Why did cinema largely ignore the colonial era and the Revolutionary War? The Cinematic Challenge asks this question and studies four films from the 1930s and 1940s to consider other queries, such as: How did Darryl F. Zanuck make a film about the American Revolution (Drums Along The Mohawk) without indicating that the British were the enemy? Why was Northwest Passage never completed? How did Cecil B. DeMille begin production on a film (Unconquered) based on a book that did not yet exist?In addition, we'll learn how accurate the depictions of colonial life were in each film and whether the political and economic climate affected the finished products.Volume one of The Cinematic Challenge also includes information about the general state of the film industry during this period, technological advancements, and rival theories about historical filmmaking, making it the most in-depth resource available today on colonial movies.

Oaths were ubiquitous rituals in ancient Athenian legal, commercial, civic and international spheres. Their importance is reflected by the fact that much of surviving Greek drama features a formal oath sworn before the audience. This is the first comprehensive study of that phenomenon. The book explores how the oath can mark or structure a dramatic plot, at times compelling characters like Euripides' Hippolytus to act contrary to their best interests. It demonstrates how dramatic oaths resonate with oath rituals familiar to the Athenian audiences. Aristophanes' Lysistrata and her accomplices, for example, swear an oath that blends protocols of international treaties with priestesses' vows of sexual abstinence. By employing the principles of speech act theory, this book examines how the performative power of the dramatic oath can mirror the status quo, but also disturb categories of gender, social status and civic identity in ways that redistribute and confound social authority.

Publisher description

This volume explores all aspects of classical scholarship - history, archaeology, philosophy, literature, religion, politics - as well as providing accounts of the principal figures who helped determine the course of classical scholarship through the Middle Ages.