Latente - Revista de Historia y Estética del Cine, Fotografía y Cultura Visual

One Hundred Years of a Forgotten Fascination: Ben-Hur. A Tale of The Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925)

Oscar Lapeña — 2025-07-31

The years prior to the arrival of talkies collect important examples of films set in the ancient world. Among all these titles, Ben-Hur. A Tale of the Christ, directed by Fred Niblo in 1925 and with the actor Ramón Novarro as the absolute protagonist. Having as an excuse that, in 2025, one hundred years will be celebrated since its premiere, we want to claim in these pages Niblo's film as one of the most important films made in the years of silent cinema, and not only the one that deals with Antiquity . The historical reconstruction and the spectacular nature of many of its scenes do not hide the fact that Ben-Hur is above all a religious film with a proselytizing message for Christianity.

Ancient History on The Small Screen: The Series of The Last Quarter of the 20th Century

Miguel Dávila Vargas-Machuca — 2025-07-31

The presence of Antiquity on the big screen dates back to the very beginnings of the film medium, but on the small screen it would have to wait a little longer. After some television precedents in different countries, the 1970s saw the premiere of one of the most important series in the history of television: I, Claudius, whose trascendence has had a subsequent influence that is evident in series close to it, but also with echoes in our 21st century. This paper proposes a journey from those precedents and that 1976 series to the turn of century and millennium in order to recognise a good group of series that have bequeathed an image of Antiquity to very diverse audiences around the world.

Re-Visiting Classical Antiquity in The Series Unraveling History

María Lorenzo Hernández — 2025-07-31

This essay offers a transdisciplinary approach to the Youtube channel Unraveling History, describing its artistic development and how the episodes have progressively focused on mythological topics. The main phases of the channel’s evolution will be identified, from 2017 to present time, through the use of an audiovisual-analysis methodology; with this purpose, the intertextual references that predominate in its thematic, musical and visual treatment will be addressed, paying special attention to Hestia (2020), a case study that allows us to identify the main characteristics of UH videos that pay tribute to mythological stories. In conclusion, there has been a significant increase in intertextual elements, more specifically in UH’s mythological-themed videos. As well, the significant improvement in animation techniques and series-design principles have helped to consolidate UH as a professional production, in contrast to its improvised origin.

The Long Journey of The Odyssey. Homer’s Work Through Comics and Video Games of the 21st Century

Alfonso Ramírez Contreras — 2025-07-31

The text addresses the cultural transmission of Homer's The Odyssey over the centuries and its ability to adapt to different media and eras without losing its narrative essence. It analyzes how the work has been reinterpreted in various formats, from literature and theater to film, comics, and video games, demonstrating its relevance and significance in contemporary culture. These adaptations have allowed The Odyssey to connect with new generations, remaining an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The diversity of approaches highlights the universality of the myth and its capacity to reflect human values and challenges, establishing it as a fundamental narrative in cultural and artistic history.

Videtur Per Lens. Hannibal Barca In the Documentary Cinema

Araceli Pérez Fernández — 2025-07-31

This article analyzes the audiovisual reception of the Carthaginian general, statesman and urban planner Hannibal Barca in the field of documentary cinema.

After the success of productions such as Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000), cinema based on the Roman world experienced a Renaissance that would extend to one of the characters most closely linked to it: Hannibal himself and Carthage, the city where he was born. With this, the documentary, which would remain as a product destined to the intimacy of the small screen of the domestic space, made use of his figure, making several productions on the life and actions of this general. This article, therefore, reviews some of these productions with the aim of unraveling the audiovisual codes with which Aníbal's journey is fixed in the retinas of viewers.

The determination of intertextual relationships in films about Jesus of Nazareth as a key factor in their semiotic potential

Alberto Pino Serradilla — 2025-07-31

Feature films that narrate the life of Jesus are adaptations of literary texts nearly two millennia old, which themselves carry preceding Jewish textual traditions that are defining for their meanings. This study proposes a methodological tool to elucidate the symbolic-textual system underlying the discursive surface of films with New Testament themes, counting with criteria based on principles of intertextuality that allow the identification of three possible textual strata that can be articulated beneath the discursive surface of each film, as well as the citations, allusions, or echoes that connect these strata both to each other and to the film’s expressive units. In this way, it becomes possible to illuminate the network of semiotic systems underpinning the meanings articulated by the films, as well as the bidirectional processes of re-signification between the textual strata of the film and its inherent signifying potential.

The Hero’s Journey in Disney Key: Hercules (1997), Between Myth and Modernity

Nuria Lon Roca — 2025-07-31

Through a case study of the film Hercules (John Musker and Ron Clemens, 1997) it examines how the classical story of Heracles - Hercules following Roman mythology and the film's narrative - has been adapted to suit the demands of modern audiences. The article explores the alterations and omissions made to both the characters and the narrative itself, addressing the internal cogency of the plot and, consequently, the changes to key elements of the original myth, such as the roles of Zeus, Hera and Hades. In addition, the historical rigorousness of the mythological and cultural representations depicted in the film has been evaluated, and how these decisions contribute to a simplified or transformed view by the audience.

