Helen of Troy in Hollywood examines the figure of the mythic Helen in film and television, showing how storytellers from different Hollywood eras have used Helen to grapple with the problems and dynamics of gender and idealized femininity. Paying careful attention to how the image of Helen is embodied by the actors who have portrayed her, Ruby Blondell provides close readings of such works as Wolfgang Petersen鈥檚 Troy and the Star Trek episode 鈥淓laan of Troyius,鈥� going beyond contextualization to lead the reader through a fundamental rethinking of how we understand and interpret the classic tradition.
A luminous work of scholarship by one of today鈥檚 leading classicists, Helen of Troy in Hollywood highlights the importance of ancient myths not as timeless stories frozen in the past but as lenses through which to view our own artistic, cultural, and political moment in a new light. This incisive book demonstrates how, whether as the hero of these screen adaptations or as a peripheral character in male-dominated adventures, the mythic Helen has become symbolic of the perceived dangers of superhuman beauty and transgressive erotic agency.
Ruby Blondell is professor emerita of classics and adjunct professor emerita of gender, women, and sexuality studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. Their books include Helen of Troy: Beauty, Myth, Devastation and Ancient Sex: New Essays.
"Engaging."鈥擧arry Strawson, Times Literary Supplement
"An enlightening and accessible overview of the pervasive presence of Zeus’s daughter in American popular culture, ranging from silent Hollywood cinema to televised speculative fiction . . . [and] a must read for scholars of both classical reception and popular culture."鈥擥abrielle Stecher, Popular Culture Studies Journal
"A smart exploration of how this mythic figure has been portrayed in film and television. [Blondell] has written a thematically bold book that entertainingly contemplates what Helen of Troy signifies in old and modern Hollywood productions."鈥擟hristopher Schobert, The Film Stage
"Excellent and sensitive."鈥擱hiannon Easterbrook, Greece & Rome
"A magnificent study focused on the reception of this legendary woman, a symbol of beauty par excellence, through film and television. . . . [Helen of Troy in Hollywood] captures the reader from the very beginning thanks to the clarity and sensitivity of Professor Blondell, who ultimately champions the educational use of film in the classroom."鈥擜lejandro Valverde Garc铆a, Filmhistoria Online
“Engaging, thoughtful, and highly readable. Written with clarity and brio, Helen of Troy in Hollywood makes for an enlightening exploration.”—Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, author of Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World
“Helen of Troy in Hollywood is a pleasure to read. In giving an account of how this classic figure’s story has been retold, Blondell enhances our sense of the importance of such stories in giving shape and form to our own moment.”—William Patrick Day, author of Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture
