Alexander The Great via BBC
Alexander The Great via The History Of Macedon
Hephaestion via livius.org
Comparison of Alexander: Theatrical Version vs. Director's Cut
Comparison of Alexander: Theatrical Version vs. Final Cut
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Connections To Class
The main way I really connected this movie with what we read, watched, and talked about in class was how the telling of a story can affect the audience's perception and the effectiveness of the story. These two different versions of Alexander are almost completely different tellings. The order in which the story is told, as well as whether certain details are included or left out, drastically affect the way the story is perceived. The arrangement of the Director's Cut, along with exclusion of certain scenes makes the movie fall flat. It makes it hard to follow and hard to really get interested in. The Final Cut, however, with the inclusion of scenes that had been left out and the rearrangement of the scenes, is a much better watch. It is easier to follow and gets the viewer more interested in the events unfolding on the screen. Alexander is an excellent example of how the telling of a story affects the perception of the viewer and the overall effectiveness of the story itself.
Oliver Stone on Alexander Revisited
I can't find the video I want on the YouTube search on Blogger, so I'm just posting the link. :)
Peer Review Article Links
These are the Peer Review Articles that I found pertaining to Oliver Stone's Alexander.
Oliver Stone's Alexander - Terrell Carver
The Alexander Bromance: Male Desire and Gender Fluidity in Oliver Stone’s Historical Epic - Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos
Dionysian Themes and Imagery in Oliver Stone's Alexander - Sheramy D. Bundrick
Oliver Stone's Alexander - Terrell Carver
The Alexander Bromance: Male Desire and Gender Fluidity in Oliver Stone’s Historical Epic - Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos
Dionysian Themes and Imagery in Oliver Stone's Alexander - Sheramy D. Bundrick
The Balcony Scenes
Director's Cut version:
The relevant part starts at 1:15.
Final Cut version:
The Biggest Difference - Hephaestion
The biggest difference that I saw between the Director's Cut and the Final Cut of Alexander was the portrayal of Alexander's sexuality, most specifically where Hephaestion was concerned.
Nearly all of Hephaestion's scenes are left out of the Director's Cut of the movie, which makes the ones that are included not make much sense, or seem like they are coming out of nowhere.
In the Director's Cut, the first scene with any real interaction between Alexander and Hephaestion is the balcony scene, which takes place around an hour into the movie. This is also the first time in the Director's Cut where we can definitively match a face to the name Hephaestion. Until this point, there are many short shots of Hephaestion that honestly don't make any sense because we have no idea who this man is or why his reaction to something might matter, or simply mentions of his name in group scenes. This scene also differs between the Director's and Final Cuts. In the Final Cut, the conversation between Alexander and Hephaestion lasts longer and contains more evidence of the relationship between Alexander and Hephaestion.
In the Final Cut of the movie, however, we can match names with faces ten minutes into the movie when we see a shot of each of Alexander's generals as he mentions them by name and the first scene with interaction between Alexander and Hephaestion starts thirteen minutes into the movie. In this scene, Alexander and Hephaestion are talking as they walk through camp the night before the Battle of Gaugamela. During this scene, Alexander compares himself and Hephaestion to Achilles and Patrochlus, who were believed to be lovers. When Hephaestion points out that Patrochlus died first, Alexander tells him that if he were to die then he would avenge him and follow him down into the house of death and Hephaestion replies that he would do the same. This shows Hephaestion's importance to Alexander.
The comparison to Achilles and Patrochlus happens more than once throughout the movie, the other major time being during the balcony scene when Alexander asks Hephaestion "...what destiny do we- I have?" and Hephaestion responds "Well, if I'm Patrochlus, I die first; then you, Achilles." These lines and the entire scene in the camp were not included in the Director's Cut.
Another scene with Hephaestion that was not included in the Director's Cut takes place after Alexander has killed Cleitus. In the scene, Roxane tries to go see Alexander in his tent, where he has been for the past few days due to his grief, and Hephaestion, who had been with Alexander, turns her away.
