Subverting sex and love in Alejandro Amenabar's 'Agora'

Paul, Joanna (2013). Subverting sex and love in Alejandro Amenabar's 'Agora'. In: Cyrino, Monica ed. Screening Sex and Love in the Ancient World. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 227.

Abstract

Joanna Paul considers the bold innovation of Agora among ancient epic films for its setting in late antiquity, its nuanced depiction of religion and intellectual culture, and most
significant, its presentation of the scholar Hypatia as a woman who is not primarily defined by her male romantic or familial relationships. Paul argues that the film’s originality lies in its use of the central female character to subvert epic cinematic conventions concerning love and sex, while it positions her brutal murder by zealots (in A.D. 415) as a
symbol of the demise of the classical world.

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