UC San Diego

From 1949 to 1966, Hollywood studios produced Biblical and Roman epic films. The Bible and Rome films have received little critical attention, in spite of the continuing popularity of films like The Ten Commandments, and of Rome themes in Science Fiction film descendants like Star Wars and Star Trek. Where they came from, what purpose they served, and why they disappeared or became transformed either has gone unnoticed, or has been a mystery.

In this study I analyze four films shot by shot. I combine this close reading with an analysis of the Rome and Bible genres, and link them to social and political contexts. This investigation shows that these films (and television programs) are widely broadcast narratives that canalize and supplement both dominant and critical interpretations of the United States through Roman or Biblical analogies. Audiences use these analogies as contexts with which to frame understanding of issues in the public sphere.

Extant studies do not explore why these narratives, in particular, were chosen as analogies for the United States. Nor do they explain what cognitive function analogical narratives serve for people individually and collectively. I use contemporary cognitive theory (Vygotsky and Activity theory, and Cognitive linguistics) to explain how such narrative frames work, why they are necessary to form social and political consensus, and how the Rome and Bible analogies have informed identity-struggles in the United States from the colonial period to the present.