THE MT VOID
09/20/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 12, Whole Number 2346
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
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Topics:
The Great Courses: "A Historian Goes to the Movies:
Ancient Rome" (Part 1: The Beginnings) (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
"In the Shadow of the Ship" by Aliette de Bodard
(book review by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (THE MAGICIAN) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Great Courses: "A Historian Goes to the Movies: Ancient
Rome" (Part 1: The Beginnings) (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I recently discovered "A Historian Goes to the Movies: Ancient
Rome" from The Great Courses, and in spite of the fact that Hoopla
makes me use one of my limited number of monthly check-outs for
each half-hour lecture, there was no question of whether we would
watch it. (Actually, we also have Mark's check-outs as well.)
Professor Aldrete did not cover older films such as the 1926
BEN-HUR or the 1934 CLEOPATRA, but chose to begin with the 1951
QUO VADIS, the start of the modern age of "sword-and-sandal"
movies.
QUO VADIS (1951):
Professor Aldrete's description of Nero's egotism, narcissism, and
insistence on always being declared the winner (even when he fell
out of his chariot and never finished the race!) sounds so much
like a recent President that it is scary.
Apparently this film was so popular that one Hollywood notable
applied the term "blockbuster", naming it after a particular large
weapon used in World War II. This was the first use of the term
as applied to films, and there's a certain irony to having an
extremely successful film named for a weapon, as "blockbuster" and
"bomb" are complete opposites in Hollywood.
This film also began the trend of marketing "stuff" to go along
with the movie. There were probably no dolls or lunchboxes, but
there were "Quo Vadis boxer shorts".
Since this was the first lecture, Aldrete covers more general
topics as well, such as the use of accents to serve the same
purpose as the black and white hats supposedly did in Westerns.
British accents indicate aristocratic pagan Romans (usually
villains), while American accents indicate "salt-of-the-earth",
freedom-loving Christians.
BEN-HUR (1959):
Other than re-iterating the use of accents to code people, Aldrete
spent most of his time focusing on the naval battle and the
chariot race. Of the naval battle, Aldrete says that General Lew
Wallace, author of the book BEN-HUR, was the first person to
people galleys with slaves. In actual fact, the oarsmen of Roman
galleys, and indeed all ancient galleys, were freemen. It wasn't
until the Renaissance that governments used slaves in galleys.
The chariot race was also wrong in many aspects. Roman chariot
races had twelve competitors, not nine, and they were divided into
four teams (not representing geographical areas), each of which
worked in coordination. They also did only seven laps, not nine,
and no one put blades on their wheels. (They were, however, used
on battle chariots,) The chariots in the movie were heavier than
racing chariots, and there were other minor differences as well.
(Frankly, I think the chariot race in the 1926 BEN-HUR is much
more exciting.)
SPARTACUS (1960):
Aldrete points out this is an atypical Roman epic: there is only
one gladiatorial bout (which the hero loses), and only one big
battle (which the hero also loses). (The real Spartacus actually
won many battles, but none are shown here.)
Aldrete covered the background of the film, which had four writers
and was all tangled up in the issues of the blacklist, as well as
as in issues of politics, gender, and race.
The film was based on actual events, but not surprisingly, had
inaccuracies. The real Spartacus was not born a slave, but was
born free and fought as a paid auxiliary, but then deserted and
was sentenced to slavery. His wife was a Thracian, not a Briton
and was also a prophetess.
SPARTACUS continues the tradition of having English actors as the
upper class characters, and Americans as the lower-class or slaves.
Another inaccuracy is that Spartacus did not "dream of the end of
slavery" (as the prologue claims) and was not a freedom
fighter/abolitionist but concentrated basically on freedom for
himself and his small circle of friends. And far from beginning
the process of the abolition of slavery in Rome (or the fall of
Rome, for that matter), the conflict with Spartacus was the last
of the Servile Wars, and there was never another major challenge
to slavery.
The depiction of the gladiatorial school is mostly plausible,
according to to Aldrete, though gladiators were not branded, not
was there a significant hair curl. What is accurate is the
pairing of gladiators with different weapons and fighting styles,
rather than the melees usually shown in films about Rome.
As is common in Hollywood epics, the elite Roman soldiers are
shown wearing leather cuirasses rather than the metal armor they
did wear, and the shields are oddly held horizontally rather than
vertically. The troop formations are not accurate (they come from
a much earlier period), and the Romans abandon their formations
when they engage the enemy (which is not how Romans fought--the
whole point was to maintain discipline). And no one used flaming
logs.
In real life, Spartacus did not ride into battle; he killed his
horse to show solidarity with his army (which had no horses), and
died in battle. (So there was no fight between him and the
totally fictitious Tony Curtis character, nor was he crucified.)
One stylistic touch is that the slave army is seen in close-up,
while the Romans are shown from a distance, causing the audience
to identify with the slaves.
As for gender, Varinia's sexuality in displaying herself while
swimming was shocking at the time, not to mention that she was
clearly more experienced than Spartacus, yet she is portrayed as a
good, even virtuous, woman. And there is also the infamous
"oysters and snails" sequence revealing Crassus's bisexuality.
And Draba is portrayed much more favorably and respectfully than
Blacks were in films of the time, especially ancient Africans.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: "In the Shadow of the Ship" by Aliette de Bodard (copyright
2024, Subterranean Press, $40 hardcover, 96pp, ISBN:
9781645241478) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
"In the Shadow of the Ship" is the latest story in Aliette de
Bodard's Xuya universe. As with all the stories in the Xuya
universe, one of the central characters is a mindship, in this
case the The Nightjar, Thirsting For Water. Our human
protagonist, Khuyen, ran away from Nightjar when she was sixteen
to join the civil service as a magistrate, trying to right the
wrongs of the vast war that has been taking place. Khuyen left
Nightjar because of unspeakable things that she couldn't explain.
