Moby-Dick Encountering the Leviathan of God—the Remake

This study builds upon my previous treatment of Melville’s Moby-Dick first published as ‘Moby-Dick: Encountering the Leviathan of God’ in my The Old Testament in Fiction and Film: On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow (1994). The study continues the three-way dialogue set up within that book, with the biblical text, Melville’s novel and cinematic treatments of Moby-Dick being compared and contrasted. In particular, it offers a careful discussion of the most recent full-bodied cinematic adaptation of Melville’s classic tale, namely the film by the British director Franc Roddam. This film was released in 1998 and starred Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Ahab. The article discusses some of the theological emphases within the film, particularly in the fields of biblical hermeneutics and inter textuality. Comparisons are also made between Roddam’s film and John Huston’s 1956 effort which starred Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab.