First Blog Response

 What made you select this course as one of your up to six choices for College Colloquium?

For example, do you have a special interest or prior expertise in film or in the Greeks and Romans? Have you actually seen some of the movies we'll discuss this semester?

I myself watched many of these movies as a child on German TV. Back then, I just enjoyed the spectacle and epic scale of these movies. Later, as I studied Latin and Greek and learned more and more about the actual ancient world, I got a bit disenchanted with them because I now notice how inaccurate the movies' representation of history usually is. On the other hand, though, these movies weren't meant to be documentaries, but to offer entertainment. In that respect, they definitely succeed, as I hope you'll find too.

Comments

  1. Michael KachanyukAugust 23, 2023 at 7:38 PM

    I decided to choose Greek and Rome in the Movies as my College Colloquium course because I find anything related to historical Greece and Rome interesting. I am fascinated by the arts, history, warfare, culture, of Roman and Greek settings in movies as well and have some experience in film study from a class I took in Highschool. I believe the only movies ive seen from the ones we will discuss this semester are "Ben Hur" and "300".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kai Makino-DillowayAugust 23, 2023 at 10:16 PM

    I haven't seen much or even know much about ancient Greece and Rome (the last time I took a class focused on that was when I was 11 years old, in 6th grade), but I am very interested in filmmaking, specifically screenwriting and directing. I want to maybe work in filmmaking if I can, and I figured it'd be good to learn more about ancient Greece and Rome since I mix the two up all and to contextualize the modern world better as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emma August 24, 2023 at 9:21 AM

    I really like learning about history and connecting it to now. When I was in middle school learning about Rome, I remembered having a lot of fun connecting it to how the current government ran. I also really like watching movies. Learning about how they work will make the whole experience more enjoyable. The only movie I have seen from the list is Hercules, the Disney movie. It is one of my favorite Disney movies so I am excited to learn more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ben WebsterAugust 24, 2023 at 9:28 AM

    While I don't have experience with old movies depicting ancient Greece or the Rome Empire, I've aways been interested in the history of their time period. I knew viewing ancient history through the lens of film, whether serious or parody, would be a new and unique way of experiencing this history. Additionally, I worked in set design and construction in the theater all throughout high school. I feel this would give me a unique perspective when analyzing these old movies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. BasilAugust 24, 2023 at 9:49 AM

    I took a Classical History class and I really liked it, and I also love film, so this class seemed like a good intersection of some of my interests. I enjoy watching movies and analyzing them closely. I have seen Monty Python's Life of Brian several times, Hercules, and 300 (though I was like 6 when I watched this one).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plautus Plays - Ben Webster

"Casina" and "The Braggart Soldier" are old roman comedies written by Plautus. They each center around farcical and exaggerated relationships between masters and servants. They have similarly satisfying conclusions, with the main antagonist being beaten in each play. I preferred "Casina" over "The Braggart Soldier" as I found the plot of "The Braggart Soldier" to be convoluted and confusing at times. I think this more complex plot would "The Braggart Soldier" would make a better movie, as film is a medium suited to telling complex stories.   
Read more

Basil Allen - "Casina" vs. "The Braggart Soldier"

  “Casina” and “The Braggart Soldier”, both by Plautus, are similar in many regards. They are both comedies that explore dynamics between slaves and their masters, with plenty of schemes and trickery. I enjoyed “Casina” more, with its biting, crass humor and horrible (in the sense that they are all terrible people) characters. The translator used very colloquial, modern language which I thought was really funny and relatable. I did think it was interesting how Casina, the person practically the entire cast of characters is fighting over never once even spoke. I feel as though “The Braggart Soldier” would make a better movie, however, due to the satirical nature of the play and a far more complex plot that would translate to film well. Overall, both plays were an enjoyable read (despite the length) and they were definitely not as hard to understand as I thought they would be. 
Read more

Plautus Casina vs Plautus The Braggart Soldier - Michael Kachanyuk

Casina and The Braggart Soldier are two plays written by Plautus. Both plays are comedies and share some similarities, but they also have some differences.  Casina is a play about a young man named Euthynicus who is in love with a slave named Casina. However, Euthynicus's father Lysidamus, is also in love with Casina and wants to marry her himself. So he sends his son out of the country and uses his slave Olympio to marry Casina so he could secretly have an affair with Casina while being married to his wife Cleostrata. Cleostrata finds out about her husbands attempt and tries to marry Casina to her slave, Chalinus, who would be stand in for Euthynicus until his return from the country. The play revolves around the various schemes and plots that the characters come up with to try to get what they want.   The Braggart Soldier, on the other hand, is about a soldier named Pyrgopolynices who is boastful and arrogant. He has kidnapped a young woman named Philocom...
Read more