Dear Mythologists,
All good things must come to an end. For Tuesday, December 13, our last class of the semester, please do the following:
(1) Watch O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Ethan and Joel Coen, 2000), taking notes as you see
fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming
on Amazon.
(2) Read Janice Siegel's exhaustive essay, "The Coens’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Homer’s Odyssey,"
which elucidates just about every possible parallel between the film and the epic poem. Hers is important work, given the Coens' testimony that they'd never bothered to read the Odyssey. Siegel proves the brothers to be artful, Odysseus-like double-dealers.
And, yes, the piece is many pages long, but (a) they're small, journal-sized pages, and (b) the article itself is very accessible, if not downright breezy. You'll be glad you took the time.
(3) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from O Brother to view in class.
DC
Showing posts with label Unit 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unit 4. Show all posts
Saturday, December 3, 2016
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!)
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!)
Assignment for Tuesday, 12-06-16
Dear Mythologists,
For Tuesday, December 6, we're going to take a chronological step backward and consider a film that deals with events from before the Trojan War. Please do the following:
(1) Watch Iphigenia (Michael Cacoyannis, 1977), taking notes as you see fit. The DVD is reserved at the library, BUT the film is NOT streaming on Amazon, Hulu or Netflix. It is available on YouTube in versions of varying quality. Make sure you get a version with English subtitles (it's a modern Greek-language film, like A Dream of Passion).
Being an adaptation of Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, this film shares many of the same concerns as adaptations of the Medea. The movie overall is a feel-bad experience in the best possible way, cathartic in a most Aristotelian sense.
I'll add, for what it's worth, that it's probably my favorite movie in our filmography.
(2) Read Marianne McDonald's essay, "Eye of the Camera, Eye of the Victim," which offers a cogent analysis of the film in light of Euripides' play, as well as a personal response to Iphigenia's tragedy. Note: Her essay comes from Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema (Oxford, 2001), one of the first major volumes combining Classical Studies and film studies, edited by Martin M. Winkler (who would go on to edit volumes on Gladiator and Troy).
(3) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Iphigenia to view in class.
DC
For Tuesday, December 6, we're going to take a chronological step backward and consider a film that deals with events from before the Trojan War. Please do the following:
(1) Watch Iphigenia (Michael Cacoyannis, 1977), taking notes as you see fit. The DVD is reserved at the library, BUT the film is NOT streaming on Amazon, Hulu or Netflix. It is available on YouTube in versions of varying quality. Make sure you get a version with English subtitles (it's a modern Greek-language film, like A Dream of Passion).
Being an adaptation of Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, this film shares many of the same concerns as adaptations of the Medea. The movie overall is a feel-bad experience in the best possible way, cathartic in a most Aristotelian sense.
I'll add, for what it's worth, that it's probably my favorite movie in our filmography.
(2) Read Marianne McDonald's essay, "Eye of the Camera, Eye of the Victim," which offers a cogent analysis of the film in light of Euripides' play, as well as a personal response to Iphigenia's tragedy. Note: Her essay comes from Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema (Oxford, 2001), one of the first major volumes combining Classical Studies and film studies, edited by Martin M. Winkler (who would go on to edit volumes on Gladiator and Troy).
(3) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Iphigenia to view in class.
DC
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Assignment for Thursday, 12-01-16
Dear Mythologists,
For Thursday, December 1, please do the following:
(1) Watch Troy (Wolfgang Peterson, 2004), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon. Remember as you watch that this movie was conceived in the full fervor of post-Gladiator fever.
(2) Read the second half of Looking at Movies Chapter 5 ("Mise-en-Scene") (pp. 187–210).
(3) Read Monica Cyrino's essay, "Helen of Troy" (2007), a pivotal piece in a scholarly volume specifically conceived in response to the film (one of several such volumes edited by the prolific Martin L. Winkler).
(4) Remember by noon on Thursday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Troy to view in class.
DC
For Thursday, December 1, please do the following:
(1) Watch Troy (Wolfgang Peterson, 2004), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon. Remember as you watch that this movie was conceived in the full fervor of post-Gladiator fever.
(2) Read the second half of Looking at Movies Chapter 5 ("Mise-en-Scene") (pp. 187–210).
(3) Read Monica Cyrino's essay, "Helen of Troy" (2007), a pivotal piece in a scholarly volume specifically conceived in response to the film (one of several such volumes edited by the prolific Martin L. Winkler).
(4) Remember by noon on Thursday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Troy to view in class.
DC
Assignment for Tuesday, 11-29-16
Dear Mythologists,
For Tuesday, November 29, please do the following:
(1) Watch Helen of Troy (Robert Wise, 1956), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon. Remember as you watch that this movie is not only the archetype of Troy (2004), but also the precursor of the peplum craze from 1958 onward.
(2) Read the first half of Looking at Movies Chapter 5 ("Mise-en-Scene") (pp. 171–87). This chapter, the last we'll read in the textbook, seems appropriate for an epic of the sort to which Helen of Troy aspires.
(3) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Helen of Troy to view in class.
DC
For Tuesday, November 29, please do the following:
(1) Watch Helen of Troy (Robert Wise, 1956), taking notes as you see fit. In addition to the DVD being reserved at the library, the film is also streaming on Amazon. Remember as you watch that this movie is not only the archetype of Troy (2004), but also the precursor of the peplum craze from 1958 onward.
(2) Read the first half of Looking at Movies Chapter 5 ("Mise-en-Scene") (pp. 171–87). This chapter, the last we'll read in the textbook, seems appropriate for an epic of the sort to which Helen of Troy aspires.
(3) Remember by noon on Tuesday to comment on this post with your choice of a sequence from Helen of Troy to view in class.
DC
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Assignment for Tuesday, 11-22-16
Dear Mythologists,
On Tuesday, November 22, we'll bring our unit on Jason & Medea to a close. Please do the following:
(1) Prepare for Quiz 3, which we'll have at the start of class. Most of you may have about 30 minutes to complete it, then take a long break. Those who need extra time can work longer, then take a shorter break. Either way, we'll reconvene at 4:35 p.m. for the second half of class.
(And, yes, since this is a school day, I do expect you to return for the second half. No, the fact that your ride is supposedly leaving campus is not an acceptable excuse to miss either class or the quiz. Sorry — travel is what Wednesday is for.)
(2) Read these excerpts from Homer's Odyssey and come to class prepared to discuss both them as well as the Iliad excerpts assigned the previous Thursday. As before, feel free to fill in the gaps with a reliable summary of the poem.
After the quiz, at 4:35, we'll kick off Unit 4 with a discussion of the Trojan Saga and Homer (hint: not the same thing).
DC
On Tuesday, November 22, we'll bring our unit on Jason & Medea to a close. Please do the following:
(1) Prepare for Quiz 3, which we'll have at the start of class. Most of you may have about 30 minutes to complete it, then take a long break. Those who need extra time can work longer, then take a shorter break. Either way, we'll reconvene at 4:35 p.m. for the second half of class.
(And, yes, since this is a school day, I do expect you to return for the second half. No, the fact that your ride is supposedly leaving campus is not an acceptable excuse to miss either class or the quiz. Sorry — travel is what Wednesday is for.)
(2) Read these excerpts from Homer's Odyssey and come to class prepared to discuss both them as well as the Iliad excerpts assigned the previous Thursday. As before, feel free to fill in the gaps with a reliable summary of the poem.
After the quiz, at 4:35, we'll kick off Unit 4 with a discussion of the Trojan Saga and Homer (hint: not the same thing).
DC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)