958 Steve Reeves version). Our task is to make sense of this movie within the peplum tradition and in the context of its own times: toward that end, Clash of the Titans (1981) might provide some instructive parallels.

(2) Read the following sections of Looking at Movies Chapter 3 ("Types of Movies"): "Six Major American Genres" (pp. 90–108) and "Evolution and Transformation of a Genre" (pp. 108–11). Since peplum was clearly an evolving genre, these sections might help us think about its form and content in the 1980s and beyond.

(3) Read the following sections from chapter 7 of Emma Stafford's book, Herakles (Routledge, 2012): "Hercules the Movie Star" and "Conclusions: Herakles/Hercules." These sections trace the history of the peplum genre but quickly branch out into the 1980s and beyond, and so set the tone for the latter half of our Heracles/Hercules unit. Stafford herself is not kind toward the film we will watch for today's class, but, knowing that, we might aspire to try harder.

(4) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Hercules to view in class.

DC

11 comments:

  1. I'd like to watch the scene that starts around 00:16:40; it's when Zeus puts his hand through a portal to catch Hercule's as he falls down the waterfall. Not only is it a funny scene because of the sass that Zeus directs towards Hera, it's also a scene with interesting effects. The way Zeus' hand comes through the waterfall is a fun surprise. It's an important scene because it lets the audience know the gods are directly involved, and it also shows how much larger they are than everyone else.

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  2. 1:18:20-1:19:05 This scene i think is really important because it gives us a really good look at zeus. zeus' depiction on screen in this film is hugely important because it is the first time we have ever seen him in the peplum genre.

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  3. I'd like to look at the scene of Hercules fighting the slime monsters (27:30-29:10). This is only one of the fight scenes needed to show Hercules' strength, but there are some very noticeable poses to really make Lou Ferrigno's muscles pop.

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  4. I would like to watch the scene of Hercules battling the Hydra. I was surprised that Hercules was able to defeat it without slicing off any of its heads. It also made me think of Perseus versus Medusa. For example, Hercules needed to use the reflection from his magical shield to defeat the monster.

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  5. Opening scene again. Seriously, they amaze me. This is the longest focus on the gods, and the introduction of them as well. It also sets up the whole "Good VS Evil" Idea that is actually like nothing else we have seen in this myth, and I think we have a lot to go off in this ridiculous scene.

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  6. I would like to watch the scene where Hercules defeats the bear and throws it into space to create a constellation (~00:23:00-00:24:00). Though this scene is very ridiculous and kind of cheesy, I couldn't help but notice that it succeeded in showing what a myth is defined as. There is the godly hero, who is extremely strong and powerful defeating the creature and then there is an explanation regarding why certain things came into being, in this case, Ursa Major.

    ~Sophie Heath

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  7. I'd like to look at the sequence around 21:40 to 23:42, where the bear comes and attacks Hercules' father, and then the subsequent fight scene between Hercules and the animal. In particular, I thought it was interesting because it's the only creature Hercules fights that isn't a machine and for the last moment, where he makes the bear into a constellation and Athena tells Hera that's all that her heroes will ever be.

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  8. I'd like to watch the climatic fight scene between Hercules and Minos, between 1:13:29 to 1:18:19. Frankly, this scene is amazing. It is the embodiment of cinematic genius distilled into a mono-mythic fight of good versus evil. What I mean to say is that this scene is very stupid, but in an incredibly entertaining and humorous way. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, there are some things worth talking about.

    Firstly, this scene is the culmination of the science subplot, with Minos using his evil science (???) to crash the moon into the earth. I suspect that this may be more a product of modern times, where science and religion have portrayed as diametric opposites. I don't think this viewpoint represents ancient Greek culture very well, but I could be wrong. Secondly, the conversion to pure energy is visually... interesting and while being very goofy looking to the modern eye, portrays a sense of cosmic scale and grandeur which we haven't seen to such a degree in any film in this class. It is very mythic in that sense, in its own low budget, B-movie sort of way.

    Also, Hercules turns into a gorilla and fights a dinosaur! How is that not the best thing ever?

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  9. I'd like to look at the meeting of the gods and the creation of Hercules from about 5:00 to 9:00. The depiction of the gods is interesting in this film since it is so different from traditional myth, putting the gods on the moon instead of the heavens and with ornate golden crowns. The creation of Hercules, represented through a jumping, flickering ball of light, demonstrates the gods' direct influence on the world, which has not been shown in the peplum genre before.

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  10. I'd like to look at the creation of Hercules scene. This scene is important as it demonstrates the ability of film to add to myth in a new genre.

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  11. I would like to watch from the beginning of the film until about 00:05:30. This is the first film we've seen which begins with the story of the creation of the universe. But, it's also an example of the peplum genre picking up themes from space operas, which had just been made popular in the mainstream by Star Wars. I'm of the opinion that aliens and robots don't really belong with togas and broadswords. Aesthetically, it looks goofy.

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