Fair Use In Greek Movies Essay

Theater in ancient Greece was considered the climax of the days long cultural festival of The City Dionysia. At the festival, various types of plays were shown but one of the most popular was tragedy. These tragedies show the main character, usually a god or person of myth, going through human suffering and the terrible sequence of events that followed; and were produced in 472- 401 BCE. In order for a play to be performed at The City Dionysia festival; tragic playwrights would first have to appeal to the state official that was organizing the festival by submitting ideas to him and his committee. The ideas submitted were outlines of main themes and points of interest to be performed in the play. If a playwright was selected by the state official and his committee, then they received a financial backer and a chance to compete in the drama competition of the festival. The state official, or his committee, was likely pushing their own agenda and choose playwrights that matched their ideals. This is just one example of how theater in ancient Greece was used to influence the morality of Greek culture by using the stories of tragedies, like those of Euripides.

Several well-known historical films such as The Mummy, Disney’s Pocahontas, Gladiator, Marie Antoinette and Shakespeare in Love are often portrayed based on stereotypes where historical people and events are altered for the sole purpose of entertainment. Take for example the film, The Mummy (1999), which was set in ancient Egypt. The mysterious and yet thrilling element of mummies associated with the belief of curses, along with the Egyptian culture, beliefs and architecture enthrall people to this specific genre. Although The Mummy (1999) teems with suspense and anticipation, it is embellished with false facts and distorts the ancient Egyptian culture to captivate the viewers. Not only did the film manipulate several ancient Egyptian facts

In “Greek Mythology in Popular Culture” wikipedia.org describes the everyday items we use or see on T.V were inspired by Greek mythology. From movies to space technology, these things were named from the Greek myths. Like the T.V show/movie Hercules that was made in 1997 makes it clear that we got the idea off of Greek mythology. And also in marketing. Many corporations have used Greek mythology in their wine logos to represent the god of wine, Dionysus.

Authors, poets, and film directors have all used ancient stories to create new pieces of literature and film works for modern times. The animated Disney film Hercules (1997) and the myth of Hercules share the background of audience-driven narratives; however, Disney's aspiration to fill the theaters and earn money results in an unblemished narrative, while the original myth portrays an imperfect model to a flawed humanity.

     Mythology is a way that the ancient societies explained why things are the way they are and how they came to being. Two ancient societies are infamous for their mythology. These societies are Greece and Rome. Great authors were made be the mythological works they wrote. Homer was a famous author who is best known for his epics. It is from these epics that most of the gods and actual myths well known. I am writing of two of these gods in particular, Saturn and Dionsysus.

For the audience to understand what the film is about, genre code and conventions are used and that’s exactly what the viewers anticipates to see for them to comprehend and put what they see into perspective. For instance; at the introductory scene of any film, usually credits and the film title are shown and also a shot of the location where the film was shot. Codes are the symbols or signs used within a particular film to institute what sort of genre and sub-genre the film is based on. These codes and conventions are there to address the spectators on what kind of film it is by means of using certain shot types, relating sound tracks and making use of characters.

With endless copyright laws and fine lines of right and wrong Eric Faden created a video using short clips from disney animation studios to test the limits of fair use. Walt disney studios is known for suing schools, churches , and public libraries for broadcasting their movies and animations without permission(which is never given). Once again disney has proved their reputation by by filing a lawsuit against eric faden whom abided by the copyright rules. I can only imagine Disney’s lawyers heads spinning off as they watched the “movie”.

Throughout the video Faden uses a wide variety of clips from different Disney but he never uses more than he needs to. The University of Maryland University College’s guidelines for how much of a copyrighted work you can use include only using the amount you need, and not exceeding the expectation of how much you can use. Faden demonstrates this by using only what he needs to get his point

I never took myself as much of an actress, even though I chose the role. Every day, I go in the dressing room and put on my costume. My hair and makeup were done, and it’s show time. The bright spotlight comes directly onto me. The curtains open and it begins. I give the performance of a lifetime. It’s amazing how much the audience believes the story they’re being told. They’re gullible, but they’re not dumb. They know when the show goes sideways and that’s when they begin to ask questions. As always, I reassure them nothing is wrong, and the act is a hit. The curtains close, I return to my dressing room, and I take off the costume. I wish I could give the role back.

The second approach to copyright is the democratic approach. All works of art are ideas built on a foundation of other ideas. The democratic approach advocates that intellectual property belongs to the society and should be available for the general good of the public. If the particular usage is intended to derive financial benefit or any other business-related benefits, it is considered inappropriate usage. If the utilization of factual work were more usable than the use of someone’s creative work, then that would not be fair use. There is no specified edge to the amount of quoted work that can be called “fair use.” The courts exercise common sense to determine if it was too much. If the utilization of the material created market or stirred a competition, and if the fair use diminishes demand for the original product, it is not considered as appropriate use (Crews, 1993).

Although Disney created a very creative and entertaining movie for children to enjoy aspects of classical Greek mythology, there are many parts of the movie that are similar and also very different to mythology.

Hollywood films can be a great way to learn about the past, but how accurate are they? Can you actually find facts about the topic of the film? I believe that you can learn parts of history through watching Hollywood films and my reasons for believing that are: People are generally more engaged with motion pictures of topics than long text about the subject, some movies have great depictions of events that actually take place within our history, most of the movies you can depict what actually happened rather than the falsification they put within the film.

The way ancient culture can impact our ideals is demonstrated by various contemporary adaptations of Greek mythology. For instance, in 1997, Walt Disney produced the animated movie Hercules, based on stories about the legendary Greek hero who persevered through numerous labors and challenges to eventually gained a place in Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. Hercules was a major box-office hit among children and had left a deep impression on how they perceive the qualities of a hero. Similarly, the 2004-film Troy, based loosely on Homer’s the Iliad, tells the story of Achilles and the Trojan War. Troy was a critical success, grossing nearly 500 million dollars worldwide. But the movie did not exhibit merely entertainment

“We cannot solve our problem with the same thinking, we used when we created them”. ‘Proof’ the play and movie is all about love, trust and relation. Catherin was very close to her father Robert and after his death she is missing her father in every bit of second. Another daughter Claire who lived in New York and not close to her father so she didn’t have much feeling for her father as Catherin. In Chicago, on the day of her twenty-seventh birthday, Catherine receives her sister Claire from New York for the funeral of their father Robert, who passed away a couple of days before. Robert was a brilliant mathematician that became bughouse, and Catherine had lived with him for the last five years, inclusive quitting her studies in the faculty, and she is concerned about having inherited his insanity. Catherin the main character of this film who is a mathematical genius but her talent was hidden. She is very frustrated and hopeless due to her recently father’s death. She adjusts to his father death with the help of one of her father's former mathematical students, who

Historic playwrights such as Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Seneca were described as prolific philosophers and geniuses of their times. These men actively participated in the politics surrounding them, and were respected and revered in their society. Each had their own individual style and portrayed their personalities through each of their noted works. Nevertheless, as with a majority of playwrights throughout history, most fodder for their plays have been adaptations of previous plays written by their predecessors or based off mythological events. Unfortunately, this had lead to many speculative accusations and criticisms, as is the case with Senecan tragedies versus their Greek counterparts. Senecan and Greek interpretations of