CLST 040. Visions of Rome

This course provides an overview of cinematic responses to the idea of Rome, ancient and modern, city and empire, place and idea, from the silent era to the present day. We will spend some time comparing films set in Rome to ancient and modern representations of the eternal city in literary and other visual media. But our primary focus will be on the ways in which cinematic visions of Rome reflect evolving cultural, political, and social conditions on both sides of the Atlantic. Specific topics to be explored include the popularity of classical themes in early silent films; Rome on screen during the rise and fall of fascism; neorealism and the shifting landscape of the city; the politics of Hollywood epics; and the dialectic between conceptions of antiquity and modernity as reflected in cinema. Screenings of films by major Italian and Anglophone filmmakers, including Pastrone, DeMille, Rossellini, Visconti, Wyler, Pasolini, Fellini, Virzì, and other major directors. Readings of texts by Petronius, Juvenal, Byron, Hawthorne, Dickens, Freud, Yourcenar, Rohmer, Calvino, and Barthes.
Humanities.
Writing course.

1 credit.

Catalog chapter: Classics
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics

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