Applied Classics: Ancient Readings of Modern Popular Culture

Abstract

Classics: Ancient Readings of Modern Popular Francis Bacon famously wrote of the printing press that it the appearance and state of things throughout the world (Spedding et al, eds, The Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 4, 114). The five scholars in this panel argue that the rise of marks another major paradigm shift. Through examinations of online role-playing games, internet Japanese anime and manga, and American graphic novels, these presenters examine the complexities of reading and readership in the modern digital age. They demonstrate that new visual genres are changing the way we envision the past, and they emphasize the continued influence of literature upon boundary-breaking popular genres. Pedagogical and scholarly interest in readership and digital culture is flourishing; nevertheless, comparative studies of literature and popular culture are relatively few. The focus of this panel, therefore, is on the relationship between high literature and popular visual genres. Themes of Applied Classics: Ancient Readings of Modern Popular Culture include: How can a genre's response to the past reveal its cultural standing? How might examples drawn from popular genres fuel class discussions of the ancient world? What perspectives on classical culture do the generation steeped in digital culture bring? Has digital culture, in fact, changed the way we envision the past? And how does our understanding of the past inform the way we interact with digital culture? In Gear and Theme in homeric epic and the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, Panelist #1 coins the phrase Applied Classics and persuasively demonstrates that Homeric epic can help us to understand better ethical decisions and the construction of meaning in role-playing games such as The Lord of the Rings Online (15 min.). In (Post-)Primary: Video Game Narratives and Homeric Epic, Panelist #2 finds compelling similarities between the narrative strategies of Homeric epic and the video game Dragon-Age: Origins, arguing that the multiple perspectives and entry points in a game such as Dragon-Age allow us to unravel more fully the construction and reception of meanings in the Epic Cycle (15 min.). Panelist #3, in Classical tradition and visual culture in the creation of online communities, evaluates narrative structures in online communities. The panelist demonstrates the continued significance of theclassical tradition and argues that members of online communities frequently employ classical stories as touchstones to define and limit the members of their groups (15 min.). In Xerxes, Lost City in the Western Desert: Allusions in Fullmetal Alchemist, Panelist #4 evaluates the classical terms, stories, and motifs in the Japanese anime and manga versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. The panelist argues that the Japanese fantasy and science fiction genre employs Greek and Roman myths to lend the fantasies an exotic otherworldly quality (15 min.). In Juvenal's Graffiti: 'Applied Classics' and Moore and Gibbons' Watchmen, Panelist #5 examines the classical allusions in the graphic novel Watchmen. The panelist demonstrates that Watchmen shares motifs with Roman satire and argues that Juvenal himself functions as an implicit figure of moral authority in the text (15 min.). These five presenters thus investigate popular readings of the past and show the continued significance of Greek and Roman literature in the digital era. The co-chairs of the session will lead the discussion, which will follow the delivered papers. Given the visual and digital nature of the panel, we require audio-visual equipment in the form of a computer, LCD projector, and screen.