Myths and Texts of The Greco-Roman World in Tolkien. A New Perspective of The Legendarium

Antonio Míguez Santa Cruz — 2025-07-31

J.R.R. Tolkien’s work has often been interpreted as an evocation of the Christian Middle
Ages, yet its mythopoetic construction is rooted in far older sources. This article explores the
profound influence of classical myths on Middle-earth, revealing how Homeric, Hesiodic,
and Virgilian elements permeate his narrative. From the Odyssey to the Aeneid, from the
myth of Gyges to the fall of Atlantis, classical literature provides essential keys to
understanding both the structure and recurring themes in The Lord of the Rings, The
Silmarillion, and The Hobbit. Thus, Tolkien’s work emerges as a meeting point—more
balanced than previously thought—between Germanic mythology and the classical tradition.

Scepters, canes, wands and stands in comics, mangas and animes

José Enrique Delgado López — 2025-07-31

This paper analyzes the presence of scepters, staffs, rods, crosiers, staffs and caduceus displayed in comics, manga and anime, whether graphically or in cinema, and at the same time the way in which those instruments, generally referred to as relics with agency, are associated with magic, weapons and tools and which in turn are inspired by objects from ancient cultures, universal mythology or literature. To do this, an extensive search was carried out in graphic and film sources, from which an enormous number of references were obtained that were synthesized into the most representative ones to understand the artifacts. From the above, it is deduced that such elements are linked and inspired by the past and that they appear as channels of energy, magic, controllers and alterers of nature and manipulators of minds.

The Role of Theme and Narrativity In Board Games for Playful Learning of Ancient History

Marina Camino Carrasco — 2025-07-31

This study aims to provide a theoretical reflection from a humanistic perspective on the use of board games in the Didactics of Social Sciences, focusing on Ancient History. Through the narrative and theme of games, it explores how these can facilitate the learning of historical, political, geographical, and socio-cultural concepts, drawing on Huizinga’s magic circle theory, constructivism, and Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory. Furthermore, the use of commercial games for teaching the ancient world is proposed, highlighting the power of narrative and thematic immersion as tools to enhance intrinsic motivation and experiential learning.

El trabajo de Fernando de Felipe en el ámbito audiovisual. Del guion al ensayo académico

Julio Gracia Lana — 2025-07-31

The text analyses Fernando de Felipe's production in the audiovisual field, both in the industrial aspect and through his academic facet. Although the author is especially known for his work in the territory of the Ninth Art, his audiovisual productions (short films, feature films, television and other products), articles, book chapters and, especially, his books on cinema, maintain their own relevance in the whole of his career. We approach products such as Oedipus (1997) or the pioneering essay Los Hermanos Coen. El Cine Siamés (Glénat, 1999).

/ Exegetical Analysis of The Cathedral Ecphrasis In The Elephant Man (1980): Ovidian Metapoesis In David Lynch’s Cinema

Juan Manuel Arriaga Benítez — 2025-07-31

The Elephant Man is one of David Lynch's most famous films; the director took advantage of the main plot of the story to include an ekphrasis that communicates his own vision of cinema. This ekphrasis is developed in a series of scenes that, as a whole, describe the piece of art not only from its presentation as a finished work, but from its composition and design; specifically, it is the miniature recreation of a cathedral carried out by the main character, John Merrick. This article aims to be a brief exegetical commentary on this peculiar subplot of the film. In order to interpret this piece, an analysis of the scenes where its composition is displayed on screen has been used from the Ovidian metapoetic perspective. It is concluded that Lynch's intention was to express the meaning that the process of narrating has for him.

The Cervantine Mist on The Truman Show. A comparative-metafictional study between literature and cinema

Alejandro Hernández Pérez — 2025-07-31

This article aims to explore the relationships between Spanish literature and American cinema by examining metafiction in three distinct figures and works: Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quijote (1605–1615), Miguel de Unamuno and Niebla (1914), and Peter Weir and The Truman Show (1998). These novels, film, and authors incorporate specific narrative elements that form the foundation of our investigation. Through a narratological-thematic study, we will delve into theoretical aspects such as narrative self-awareness and authorship, key components in metafictional studies. This article seeks to demonstrate how these three creators are interconnected through these shared aspects, despite belonging to different eras, and to show how literature and cinema influence each other beyond mere film adaptations.

Rodajes en Canarias 1971-1990, vol. iii. Domingo Sola Antequera (2025). Instituto Canario de Desarrollo Cultural

GONZALO PAVÉS BORGES — 2025-07-31

Benjamín Reyes (2024). Don Miguel, el del cine Miguel Brito Rodríguez (1876-1972): pionero del cine y la fotografía en Canarias. Gobierno de Canarias

Domingo Sola Antequera — 2025-07-31

Paisajes del alma. Canarias, cine e identidad

Irene C. Marcos Arteaga — 2025-07-31

Kafka, lo kafkiano y el cine fantástico. Jonathan Allen y Jesús Palacios (2024). Barcelona: Hermenaute

Alejandro Hernández Pérez — 2025-07-31

Se introducen aquí los metadatos que se solicitan en kla página web de la revista:

— Nombre completo de cada autor/a: Alejandro Hernández Pérez

— Filiación: Consejería de Educación, Formación Profesional, Actividad Física y Deportes de Canarias | Universidad de La Laguna

— Correo electrónico: aherperd@gobiernodecanarias.org

— ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8084-7568