There are also short shots throughout the movie that are not included in the Director's Cut that show Hephaestion's importance to Alexander. Short shots where Alexander will look to Hephaestion for reassurance, or that show Hephaestion's distaste when Alexander gives attention to Bagoas or Roxane. There are also a couple small snippets where Hephaestion is being teased or mocked by the other generals because of his relationship with Alexander.
All in all, a large portion of the scenes that were included in the Final Cut but not the Director's Cut seem to include Hephaestion, along with a couple scenes featuring Alexander and Bagoas, with the result being that the Director's Cut shows a more heterosexual Alexander than the Final Cut does.
Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut
Like the Director's Cut, the Final Cut starts with a scene of Alexander's death and the introduction of Ptolemy who is telling the story forty years after Alexander's death. However, in this version, Ptolemy gives us more history, information, and backstory in his introduction than what we are given in the Director's cut, which makes the story much easier to follow along with.
After the scene with Ptolemy, instead of starting with Alexander's childhood, the Final Cut moves straight to the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander's greatest victory. After a brief look at the size of the armies, we see Alexander in a meeting with his generals. While this scene is in the Director's Cut, a slightly different version is used for the Final Cut. In this version, a shot of each of Alexander's generals is shown as he says their names, giving us faces to go with the names we hear and letting us know who is who early on in the film rather than keeping us guessing for most of the time like the Director's Cut does.
Next is a scene that was not included in the Director's Cut at all in which Alexander and Hephaestion are walking through camp the night before the battle. We see Alexander talk to a few of his soldiers for a few minutes before he and Hephaestion continue walking. In this scene, Hephaestion's importance to Alexander is made evident when Alexander compares the two of them to Achilles and Patrochlus. When Hephaestion points out that Patrochlus died first, Alexander says that if Hephaestion dies then he will avenge him and follow him down into the house of death, to which Hephaestion says that he would do the same. This not only shows Hephaestion's importance to Alexander, but foreshadows Hephaestion's death later in life, which was followed shortly by Alexander's.
After this is the Battle of Gaugamela, including a speech from Alexander and the battle itself, which is very detailed and bloody, as all of the battle scenes in the movie are. After Alexander's victory, we hear Ptolemy narrating, telling the audience that at the age of twenty-five, Alexander was now king of all.
After this, Alexander's childhood is shown, mostly giving backstory that helps to show Alexander's character and his relationships with his mother and father. We see Alexander being taught by Aristotle, Alexander taming his horse Bucephelus, and scenes where Alexander interacts with each of his parents.
Next, we see Alexander arriving in Babylon after his victory at Gaugamela and hear Ptolemy saying that at that point, Alexander was loved by all. At this point there is an added scene where we see Alexander meet Bagoas, a eunuch in the harem who will become one of Alexander's lovers. At this point, we learn Bagoas's name and Alexander interact with him for the first time, both things that are left out in the Director's Cut.
The next scene is also extended compared to what is seen in the Director's Cut. Alexander is reading a letter from his mother, who is warning him that those closest to him will betray him when Hephaestion comes to see Alexander. In the extended version, Alexander asks Hephaestion to stay with him for the night and sends Bagoas, who was drawing his bath, away before the two go out onto the balcony and talk. In the Director's Cut, this conversation is also shortened. The extended version of the conversation gives further evidence of Hephaestion's importance to Alexander when Alexander tells Hephaestion "It is only you that I love, Hephaestion. No other."
After this, Alexander continues his campaign through Asia and we see Alexander marry a barbarian woman named Roxane. This angers Alexander's generals who believe that Alexander should take a Macedonian for a queen. The order of the scenes in this section plays out differently than in the Director's Cut, showing Alexander marrying Roxane, followed by the scene with his generals, and then a party to celebrate the marriage before moving on to the wedding night. In the Director's Cut, the party comes first, making it seem like the party has nothing to do with the wedding and is where Alexander first met Roxane. The wedding night also plays out differently; in the Final Cut, Roxane attempts to kill Alexander after finding out that he loves Hephaestion.
The next few sections jump back and forth in the timeline, first going back ten years, then forward ten years to shortly after Alexander is married, then back to King Philip's wedding to a Greek woman, then forward once more to Alexander reaching the Hindu Kush and no longer being able to continue east and having to instead travel south into India. At this point, there is an intermission before starting up once more in India.
