Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture

Book excerpt: This revised and expanded second edition responds to new developments in the reception of Greece in contemporary popular culture, and particularly the impact of the film 300 (2006).Why, in a century of film-making, have so few versions of the story of Alexander the Great - or that of Troy's fall - made it to the big screen? In the aftermath of Gladiator (2000), with Hollywood studios rushing to revisit the ancient world with Troy and Alexander (both 2004), this question takes on renewed significance.Nisbet unpacks the ideas that continue to make Greece hot property - often too hot for Hollywood to handle. His lively explorations, which assume no prior expertise in classical or film studies, will appeal to all with an interest in 'reception': the present day's re-use and re-invention of the past.