2.1 Reflection

The initial idea for my essay came from a film I watched for a previous subject at university, Rashomon (1950). While Rashomon is not an adaptation of a story from the past, it is a Jidaigeki (period drama) that questions the nature of how stories are remembered. My original idea was to write about how stories from the past have been purposely sanitised for modern audiences. However, after discussing it with my lecturer, I ended up writing about the importance of historicity in film adaptations of ancient stories. I believe that the mainstream popularity of Hollywood epics can help to spread an educational message to a wider audience. I chose Spartacus (1960) and Troy (2004), as the differences between the two films help highlight the different reasons changes occur when adapting historical narratives onto the screen. The purpose of this Sway is to get people to be more sceptical when viewing historical film adaptations.