She left behind her friends, family, and the ship. Now she is
coming back to Nightjar for her grandmother's funeral, and she
must face all those she has abandoned as well as what Nightjar has
been doing all these years.
Nightjar has been badly damaged, and has been doing what it deems
necessary to keep itself alive and functioning. It has been
demanding children as Tribute, and those children disappear. The
Tributes have been continuing all the years that Khuyen has been
gone. Now Khuyen's cousin Ahn has been sent as Tribute, and
Khuyen is on a mission to rescue her. She is aided by a
mysterious woman who seems to have some connection to Nightjar and
to whom Khuyen feels a strange attraction to. Together they make
a perilous journey deep into Nightjar as they attempt a rescue
while discovering things about each other and Nightjar itself.
"In the Shadow of the Ship" is a novella that packs a lot of story
into its shorter length. While the reason for Khuyen's trip to
Nightjar is to attend to her grandmother's funeral, that event is
just the way de Bodard is once again telling a story of family and
betrayal, and the expectations that the elder generation has for
its children. Any parent can relate to the disappointment they
experience when their child(ren) don't follow a path that the
parent thinks is logical and best for the child(ren) and the
family. de Bodard raises those familiar expectations a notch
here, as Khuyen's mother is continually laying on the guilt,
letting Khuyen know that she has not only betrayed and let down
her family, but let down Nightjar as well. Indeed, Khuyen's
attempt to locate Ahn can be seen as a way of trying to make
amends for her abandoning her family. The theme of family runs
even deeper, as we discover the secret of the mysterious woman -
named Sunflower - and her relationship to Nightjar. Eventually
Khuyen must come to grips with who she was and who she is and what
she wants to do going forward.
I've always enjoyed de Bodard's Xuya universe stories, and this
one is no exception. It is complex and thought provoking, with
characters that are well drawn out and interesting and a story
that is both emotional and horrific. I'd recommend it to fans of
de Bodard and the Xuya universe, as well as folks just looking for
a great read. It may not be the best jumping in point for the
Xuya stories, but I think it stands well enough on its own that
the reader won't be lost. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE MAGICIAN by W. Somerset Maugham (Penguin, ISBN
978-0-143-10489-6; also Project Gutenberg) is an early Maugham
novel, and probably his only fantasy novel. It's a novel of the
occult, which was so popular at the time. Arthur Burdon loves
Margaret Dauncey, but at some point Burdon does something to anger
Oliver Haddo, a self-proclaimed magician (probably modeled after
Aleister Crowley), and in revenge, Haddo uses either hypnotism or
occult methods to steal Margaret, and then use her to exact a
terrible revenge on Burdon. (I suppose this is a bit of a
spoiler, but seriously, is this not obvious early on?)
This book certainly has its interesting points, but all things
considered, I have to say that I am glad Maugham switched to
writing that was more focused on people and their reactions in
realistic situations.
Maugham's satiric works may drift away from realism--or maybe they
hit the nail on the head. Consider the opening paragraph of
"Cupid and the Vicar of Swale":
"Swale is a place of many advantages. It is strikingly
picturesque and eminently respectable; the people who live in it
excite the admiration of the world in general, not only by their
affluence, but by their gentility also, and in these degenerate
days the one does not always accompany the other. They inhabit
mansions overgrown with creepers, and they all keep a carriage.
Here and there a few poor people live in artistic cottages for the
special conveniences of the young ladies, who paint in
water-colours. But the poor people, even, are of the nicest
class, the class that looks so pleasant in Academy pictures.
Alas! it is a type that is fast disappearing in England. Now the
labourer is an independent creature with no feelings of gratitude;
he does not touch his hat to the parson, and his wife drops no
curtsey to the squire; he is full of new-fangled Radical notions,
and neither looks nice in pictures nor in reality. He has become
distinctly vulgar. But Swale is still different, and long may it
keep free from the corruption of external influence! As I said,
the cottages are delightful, with little leaded windows admitting
neither light nor air--but that is a detail; they are most
pleasing to the fair sketcher; honeysuckle and roses climb about
the doorway, many of the roofs are thatched, and the whole
appearance is exquisitely dilapidated."
Wonderful! This, along with sixteen other stories, are in SEVENTEEN
LOST STORIES. This has the six stories from ORIENTATIONS (which I
reviewed a few weeks ago) as well as eleven others written between
1900 and 1908. The eleven are:
Lady Habart (1900)
Cupid and the Vicar of Swale (1900)
Pro Patria (1903)
A Point of Law (1903)
An Irish Gentleman (1904)
A Marriage of Convenience (1906)
Flirtation (1906)
The Fortunate Painter (1906)
Good Manners (1907)
Cousin Amy (1908)
The Happy Couple (1908)
("A Marriage of Convenience" was re-written as part of THE
GENTLEMAN IN THE PARLOR. "Cousin Amy" was re-written as
"The Luncheon". "The Happy Couple" was re-written and re-published
under the same name.)
All are worth reading (although "Cousin Amy" can be skipped if you
have read "The Luncheon"). [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his
property at the resurrection, and each tried to recover
it from all his forefathers.
--Samuel Butler
MT VOID, 09/20/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 12, Whole Number 2346