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Pygmalion meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Track 1

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The popular American TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" spanned seven seasons and gained a cult following. But how is it linked to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome? On closer inspection, its characters and narratives are revealed to be new incarnations of ancient classical myths that have filtered down into modern media. This album explores one episode, "I Was Made to Love You", in which Warren creates an artificial perfect girlfriend, just as Pygmalion sculpts an ivory statue to be his partner in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Many interesting parallels demonstrate the way in which universal human anxieties about gender identity, femininity, control and sexuality are continuously being re-examined through myth. This material forms part of The Open University course A330 Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds.

Track 1: Pygmalion meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A short introduction to this album.



Tracks in this podcast:

Track Title Description
1 Pygmalion meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer A short introduction to this album. Play now Pygmalion meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2 Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Paula James How an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer parallels the myth of Pygmalion. Play now Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Paula James
3 Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Lorna Jowett Gender, femininity and identity in TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Play now Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Lorna Jowett
4 Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Amanda Potter How viewers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer relate to the storyline as a modern reworking of Ovid's Pygmalion myth. Play now Pygmalion and Popular Culture: Amanda Potter
5 From Pygmalion to Buffy: re-interpreting myth Open University academic Paula James explains the links between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and classical mythology. Play now From Pygmalion to Buffy: re-interpreting myth
6 Why study myth? Chris Emlyn-Jones, Valerie Hope and Paula James reveal the enduring importance of myth. Play now Why study myth?
7 A330: Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds How story and myth are embedded into the monuments and artefacts of ancient Greece and Rome. Play now A330: Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds

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