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Fitzsimmons, Phil. "A Rebirth of Myth and Monster: An Old Sign in a New Framework." Myth & Symbol 4. (2007): 49–56. Added by: joachim (1/6/10, 7:00 PM) |
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| Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1080/10223820802503202 BibTeX citation key: Fitzsimmons2007 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "300", Adaptation, Classical antiquity, Film, Film adaptation, Miller. Frank, Monster, Myth, Social criticism, USA Creators: Fitzsimmons Collection: Myth & Symbol |
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This article unpacks the conjoining of the linguistic and visual symbolism that underpins the malformed Spartan traitor Ephialtes, named as a ‘monster’, who appears in the central visual facets of both the graphic novel and subsequent movie, 300. Both these texts were based on the ancient Greek epic of the Battle of Thermopylae in which 300 Spartan soldiers formed the critical mass of a Greek coalition that—against all odds—briefly held at bay the Persian army. Using the principles of ‘deformed discourse’, the language use and related symbolism of this monster in both the graphic novel and movie reveal (both in a narrative and figurative sense) Cohen's contention that monsters ‘are our children, …. Always returning bearing a sacred discourse from the outside, … asking how we perceive our world’ (1996:20). In this instance the visual misshapenness of the pure Spartan body and the associated language use pull all the signs and signifiers in the 300 texts into a powerful cataphatic metaphor, one that reveals the precept that our basic societal institutions, especially the religious institutions, have become the new monsters.
Added by: joachim |