Woody Allen and the absurdity of human existence

origin, legacy, and human agency in God and Mighty aphrodite

Michael Fuchs

pp. 100-116

in: Klára S. Szlezák, D. E. Wynter (eds), Referentiality and the films of Woody Allen, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Abstract

Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization. After all, the Greeks introduced many developments to political science, which eventually brought forth democracy and the republic (albeit in an oligarchic form), and excelled in mathematics and physics. Plato and Aristotle effectively founded Western philosophy and epic poems such as The Iliad and The Odyssey have had a lasting impact on Western culture, as have, of course, the tragedies penned by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and the comedies written by Menander. Considering the wide influence ancient Hellenic culture has had, there is little surprise that artists from James Joyce to Alison Bechdel have alluded to some of the foundational texts of Western civilization created in Ancient Greece. No wonder that Woody Allen, whose artistic output is characterized by its "multifarious intertextual references' and "recurring use of self-reflexion" (Doyle par. 1), has also repeatedly invoked Greek culture.

Cited authors

Aristoteles

Plato

Joyce James