Reference no: EM133278081

Film; Helen of Troy 1956

Option 1. Helen as protagonist...but also heroine? It's easy to make Helen the center of a film version of the Trojan War, given her spectacular nature. Whether or not the audience sees her choices sympathetically is another matter. In this response, discuss how Helen of Troy attempts to present its Helen as noble and admirable, in contrast to the character's depiction in Love of Three Queens.

Option 2. Shaping the romantic hero. In a classic Hollywood narrative, a film can offer various cues that guide the audience to root for one competitor over another in a love triangle, including through the dialogue, camera angles, and/or the mise-en-scene (including hair and costuming) that shapes the "look" of the world on screen. In this response, discuss how Helen of Troy tries to guide audience responses to Paris as compared to the Paris in The Love of Three Queens.

Option 3. Mediating devices as introduction to "antiquity". We saw how La Caduta di Troia began with a scene of Homer performing his song about the Trojan War, which both noted the distance of the film's audience from these events and introduced them into the ancient world being depicted on screen. In this response, discuss how Helen of Troy and The Love of Three Queens employ mediating devices to both acknowledge and overcome the audience's potential feeling of alienation from the world on screen.