Classics 102. Film and the Classical World: Stage to Screen (4 units)
Anna Uhlig
Course Description: Film is the primary medium through which most audiences have encountered ancient drama in the 20th and 21st centuries. But what is involved in translating a play from more than two thousand years ago onto the silver screen? This course will examine the technical and theoretical issues involved in transforming ancient stage drama into contemporary film. We will make a detailed study of four plays (Oedipus Rex, Libation Bearers, Medea, and Lysistrata) and examine how modern directors have reimagined them in film adaptations. We will pair thematic and interpretive discussions of the texts with exploration of specific matters arising from the often-divergent demands and possibilities of theatrical and film production.
Prerequisite: A lower division Classics course or consent of instructor (asuhlig@ucdavis.edu).
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Film Viewing - 2.5 hours.
Textbooks:
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, translated by Peter Meineck (Hackett Publishing Company, 2000)
- Aeschylus, Oresteia, translated by Peter Meineck (Hackett Publishing Company, 1998)
- Euripides, Medea, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien (Hackett Publishing Company, 2008)
- Aristophanes, Lysistrata, translated by Sarah Ruden (Hackett Publishing Company, 2003)