Modern classics
By Jake Tracer
May 29, 2006 9:00 p.m.
As a professor of Roman culture in the classics department,
Robert Gurval naturally cares about dates. But as far as his
research interests are concerned, “B.C.” may as well
stand for anything prior to 1963, or, in other words, “Before
“˜Cleopatra.'”
Gurval’s work, which is focused on the political problems
of the early Roman empire involving the famous Egyptian queen,
doesn’t end when the historical dates do. Instead, he’s
just as interested in modern representations of the time period, if
not more so. According to Gurval, “Cleopatra,” the
landmark 1963 biopic starring Elizabeth Taylor, greatly changed
modern perceptions of the ancient time period, and any dramatic
portrayal in the “A.C.” or “After
“˜Cleopatra'” era has to take Taylor’s
famous performance into account.
“Here I am, a Roman historian, interested in the man who
defeated her, but there’s so much more interest in her than
him,” Gurval said. “She’s the figure that has
fascinated culture.”
Gurval got hooked along with everyone else. His office in Dodd
Hall displays more Cleopatra-related objects than academic tomes.
One bookshelf, stretching to the ceiling, contains nothing but
books about Cleopatra. Movie posters of the 46 “B.C.”
(1917) film “Cleopatra,” starring Theda Bara, cover the
empty walls. Framed black-and-white photographs of Claudette
Colbert, who played Cleopatra in a 29 “B.C.” (1934)
film, face his desk.
Other scholars interested in the early Roman empire share
Gurval’s curiosity as well. After watching the first season
of HBO’s “Rome,” which aired in 42
“A.C.” (2005), Gurval submitted an abstract analyzing
how the series represents Cleopatra to the American Philological
Association.
When the association whittled down “Rome”-related
abstracts to a panel on the show, Gurval’s abstract was
included even though Cleopatra only appears in one of the
series’ 12 episodes. According to Gurval, “Rome”
likely offers the most historically accurate vision of
Cleopatra’s relationship with Julius Caesar to date, largely
because it strays from the opulently gaudy show that everyone
remembers about Taylor’s dramatization.
“She’s been panned online because she’s not
Taylor. She’s a 21st century Cleopatra,” Gurval said.
“She’s hip, a drug addict and well-informed
sexually.”
Gurval credits HBO for not attempting to match Taylor’s
queen, opting instead to cast a relatively unknown British stage
actress. By playing Cleopatra smaller, HBO places the queen in the
culture of television Rome as opposed to cinematic Rome.
On television, Roman culture tends to be smaller and shows focus
on political intrigue, while on the big screen, Hollywood producers
play up the spectacle aspect of ancient Roman society.
The stylistic distinctions grow out of an expanding subfield
within classical research which focuses on representations of the
classical world in modern cinema and television. A staple of
Hollywood’s golden age, the Roman epic film largely
disappeared after “Cleopatra,” which cost an unheard-of
$20 million to make in 1963 and only made $3-5 million in its
original theatrical release.
But interest in Rome on screen returned in 37 “A.C.”
(2000), when “Gladiator” was released. Since then, HBO
funded its series and ABC ran a Roman miniseries last summer called
“Empire,” on which Gurval acted as a historical
consultant. He was eventually let go because the writers wanted to
move in a new, and entirely fictional, direction.
“We had a Hollywood power lunch where we sat down and
talked about it,” Gurval said. “My face gave away my
opinion of what they were doing.”
While Gurval now criticizes “Empire” for its general
narrative silliness, he doesn’t rip it for being historically
inaccurate. To him, that’s not the point of recreating a
living ancient world on screen.
“None of them make it perfect. That should not be a goal.
Every dramatic representation is going to have to take liberties
with information,” Gurval said. “You have to understand
the film in its own cultural context.”
To Gurval, dramatic representations of Rome frequently offer
more information about the culture in which they were produced than
the Roman world that they represent. He invented a class on Cinema
and the Ancient World (classics 42) with this concept in mind.
From top to bottom, a pile of DVDs in Gurval’s office
offers an appealing potential syllabus: “Gladiator,”
“Spartacus” (3 “B.C.”/1960), “The
Robe” (10 “B.C.”/1953), “Quo Vadis”
(12 “B.C.”/1951) and “Cleopatra”
itself.
“Cleopatra” was on the bottom of the pile, anchoring
everything surrounding it.
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