McGeough/Representations of Antiquity, 4. Evil Seductresses, Feisty Housewives, and the Temptation of Victor Mature

Like Chapter 3, Chapter 4 addresses the arguments about the present made in historical films. Specifically, this chapter explores questions of gender as expressed in the epic films of the 1950s and 1960s and deconstructs the heteronormative gender roles that such films reified. It concludes, however, by looking at how those same messages were “queered” by different audiences and how camp readings of these movies offered alternatives to the heteronormativity presumed on screen.