Department of Ancient Studies

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Browsing Department of Ancient Studies by browse.metadata.advisor "Daniels, Amy Lydia"

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    Classical reception in animation: a case study of the effect of target audience age in Disney’s Hercules and Netflix’s Blood of Zeus
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Kamper, Femia; Masters, Samantha; Daniels, Amy Lydia; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reception Studies is an ever-growing field of study within the discipline of Classics, which reveals something of the interest of the everyday person in engaging with the ancient world. Works of reception come in a myriad of forms, and various aspects influence the interpretation of the ancient sources. One such aspect is the age of the target audience. This is particularly evident where the target audience is children. Nevertheless, the numerous scholarly works written on works of reception aimed at children demonstrate the prevalence of reception in children’s media. One common theme in these works is ancient Greek mythology, despite many aspects thereof being deemed inappropriate for children by 20th and 21st-century Western standards. An overview of scholarship reveals that while many scholars have focused on the incorporation of ancient Greek motifs in modern children’s media, fewer have focused on reception aimed at adults. There is also a general trend of focusing on literary reception, while there is less focus on other forms of media, such as animation, a popular medium in the 21st century. This thesis aims to address these gaps by considering the impact of the target audience’s age on the incorporation of ancient Greek mythological characters and events in modern entertainment aimed at different age groups. As case studies, the characters of Zeus, Hera and Herakles in three ancient texts, namely Apollodorus’ Bibliotheke, Homer’s Iliad and Euripides’ Herakles, are analysed and trans-historically compared with the characterisations of Zeus, Hera and Hercules/Heron in Disney’s Hercules (suitable for all ages), and Netflix’s Blood of Zeus (aimed at ages 16/18+). The trans-textual comparison of the ancient characters reveals how differently the ancient authors engaged with the same characters, incorporating them in various narratives and associating various characteristics with them. Many of these characteristics are, however, categorised as not age-appropriate for children or as age-appropriate for children but unsuited to the “good guy” trope. The trans-textual comparison of the modern characters reveals how the age of the target audience, as well as contemporary societal ideals, impacts the characterisation of the characters. In general, the characters in Hercules were characterised in a more child-friendly manner than those in Blood of Zeus. The final section trans-historically compares the modern and ancient plots and characters and demonstrates that Hercules deviates more from the ancient sources than Blood of Zeus. The target audience’s age is found to directly impact how modern creators engage with and incorporate ancient Greek motifs in modern works. The findings further reveals the importance of considering other forms of media, such as animation, which are considered to be low art forms and as such, are often overlooked in scholarship. The importance of discussing works of reception is highlighted, as these demonstrate how the world outside academe is engaging with the ancient past.