Panel 3F Transcodifications in/of the Ancient World/2
Session 3 – July 2, 11:00 – 13:00
Classical Greece Becomes Modern: From Archaic Tales to Magic Mythology
Classical Greece becomes modern:from archaic tales to Magic mythology Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is not only the most known and widespread trading card game in the world but it isalso an unrivaled coherent narrative system, consisting not only of more than 20,000 different cards (each of whichis a complex medium, incorporating denomination, image, taxonomy, individual rules and, often, flavor text) butalso of books (65 novels and 8 short stories anthologies), comics (5 different series), animated trailers, video games, articles, and various amateur productions. Game mechanics, characters, stories, and images blend together to create a shared macrocosm, a unique universe with the aim of meeting the expectations of players and collectors, making their experiences vivid and immersive. Not being able to study the entire production, we decided to identify a subset of elements, connected by a common theme, to analyse its coherence, communication strategies, conveyed messages, and public perception. For this reason, we prefer to limit our analysis to the cycle of Theros, one of the last universes created in the game, inspired by classical Greece: a cosmos dominated by gods very similar to the Olympians and populated not only bymen, safe behind the walls of the poleis, but also by nymphs and satyrs, by giants and other inhabitants of the myth.As a first objective, we want to observe how the classic legacy was transfused into MTG both in terms of rules (es-sential for a product that, first of all, is an internationally competitive game, with a professional league and a seriesof tournaments that provide rich prize for the winners) and storyline as well as how much the original context has been innovated by the authors.As a further step, we want to identify the strategies used to converge the plurality of narratives proposed in a coher-ent unicum, understand what it can offer in terms of play and how this is perceived by its audience
Bio
MA in law (2008) and MA in administrative sciences (2012), he continued his studies by attending advanced courses in Italy and abroad with a focus on modern art (France), law (Denmark) and art economy (Germany).Currently he’s also interested in copyright, open access, and cultural communication. He’s a permanent member of Fabriani’s editorial board