Great Pan is Dead? 21st century television and film, ecohorror, and the Old Gods
A quick glance at 21st century screen schedules might suggest that when it comes to the old gods, Thamus’ message was correct – the great god Pan is dead. There are few examples of television or film representations of the goat-horned god, and his representation within these examples are varied. When it comes to themes of folk horror and the eco-gothic, Pan is conspicuous by his absence, particularly in comparison to his earlier literary representations. Conversely, and admittedly again few in number, when it comes to representing the eco-gothic or eco-horror through the medium of the old gods, Cernunnos has become a more familiar figure. In this talk I will explore the 21st century screen representations of both of these gods, to consider why there may have been a move from Pan to Cernunnos as the go-to ‘old god’ for this medium.
Bio
Katy Soar is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Winchester. Her research areas include Greek archaeology (especially the Bronze Age of the Aegean), the history and reception of archaeology, and the relations between archaeology and folk horror. She is the co-editor (with Amara Thornton) of Strange Relics: Stories of Archaeology and the Supernatural, 1895-1954 (Handheld Press), the editor of the British Library ‘Tales of the Weird’ volume Circles of Stone: Strange Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites, and a frequent contributor to the magazine Hellebore.
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Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Caption: Gundestrup boiler, inside Description Gundestrup boiler, inner plates, Y.FRJ, Rævemosen, Ålborg County. Creative Commons.
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