Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander : film, history, and cultural studies / edited by Paul Cartledge and Fiona Rose Greenland.

Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
1st ed.
Published/​Created
Madison, WI : University of Wisconsin Press, c2010.
Description
1 online resource (385 p.)

Details

Subject(s)
Related name
Series
Wisconsin studies in classics. [More in this series]
Summary note
The charismatic Alexander the Great of Macedon (356-323 B.C.E.) was one of the most successful military commanders in history, conquering Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, central Asia, and the lands beyond as far as Pakistan and India. Alexander has been, over the course of two millennia since his death at the age of thirty-two, the central figure in histories, legends, songs, novels, biographies, and, most recently, films. In 2004 director Oliver Stone's epic film Alexander generated a renewed interest in Alexander the Great and his companions, surroundings, and accomplishments, but the critical response to the film offers a fascinating lesson in the contentious dialogue between historiography and modern entertainment. This volume brings together an intriguing mix of leading scholars in Macedonian and Greek history, Persian culture, film studies, classical literature, and archaeology--including some who were advisors for the film--and includes an afterword by Oliver Stone discussing the challenges he faced in putting Alexander's life on the big screen. The contributors scrutinize Stone's project from its inception and design to its production and reception, considering such questions as: Can a film about Alexander (and similar figures from history) be both entertaining and historically sound? How do the goals of screenwriters and directors differ from those of historians? How do Alexander's personal relationships--with his mother Olympias, his wife Roxane, his lover Hephaistion, and others--affect modern perceptions of Alexander? Several of the contributors also explore reasons behind the film's tepid response at the box office and subsequent controversies.
Notes
Description based upon print version of record.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Language note
English
Contents
  • Introduction / Paul Cartledge and Fiona Rose Greenland
  • Stone's Alexander. Oliver Stone's Alexander and the cinematic epic tradition / Joanna Paul
  • The popular reception of Alexander / Jon Solomon
  • Precursors of Alexander. Alexander on stage: a critical appraisal of Rattigan's adventure Story / Robin Lane Fox
  • Appearance of history: Robert Rossen's Alexander the Great / Kim Shahabudin
  • Alexander's intimates: sexuality and gender. Alexander and ancient Greek sexuality: some theoretical considerations / Marilyn B. Skinner
  • Olympias and Oliver: sex, sexual stereotyping, and women in Oliver Stone's Alexander / Elizabeth D. Carney
  • Fortune favors the blond: Colin Farrell in Alexander / Monica S. Cyrino
  • The cult of Hephaestion / Jeanne Reames
  • Alexander's dream: Macedonians and foreigners. Oliver Stone, Alexander, and the unity of mankind / Thomas Harrison
  • "Help me, Aphrodite!" depicting the royal women of Persia in Alexander / Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
  • Ways of viewing Alexander. Viewing the past: cinematic exegesis in the caverns of Macedonia / Verity Platt
  • Blockbuster! museum responses to Alexander / John F. Cherry
  • Afterword / Oliver Stone.
ISBN
0-299-23283-2
OCLC
550604989
Hdl
  • 2027/heb08800
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