Book Chapter

The Ancient World is Part of Us

Bakogianni, Anastasia

2017

Overview

This chapter focuses on more indirect adaptations that either disguise their debt to Greek tragedy and/or take greater liberties with their source texts to the point where the precise nature of this connection becomes highly unstable. To illustrate these debates from a classical perspective the author has chosen to focus on the transformations of the tragic heroine Electra in a series of case studies where the relationship between film and classical source text(s) is not straightforward. In mainstream cinema, the chapter examines the character of Elektra in Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2004), self‐proclaimed adaptations, not of any Greek tragedy but of a series of graphic novels charting the life of Elektra Natchios, a Greek femme fatale and ninja assassin. It argues, however, that there is a tantalizing connection to the ancient Electra that should lead us to re‐examine the perception of what happens to classical stories and characters.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: classical source text / classical tragedy / Daredevil / Electra / graphic novels / Greek tragedy / modern film / self‐proclaimed adaptations / television
• ISBN: 1118741358, 9781118741351