Classical Philology Gone Wild! The use of Classical Texts in the Film All Quiet on the Western Front
Location
CSU 202
Start Date
23-4-2007 10:00 AM
End Date
23-4-2007 12:00 PM
Student's Major
World Languages and Cultures
Student's College
Arts and Humanities
Mentor's Name
Nadja Kramer
Mentor's Department
World Languages and Cultures
Mentor's College
Arts and Humanities
Description
Studying the texts of the Greco-Roman era has long been a tradition in the West. Works such as The Odyssey, The Iliad, and The Republic were understood to be liberating texts which enabled students to think more critically and as a result live more wisely. Many of the leading scholars in this field of "Classical Texts" (also known as Classical Philology) hailed from 19th century Germany. The 1930 German film All Quiet on the Western Front presented viewers with a classroom scene set at the start of the First World War where selected classical texts were written on the chalkboard, apparently by the teacher. The camera brings the viewer in from a street scene and focuses on a teacher who is lecturing. The teacher, in an increasingly frenzied state, is persuading his students to join the German war effort. He uses the classical tradition represented by the quotations on the chalkboard as ammunition for irrational and self-destructive thinking. He has taken a tradition valued for critical thought and just actions and turned it into an overemotional, antirational Nationalist machine. This project sought to understand the means by which the classical tradition was turned on its head and the implications and warnings which it held for viewers then and now.
Classical Philology Gone Wild! The use of Classical Texts in the Film All Quiet on the Western Front
CSU 202
Studying the texts of the Greco-Roman era has long been a tradition in the West. Works such as The Odyssey, The Iliad, and The Republic were understood to be liberating texts which enabled students to think more critically and as a result live more wisely. Many of the leading scholars in this field of "Classical Texts" (also known as Classical Philology) hailed from 19th century Germany. The 1930 German film All Quiet on the Western Front presented viewers with a classroom scene set at the start of the First World War where selected classical texts were written on the chalkboard, apparently by the teacher. The camera brings the viewer in from a street scene and focuses on a teacher who is lecturing. The teacher, in an increasingly frenzied state, is persuading his students to join the German war effort. He uses the classical tradition represented by the quotations on the chalkboard as ammunition for irrational and self-destructive thinking. He has taken a tradition valued for critical thought and just actions and turned it into an overemotional, antirational Nationalist machine. This project sought to understand the means by which the classical tradition was turned on its head and the implications and warnings which it held for viewers then and now.
Recommended Citation
Dauer, Tysen D.. "Classical Philology Gone Wild! The use of Classical Texts in the Film All Quiet on the Western Front." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 23, 2007.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2007/oral-session-03/7