While in India, Alexander kills once of his generals, Cleitus. There is another difference in scenes here. In the Director's Cut, Alexander simply kills Cleitus while in a rage during an argument with him. However, in the Final Cut, Cleitus is dragged from the room by others before reentering and being killed by Alexander. This is because it is unclear whether Cleitus actually left the room or not, so Oliver Stone wanted to film it both ways. In the Final Cut, we also see Alexander grieving for Cleitus and regretting his actions, something that is not shown in the Director's Cut.
This is followed by a flashback to King Philip being assassinated and Alexander becoming king before once more jumping forward to India again and a mutiny against Alexander. It is at this point that we hear Ptolemy say that Alexander was no longer loved by all. Alexander deals with the mutiny and leads his army into one more battle in India in which he and Hephaestion are both injured and his horse is killed before finally deciding to leave India and go home. They return to Babylon and some time passes before Hephaestion becomes ill and dies. Alexander orders the physician executed and accuses Roxane of poisoning Hephaestion. At Hephaestion's funeral games, Alexander collapses and becomes severely ill. We see Alexander's generals and soldiers paying their respects to Alexander while he is on his deathbed followed by a scene with Alexander and Bagoas that is not included in the Director's Cut, and then Alexander's closest generals asking him who will rule and telling him that there will be chaos if he doesn't say who will rule after his death. We hear Alexander weakly say "To the best" followed by his generals questioning whether he had said "to the best" or "to Craterus", this is because, in Greek, the two words sound very similar and so Alexander's generals were never truly sure of Alexander's final words.
Lastly, Ptolemy tells of the aftermath of Alexander's death, of the wars between his generals over the empire before it was finally divided, of the fate of Alexander's mother, wives and son.
The movie ends with a note onscreen telling the viewers that "Over time, the great library of Alexandria was destroyed by a series of fires. Ptolemy's memoirs of Alexander, along with many other great memories of the ancient world, vanished."
Overall, the Final Cut is a much, much better version than the Director's Cut. Even though it is 45 minutes longer than the Director's Cut, I had no problems watching the Final Cut. Scenes that were included in the Final Cut, but not the Director's Cut made other scenes make much more sense than they had in the Director's Cut. Of the scenes not included in the Director's Cut, it seems like the majority of them were ones that portrayed Alexander's sexuality as non-heterosexual. A good deal of Hephaestion's scenes are not included in the Director's Cut, which makes the scenes that do feature him and his relationship with Alexander seem like they come out of nowhere. There are also scenes with Bagoas in the Final Cut that aren't included in the Director's.
The order of the scenes in the Final Cut made it much easier to follow the story, along with the fact that dates were used in the Final Cut instead of just telling how far forward or backward the timeline was moving, which made it easier to tell what happened when.
After the scene with Ptolemy, instead of starting with Alexander's childhood, the Final Cut moves straight to the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander's greatest victory. After a brief look at the size of the armies, we see Alexander in a meeting with his generals. While this scene is in the Director's Cut, a slightly different version is used for the Final Cut. In this version, a shot of each of Alexander's generals is shown as he says their names, giving us faces to go with the names we hear and letting us know who is who early on in the film rather than keeping us guessing for most of the time like the Director's Cut does.
Next is a scene that was not included in the Director's Cut at all in which Alexander and Hephaestion are walking through camp the night before the battle. We see Alexander talk to a few of his soldiers for a few minutes before he and Hephaestion continue walking. In this scene, Hephaestion's importance to Alexander is made evident when Alexander compares the two of them to Achilles and Patrochlus. When Hephaestion points out that Patrochlus died first, Alexander says that if Hephaestion dies then he will avenge him and follow him down into the house of death, to which Hephaestion says that he would do the same. This not only shows Hephaestion's importance to Alexander, but foreshadows Hephaestion's death later in life, which was followed shortly by Alexander's.
After this is the Battle of Gaugamela, including a speech from Alexander and the battle itself, which is very detailed and bloody, as all of the battle scenes in the movie are. After Alexander's victory, we hear Ptolemy narrating, telling the audience that at the age of twenty-five, Alexander was now king of all.
