Contemporary Comparassion of Cleoptra's Potrayal in Cinema
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- Category: History: People
- Date Submitted: 05/25/2011 05:07 AM
- Pages: 3
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Cleopatra, The Queen of Egypt has been depicted in contemporary cinema by several actresses changing the perception of the actual historical figure based on their performances and requirements of cinema and television industry, this document will analyse the physical part of these contemporary depictions.
Depictions of characters varies upon the era and context events are taking place and not necessarily observing the historical details, in that way the 1963 “Cleopatra” film contained at some extent some of the idealism of the 60’s era such unification of the nations and the constant seek of more liberty for women in the western hemisphere; an actual representation of these “ideals” can be seen in the film during the entrance of the Cleopatra character to Rome where she is venerated by the population as if she was their Queen in addition to the Hollywood spend of resources required to achieve the visual impact for the scene full of glory and glitter.
Elizabeth Taylor during her youth and along most of her maturity was regarded as a very attractive woman, this situation benefited Hollywood studios as a tool to promote the film and attract a larger market just as in earlier depictions of Cleopatra; also using a beautiful woman for this role suited with the global perception that a powerful and influential female only could achieve success by using her sexual and physical attractiveness, hence this image had to be creatively exploited in any visual expression of mass broadcast.
The excessive use of glamour and eccentricity was widely used in cinema since the main interest was to attract public, also the use of new colour cinema empowered this view and therefore did not maintained in line with historical facts, we can see the main female character using excessive amounts of make-up typical of the sixties. Moreover elements such the relationship between Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra) and Richard Burton (Mark Anthony) that arouse during the film were also widely...
Depictions of characters varies upon the era and context events are taking place and not necessarily observing the historical details, in that way the 1963 “Cleopatra” film contained at some extent some of the idealism of the 60’s era such unification of the nations and the constant seek of more liberty for women in the western hemisphere; an actual representation of these “ideals” can be seen in the film during the entrance of the Cleopatra character to Rome where she is venerated by the population as if she was their Queen in addition to the Hollywood spend of resources required to achieve the visual impact for the scene full of glory and glitter.
Elizabeth Taylor during her youth and along most of her maturity was regarded as a very attractive woman, this situation benefited Hollywood studios as a tool to promote the film and attract a larger market just as in earlier depictions of Cleopatra; also using a beautiful woman for this role suited with the global perception that a powerful and influential female only could achieve success by using her sexual and physical attractiveness, hence this image had to be creatively exploited in any visual expression of mass broadcast.
The excessive use of glamour and eccentricity was widely used in cinema since the main interest was to attract public, also the use of new colour cinema empowered this view and therefore did not maintained in line with historical facts, we can see the main female character using excessive amounts of make-up typical of the sixties. Moreover elements such the relationship between Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra) and Richard Burton (Mark Anthony) that arouse during the film were also widely...