{"id":50,"date":"2010-06-05T21:34:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-05T21:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/sex-and-the-agora\/"},"modified":"2010-06-05T21:34:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-05T21:34:00","slug":"sex-and-the-agora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/sex-and-the-agora.html","title":{"rendered":"Sex and the Agora."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Steven D. Greydanus<\/a> has done such a thorough job deconstructing Agora<\/a><\/i> \u2014 which opened in the U.S. last week and opens in Canada next week \u2014 that I have little to add. (Maybe later, though.)<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the many good points he makes is that the film goes out of its way to make its heroine, Hypatia<\/a>, a modern woman, or a woman that modern audiences can easily identify with, to the point that it obscures or ignores what the historical Hypatia actually stood for. For example:<\/p>\n

Agora<\/i> offers no insight into Hypatia\u2019s neoplatonic asceticism. It prominently depicts, but does not understand, the famous episode in in which she rebuffs a would-be suitor by presenting him with her menstrual rags as graphic evidence of the manifest error of his attraction. No attempt is made to illuminate this distasteful episode for viewers, to explore the distance between Hypatia\u2019s neoplatonic sensibilities and our own \u201csex-positive\u201d milieu.<\/p>\n

Instead, Hypatia\u2019s disinterest in marriage is presented solely in terms readily accessible to modern feminism: Marriage in ancient Alexandria would mean subservience to a husband, the end of her independence and her career. The idea that the biological realities of human reproduction were considered unworthy of a soul seeking the highest good isn\u2019t even on the radar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With all that in mind, consider this excerpt from an interview with Rachel Weisz, the actress who plays Hypatia in the movie, that appeared in the New York Times<\/a><\/i> two weeks ago:<\/p>\n

Ms. Weisz, who in 2006 won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her role in \u201cThe Constant Gardener<\/a>,\u201d describes herself as \u201cextremely passionate about what I do\u201d and initially found Hypatia\u2019s cool rationality hard to fathom. Early on, she said, she \u201chalf-jokingly\u201d suggested a masturbation scene for Hypatia to Mr. Amen\u00e1bar, who demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fear was that she would be a brain on legs, and that is not interesting to watch,\u201d Ms. Weisz explained. \u201cMy hope was that she would be passionate and emotional and full of feeling, even though it was not being channeled into the sexual, personal, human realm. She is in love with science, with learning. It turned her on; that was the only way I could think of it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Make of that what you will.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven D. Greydanus has done such a thorough job deconstructing Agora \u2014 which opened in the U.S. last week and opens in Canada next week \u2014 that I have little to add. (Maybe later, though.) One of the many good points he makes is that the film goes out of its way to make its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSex and the Agora.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven D. 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