After this, Alexander's childhood is shown, mostly giving backstory that helps to show Alexander's character and his relationships with his mother and father. We see Alexander being taught by Aristotle, Alexander taming his horse Bucephelus, and scenes where Alexander interacts with each of his parents.
Next, we see Alexander arriving in Babylon after his victory at Gaugamela and hear Ptolemy saying that at that point, Alexander was loved by all. At this point there is an added scene where we see Alexander meet Bagoas, a eunuch in the harem who will become one of Alexander's lovers. At this point, we learn Bagoas's name and Alexander interact with him for the first time, both things that are left out in the Director's Cut.
The next scene is also extended compared to what is seen in the Director's Cut. Alexander is reading a letter from his mother, who is warning him that those closest to him will betray him when Hephaestion comes to see Alexander. In the extended version, Alexander asks Hephaestion to stay with him for the night and sends Bagoas, who was drawing his bath, away before the two go out onto the balcony and talk. In the Director's Cut, this conversation is also shortened. The extended version of the conversation gives further evidence of Hephaestion's importance to Alexander when Alexander tells Hephaestion "It is only you that I love, Hephaestion. No other."
After this, Alexander continues his campaign through Asia and we see Alexander marry a barbarian woman named Roxane. This angers Alexander's generals who believe that Alexander should take a Macedonian for a queen. The order of the scenes in this section plays out differently than in the Director's Cut, showing Alexander marrying Roxane, followed by the scene with his generals, and then a party to celebrate the marriage before moving on to the wedding night. In the Director's Cut, the party comes first, making it seem like the party has nothing to do with the wedding and is where Alexander first met Roxane. The wedding night also plays out differently; in the Final Cut, Roxane attempts to kill Alexander after finding out that he loves Hephaestion.
The next few sections jump back and forth in the timeline, first going back ten years, then forward ten years to shortly after Alexander is married, then back to King Philip's wedding to a Greek woman, then forward once more to Alexander reaching the Hindu Kush and no longer being able to continue east and having to instead travel south into India. At this point, there is an intermission before starting up once more in India.
While in India, Alexander kills once of his generals, Cleitus. There is another difference in scenes here. In the Director's Cut, Alexander simply kills Cleitus while in a rage during an argument with him. However, in the Final Cut, Cleitus is dragged from the room by others before reentering and being killed by Alexander. This is because it is unclear whether Cleitus actually left the room or not, so Oliver Stone wanted to film it both ways. In the Final Cut, we also see Alexander grieving for Cleitus and regretting his actions, something that is not shown in the Director's Cut.
This is followed by a flashback to King Philip being assassinated and Alexander becoming king before once more jumping forward to India again and a mutiny against Alexander. It is at this point that we hear Ptolemy say that Alexander was no longer loved by all. Alexander deals with the mutiny and leads his army into one more battle in India in which he and Hephaestion are both injured and his horse is killed before finally deciding to leave India and go home. They return to Babylon and some time passes before Hephaestion becomes ill and dies. Alexander orders the physician executed and accuses Roxane of poisoning Hephaestion. At Hephaestion's funeral games, Alexander collapses and becomes severely ill. We see Alexander's generals and soldiers paying their respects to Alexander while he is on his deathbed followed by a scene with Alexander and Bagoas that is not included in the Director's Cut, and then Alexander's closest generals asking him who will rule and telling him that there will be chaos if he doesn't say who will rule after his death. We hear Alexander weakly say "To the best" followed by his generals questioning whether he had said "to the best" or "to Craterus", this is because, in Greek, the two words sound very similar and so Alexander's generals were never truly sure of Alexander's final words.
Lastly, Ptolemy tells of the aftermath of Alexander's death, of the wars between his generals over the empire before it was finally divided, of the fate of Alexander's mother, wives and son.
The movie ends with a note onscreen telling the viewers that "Over time, the great library of Alexandria was destroyed by a series of fires. Ptolemy's memoirs of Alexander, along with many other great memories of the ancient world, vanished."
