Legolas in Troy
- The Lord of the Rings movies were a cinematic phenomenon, extremely popular. They are not often considered as works of Classical Reception. These films’ influence on subsequent ancient world movies has been understudied, and undervalued. A common model of cinematic Greece and Rome in the twenty-first century looks solely back to Gladiator. Undoubtedly Gladiator, and its commercial success, is important to how ancient world movies developed; but focussing solely on Gladiator does not explain a move away from Roman history towards Greek mythology, culminating in a flurry of movies about Greek mythological heroes. Lord of the Rings is an overlooked factor. Already in Troy two LOTR stars are in key roles, and the battle scenes seek to imitate those of Jackson’s trilogy. 300 mythologizes far beyond Frank Miller’s graphic novel, adding several monsters; LOTR’s influence is at play here. LOTR’s influence was one factor in a complex process that saw ancient world movies change in the twentyfirst century. LOTR fed into an atmosphere that movedThe Lord of the Rings movies were a cinematic phenomenon, extremely popular. They are not often considered as works of Classical Reception. These films’ influence on subsequent ancient world movies has been understudied, and undervalued. A common model of cinematic Greece and Rome in the twenty-first century looks solely back to Gladiator. Undoubtedly Gladiator, and its commercial success, is important to how ancient world movies developed; but focussing solely on Gladiator does not explain a move away from Roman history towards Greek mythology, culminating in a flurry of movies about Greek mythological heroes. Lord of the Rings is an overlooked factor. Already in Troy two LOTR stars are in key roles, and the battle scenes seek to imitate those of Jackson’s trilogy. 300 mythologizes far beyond Frank Miller’s graphic novel, adding several monsters; LOTR’s influence is at play here. LOTR’s influence was one factor in a complex process that saw ancient world movies change in the twentyfirst century. LOTR fed into an atmosphere that moved ancient world movies towards Greece, away from Rome, through promoting the appeal of a combination of epic and the fantastic.…
Author details: | Tony Keen |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.223 |
ISSN: | 2364-7612 |
Title of parent work (English): | thersites 15 |
Subtitle (English): | The influence of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies on cinematic portrayals of ancient Greece and Rome |
Editor(s): | Annemarie Ambühl, Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Christian Rollinger, Christine Walde |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2022/10/27 |
Publication year: | 2022 |
Publishing institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Release date: | 2022/11/01 |
Tag: | Lord of the Rings; Peter Jackson; classical movies; classical reception; fantasy movies |
Volume: | 2022 |
Issue: | 15 |
Number of pages: | 29 |
First page: | 285 |
Last Page: | 313 |
Organizational units: | Philosophische Fakultät / Historisches Institut |
DDC classification: | 9 Geschichte und Geografie / 90 Geschichte / 900 Geschichte und Geografie |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
Collection(s): | Universität Potsdam / Zeitschriften / thersites, ISSN 2364-7612 / thersites Vol. 15 |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |