Largely Absent

Abstract

Largely Absent John F. Shean Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture Gideon Nisbet . Bristol Phoenix Press, 2008. 208 pages; $24.95. Gideon Nisbet's book—a survey of selected mass-market films set in Ancient Greece—focuses on pictures made over the last fifty years for English speaking audiences, explaining why photodramas about the Greeks are largely absent from the American and British cinema. According to Nisbet, "One obvious reason for the relative scarcity of Hollywood films set in Ancient Greece is the difficulty of selling Greece to cinema audiences because audiences assume Greece is boring" (p. 7). Yet Nisbet also notes that Hollywood itself is partly responsible for this perception. In contrast to the bland treatment accorded to the Greeks, Roman-themed movies are often lavish productions, typically employing spectacular sets and casts of thousands: Ben Hur (1959), Quo Vadis (1951), Gladiator (2000), etc. Indeed, not only does the film industry favor Rome at the expense of Greece, but it even presents Achaean stories as Roman ones. Accordingly, many Hollywood films tend to reinforce stereotypical notions of antiquity and to say more about the contemporary audiences for whom they were produced, than about the ancient cultures they are purported to portray. Nisbet exemplifies this claim by comparing the depiction of Athens in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) with that of Rome in The Robe (1953). In Bill and Ted, ancient Athens is confined to intimate views of old, bearded men in white robes sitting about discussing philosophy. In contrast, in The Robe, sweeping, wide-angled shots are used to emphasize the spectacle and majesty of ancient Rome. The portrayal of 'So-Crates' in Bill and Ted, itself a parody, highlights the popular perception of the Greeks as intellectual and boring. In contrast with Rome and its public blood sports and chariot races, brainy Greece is not good box office. Nisbet notes that Hollywood tried to overcome this difficulty by turning to heroic figures drawn from Greek mythology as film subjects, thereby hoping to make Hellenic culture more exciting and 'Roman'. This led to a virtual cottage industry of films about Hercules that included children's cartoons and a popular TV series that is still in syndication (note: Hollywood uses the Roman, not the Greek (Herakles) form of the name). The popularity of Steve Reeves' Hercules films during the late 1950's spawned a series of screenplays based on Hercules-like heroes: Atlas (1960) and The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)) and even a reworking of Homer—Helen of Troy (1956)). Yet, even here, the success of the 'Hercules' brand did not carry over to other Greek themed movies which tended to be box office flops, resulting in their respective director's decision (Roger Corman, Sergio Leone, and Robert Wise) to swear off movies about 'men in skirts' altogether. The main problem with these films was that many of the background visuals and themes on display were actually Roman (amphitheaters, costumes, tyrannical rulers, slave revolts, etc). This presentation of Greek stories as Roman ones affected the audience's ability to appreciate the cultural uniqueness of Greece. Why does Hollywood insist on portraying Greek stories as Roman? Because Hollywood, "taps into and reinforces popular ideas about the ancient world" (p. xiv). In an attempt to make Greece seem more exciting to cinema audiences, it was portrayed as Roman, [End Page 85] resulting in the audience's inability to appreciate the Hellenic uniqueness. Greece is always overshadowed by Rome, and is often regarded as a bad imitation of it. The situation has not improved in recent years with Troy (2004) and Alexander (2004), two commercial and critical disappointments. Despite the popularity of the controversial screen adaptation of Frank Miller's 300 (2006), it is unclear whether Hollywood will follow this up with more ancient epics. Nisbet's main argument about why Greek-themed topics do not do well, however, could be characterized as tautological. That is, movies about Greece are not commercially successful because of the merry-go-round effect: audiences perceive Greece to be boring because Hollywood films—reinforcing the stereotypes audiences have about Greece—portray Greece as boring. Despite this small problem, the book makes many interesting points...