And now for the next of our abstracts for Friday's conference - from Dr Amanda Potter of the
Open University, UK.
Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Knitting: Athena in the Popular Imagination
My doctoral research on classical myth on television included an audience study focussed on the character of Athena in Xena: Warrior Princess episode ‘Amphipolis Under Siege’ (5.14). My research was not only into viewers’ reactions to the character of Athena in the episode, where Athena is on the opposing side to the hero, Xena, but also on their knowledge of the goddess Athena before they watched the episode. Viewers were ask to summarise all that they knew about the goddess, and where they obtained their information. This allowed me to build up a picture of what fans of Xena and other members of the general public think about the goddess, when compared with the knowledge held by classicists, who also took part in my study. What I found was that respondents are engaging with the goddess in different ways, including the pagan who prays to the goddess, and the viewers who think of Athena as a goddess who stands for women. In this paper, drawing on both my doctoral research, and a shorter audience study conducted at the Petrie Museum in 2013, I will share my findings on what Athena can mean to us today.
Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Knitting: Athena in the Popular Imagination
My doctoral research on classical myth on television included an audience study focussed on the character of Athena in Xena: Warrior Princess episode ‘Amphipolis Under Siege’ (5.14). My research was not only into viewers’ reactions to the character of Athena in the episode, where Athena is on the opposing side to the hero, Xena, but also on their knowledge of the goddess Athena before they watched the episode. Viewers were ask to summarise all that they knew about the goddess, and where they obtained their information. This allowed me to build up a picture of what fans of Xena and other members of the general public think about the goddess, when compared with the knowledge held by classicists, who also took part in my study. What I found was that respondents are engaging with the goddess in different ways, including the pagan who prays to the goddess, and the viewers who think of Athena as a goddess who stands for women. In this paper, drawing on both my doctoral research, and a shorter audience study conducted at the Petrie Museum in 2013, I will share my findings on what Athena can mean to us today.
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