Overall, the Final Cut is a much, much better version than the Director's Cut. Even though it is 45 minutes longer than the Director's Cut, I had no problems watching the Final Cut. Scenes that were included in the Final Cut, but not the Director's Cut made other scenes make much more sense than they had in the Director's Cut. Of the scenes not included in the Director's Cut, it seems like the majority of them were ones that portrayed Alexander's sexuality as non-heterosexual. A good deal of Hephaestion's scenes are not included in the Director's Cut, which makes the scenes that do feature him and his relationship with Alexander seem like they come out of nowhere. There are also scenes with Bagoas in the Final Cut that aren't included in the Director's.
The order of the scenes in the Final Cut made it much easier to follow the story, along with the fact that dates were used in the Final Cut instead of just telling how far forward or backward the timeline was moving, which made it easier to tell what happened when.
Alexander Director's Cut
The Director's Cut of Alexander starts with Alexander's death and the introduction of the narrator, Ptolemy, who was one of Alexander's military leaders and friends and is telling the story forty years after Alexander's death. After this, the story starts early on in Alexander's life and, although it does jump around a lot, is told in a mostly chronological order with timelapses being indicated by captions how far back or forward in time the story was jumping.
This version seems to mostly focus on the battles and politics of Alexander's life and ignores a lot of his personal relationships. We see enough to get a good idea of what his relationships with his mother and father were like, but not much of his relationships with his men or his wife. Trying to figure out who's who amongst his generals is difficult because, a lot of the time, either multiple people are being spoken to, or they are simply being spoken about and a face is not given to go with the name. His relationship with Hephaestion is almost completely cut from this version of the movie, and when there is any mention or hint of a relationship between them, it pretty much comes out of nowhere and makes no sense because the scenes that tell the audience who Hephaestion is aren't there. We see Alexander struggle with his mother's control and his desire to make his father proud, but this seems to be the extent of what we see regarding Alexander's personal life and relationships.
The decision to start with Alexander's childhood and continue in a mostly chronological order, I think, hurts the movie because it takes so long for anything truly exciting to happen. Most of the scenes set during Alexander's childhood would be better served as flashbacks since they don't really help along the plot, but rather provide a bit of a backstory.
Throughout the movie, we are shown evidence of Alexander's greatness: his refusal to steal a victory over his enemies by attacking in the night; how he rides into battle with his men instead of giving orders from the back; how he agrees to treat the Persian princess and her family as royalty even though he has conquered their people; and that he gives conquered lands back to their kings as a way to gain allies, among other things.
Overall, I thought this version was horrible. Individual scenes by themselves were good, but as a whole, I had the hardest time getting through this version. There wasn't really a lot that captured and held my interest and the timeline was confusing because dates were not given for the most part, the audience is simply told that a scene is '9 years earlier' or '40 years later' and there are enough time jumps that this becomes quite confusing.
This version seems to mostly focus on the battles and politics of Alexander's life and ignores a lot of his personal relationships. We see enough to get a good idea of what his relationships with his mother and father were like, but not much of his relationships with his men or his wife. Trying to figure out who's who amongst his generals is difficult because, a lot of the time, either multiple people are being spoken to, or they are simply being spoken about and a face is not given to go with the name. His relationship with Hephaestion is almost completely cut from this version of the movie, and when there is any mention or hint of a relationship between them, it pretty much comes out of nowhere and makes no sense because the scenes that tell the audience who Hephaestion is aren't there. We see Alexander struggle with his mother's control and his desire to make his father proud, but this seems to be the extent of what we see regarding Alexander's personal life and relationships.
The decision to start with Alexander's childhood and continue in a mostly chronological order, I think, hurts the movie because it takes so long for anything truly exciting to happen. Most of the scenes set during Alexander's childhood would be better served as flashbacks since they don't really help along the plot, but rather provide a bit of a backstory.
Throughout the movie, we are shown evidence of Alexander's greatness: his refusal to steal a victory over his enemies by attacking in the night; how he rides into battle with his men instead of giving orders from the back; how he agrees to treat the Persian princess and her family as royalty even though he has conquered their people; and that he gives conquered lands back to their kings as a way to gain allies, among other things.
