Friday, December 2, 2016

Assignment for Thursday, 12-08-16

Dear Mythologists,

For Thursday, December 8, please do the following:

(1) Watch Ulysses (Mario Camerini, 1954), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon. Like Helen of Troy two years, later, this Italian-language film is one of the forerunners of the peplum genre.

Why they don't hire me to do taglines, part 1: Before he was Spartacus, Kirk Douglas was...ULYSSES!

Why they don't hire me..., part 2: Before she was Helen of Troy, Rossana Podestà was...NAUSICAA!

(2) Remember by noon on Thursday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Ulysses to view in class.

DC

(No, there's no secondary reading for today. Focus your non-viewing energies on your rough drafts. You're welcome!)

13 comments:

  1. Let's watch the scene where Circe offers Ulysses immortality, and tries to use the dead to sway his decision. (1:13:32-1:19:18) In this version of the Odyssey, this is the final challenge Ulysses has before returning to Ithaca (but not the final challenge when it comes to keeping his marriage to Penelope), so it's important that it's a convincing challenge. For the most part, I think it is. The ghosts Ajax, Achilles, and Agamemnon make the afterlife just seem absolutely miserable, which makes it satisfying when Ulysses' mother reminds me what is really important to him... but it has to be considered if Ulysses actually made the right choice in the long term.

    On a side note, I absolutely adore how Ulysses calls his men his 'pals' in this version of the translation. It just cracks me up.

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  2. I would like to watch the scene when Ulysses and his men are escaping Polythemus' island. I think it's surprising that Ulysses continues to taunt the cyclops even though he knows he is putting himself and his men in danger 00:49:31 - 00:50:50. I think it's even more shocking that he compares his power to Neptune's.

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    1. I also want to see the particular scene (00:50:50). It is very interesting to compare and contrast this Ulysses with the Odysseus from Kakogiannis "Iphigenia". At the end of the day, is Ulysses/Odysseus a nasty demagogue who cannot be trusted, is he a skillful leader or an adrenaline addict? One is for sure, the debate surrunding his name is always going to keep the flame of his leagent alive!

      -Frini

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    2. I'd like to see the whole scene with Polyphemus. The special effects are definitely worth another look. It's also interesting to contrast this representation of the cyclops with the original myth and the cyclopes in Wrath of the Titans.

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    3. I would also like to see this scene because it's clearly a spectacle for the viewers but also it draws attention to Ulysses bragging to cyclops showing a sort of irrational behavior which is often brushed over in film.

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  3. I would like to watch the scene where we meet Nausicaa on the beach, around 12:54 to 15:05. As we briefly discussed in class when we watched Helen of Troy, the scenes between the two movies are extremely comparable. Further, I think it is interesting to see the character development of Nausicaa, who does not receive as much attention in the original poem. She is more active here, and I though it was particularly interesting how Camerini used this sequence to have Ulysses lose all of his memories, and then give them back slowly in an extended flash back.

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    1. I wholeheartedly agree with Mary on this!! I think that it is very important to take a look at how Nausicaa is viewed in the films as compared to how she is viewed in the original epic. It is interesting to consider how she plays a much more prominent and sexualized role in the films, especially in the context of our modern culture that has such an abhorrent yet ingrained tradition of objectifying and hypersexualizing women.

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  4. I would like to see the stringing the bow scene and attacking the suitors from 1:35:00-1:42:00. It was a great rendition of one of the most iconic and climactic scenes in the odyssey.

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  5. I would like to look at the last scene, where Ulysses and Penelope reunite. I would like to look at the departures from the myth, especially considering the ending text. But also I would like to examine Penelope's prayer to Athena. I truly think the ending is beautiful, however, it seems a little strange to see this scene coming out of the violence of the last scene.

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  6. I'd like to watch the scene in which Phemius sings for the suitors and tells them the story of how Ulysses destroyed Troy (00:04:16-00:06:19). The way the bard portrays Ulysses was a bit surprising to me; obviously he is the protagonist in the movie, yet this scene doesn't show him in the most favorable light. It's a huge difference in relation to what we've come to expect from movies nowadays, which would probably cast Ulysses as completely moral - the ideal hero.

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    1. I would also like to watch this scene. I also thought it was interesting that Ulysses was shown to cause his own misfortune through his irreverence toward the gods, and that the fall of Troy depicted not only soldiers dying, but also innocent civilian people, making Ulysses seem like a much more cruel, brutish warlord. I also liked the use of the bard to give the background story, and in the scene afterwards, I thought it was interesting that Penelope told the bard not to sing such "ancient memories," treating her husband Odysseus and recent the fall of Troy as a living legend, part of some heroic mythology.

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    2. I would also like to watch this scene. For one, I liked that they started the story with Penelope and the suitors instead of with Odysseus talking to Alcinous. The bard sets up the prologue nicely while recalling Homer himself. Like Khang and Sarah, I found it strange that the movie introduces Odysseus in such a negative way, his arrogance and pride destroyed an entire city. However, it does not end up being that surprising as the movie seems to portray Odysseus as an anti-hero since he never comes off as truly heroic, at least to me. I also liked how the bard set up the Trojans as unfortunate victims of Odysseus' cunning, which is pretty accurate.

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    3. I would also like to watch this scene. Modern audiences remember Ulysses/Odysseus as "the smart one" of the Trojan War characters, but Homer and other Greek sources stress his cunning nature more than book-smarts or intelligence as we would recognize it today. Ulysses is a trickster. His devious nature is what gets him out of trouble every time. But a life of always getting away with it has made Ulysses arrogant, even towards the gods. American audiences might say, "But Ulysses got out of it in the end using his wits, so he's good," while ancient Greeks would point out that Ulysses may have survived the war and his journey home, but he often sacrifices honor.

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