Representations of Antiquity in Film - From Griffith to Grindhouse - Kevin M. McGeough
The Judean People’s Front and Jesus’s Mod Tour Bus: Musicals and Comedies Set in the Ancient World
Representations of Antiquity in Film - From Griffith to Grindhouse - Kevin M. McGeough
Kevin M. McGeough [+]
University of Lethbridge
Kevin M. McGeough is professor of archaeology in the Department of Geography at the University of Lethbridge and holds a Board of Governor’s Research Chair in Archaeological Theory and Reception. Having excavated in Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Canada, he is the co-editor of the Alberta Archaeological Review and chair of publications for the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR). He is currently researching the reception of Near Eastern Archaeology in a variety of media and has recently published a three-volume book on archaeological reception in the Victorian era, The Ancient Near East in the Nineteenth Century (2015).
Description
Moving away from the epic tradition, Chapter 5 examines comedic and subversive treatments of the ancient world in film. It discusses vaudeville traditions in comedic musicals about ancient Rome and traces this through to Jesus Christ Superstar. It relates this to British comedic traditions such as the Carry On series and Monty Python’s Life of Brian also discussing American satire in Mel Brooks’ films and more recent attempts (like Meet the Spartans).