Overall, I thought this version was horrible. Individual scenes by themselves were good, but as a whole, I had the hardest time getting through this version. There wasn't really a lot that captured and held my interest and the timeline was confusing because dates were not given for the most part, the audience is simply told that a scene is '9 years earlier' or '40 years later' and there are enough time jumps that this becomes quite confusing.
Alexander the Great: What History Tells Us
- Alexander the Great was born in Pella, Macedonia in 356 B.C.
- His parents were King Philip II and Olympias, though Olympias insisted that Zeus was Alexander's father and not Philip.
- Alexander was educated by Aristotle.
- Alexander tamed his horse, Bucephalus, at the age of 12 and rode him in all of his major battles.
- Alexander's greatest emotional attachment is said to have been to his companion, commander, and most likely, lover, Hephaestion, though scholars disagree on whether or not they were actually lovers.
- Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C. and Alexander became king.
- By the age of 25, Alexander ruled Macedon, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Persia.
- His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C.
- In less than a decade, Alexander created an empire that stretched across 3 continents and covered around 2 million square miles.
- Alexander has been acknowledged as a military genius who always led by example.
- In 13 years, his troops only refused to follow him into battle once.
- Died in June 323 B.C.
- His parents were King Philip II and Olympias, though Olympias insisted that Zeus was Alexander's father and not Philip.
- Alexander was educated by Aristotle.
- Alexander tamed his horse, Bucephalus, at the age of 12 and rode him in all of his major battles.
- Alexander's greatest emotional attachment is said to have been to his companion, commander, and most likely, lover, Hephaestion, though scholars disagree on whether or not they were actually lovers.
- Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C. and Alexander became king.
- By the age of 25, Alexander ruled Macedon, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Persia.
- His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C.
- In less than a decade, Alexander created an empire that stretched across 3 continents and covered around 2 million square miles.
- Alexander has been acknowledged as a military genius who always led by example.
- In 13 years, his troops only refused to follow him into battle once.
- Died in June 323 B.C.
Overview: Summaries, Runtime, Casting, etc.
Casting:
Alexander - Colin Farrell
Hephaestion - Jared Leto
Queen Olympias - Angelina Jolie
King Philip - Val Kilmer
Old Ptolemy - Anthony Hopkins
Roxane - Rosario Dawson
Director: Oliver Stone
Written by: Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle, Laeta Kalogridis
Alexander Director's Cut
Released: 2005
Runtime: 167 minutes (2 hours 47 minutes)
Rated: R
Summary: Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone presents a breathtaking new cut of his sweeping epic film Alexander, the true story of the world's greatest warrior. Using footage never seen and dramatically reshaping dozens of scenes, he brings to life the overpowering forces and fierce personalities that forever changed history. Driven by a craving for his father's (Val Kilmer) love and the brutal ambition of his mother (Angelina Jolie), Alexander (Colin Farrell) faced massive armies in Persia, Afghanistan and India and was never defeated. "Fortune favors the bold" Stone powerfully demonstrates in this bold new film Alexander Director's Cut.
Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut
Released: 2007
Runtime: 214 minutes (3 hours 34 minutes)
Rated: Unrated
Summary: Like its title character, this reinvention by Oliver Stone of his epic story is bold and unprecedented, now recalling in its sweep such movie greats as Lawrence of Arabia and Patton. The filmmaker of JFK and World Trade Center incorporates over 30 minutes never shown anywhere and reshapes his saga of the world's greatest warrior (Colin Farrell) into a richer, more satisfying and audacious portrait from curious boyhood to mature conqueror. Added scenes of thunderous action and evocative sexuality enrich the performances of its stellar cast (Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Hopkins). Discover more secrets of a historic legend - and more greatness from one of cinema's bravest directors.
*summaries taken from the backs of the cases.
Blog Purpose
This blog was created for a final project in my Ethnic Literature class and will compare the Director's Cut and Final Cut versions of Oliver Stone's Alexander. The main focus in the comparison will be how the elements of the different versions (mostly scene order and whether or not a scene was included) affect the viewer's perception of the story being told.
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