An intriguing question: What would the Aeneid look like as a movie?
Fred Mench explores this in Arion, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1969), pp. 380-397:
Film Sense in "The Aeneid"
Fred Mench
Arion, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1969), pp. 380-397
Published by: Trustees of Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163209
The literary critic should study not only philology or comparative literature but also the techniques employed by the film maker if he wishes to appreciate those literary works that utilize a kinetic visual approach (montage, variation of viewing angle, alternation of close-up and distance shot, and the like) … Most people who think of Vergil's artistry in visual terms tend to describe him as a painter, citing, for example, the backdrop painting of the harbor scene ( 1.159-69) … Vergil is much closer to being a film director than a painter or a dramatist. The canvas or the stage set must be presented essentially all at once … A painter or playwright can accomplish some of this in a limited way but it would be difficult to sustain. It is this flexibility that we associate with the cinema which is a hallmark of Vergil's great epic.
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