The course is all about the (not-always-great) reception and reinterpretation of antiquity from the Italian Renaissance to today. While dealing with material from the past, we are situated in the present, so we will be constantly engaging with the relationship between the past and the concerns of the present...at different points in history. We will investigate how ancient iconographies have been reused and reinterpreted to fit cultural and political agendas, express anxieties about the present, and support or subvert dominant narratives.
The first portion of the course will start from pre-modern mediums (painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and literature) and progress through the centuries to include comics, movies, and television. The second part will focus on the latest addition to the field of reception studies: video games. We will survey a range of games across time and genres to understand the issues faced and choices made by game designers to recreate the ancient world. Much like more traditional mediums, we will investigate how games largely affect and are affected by popular (mis)perceptions of antiquity and explore their role in matters of identity, politics, and culture.
- Teacher: Kate Minniti