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The Owl's Legacy Episode Guide
Symposium, or the Received Ideas
S1 Ep1
1.0
12th Jun 1989
In Paris, Tbilisi, Athens and Berkeley historians have played with reconstitutions of the "symposium" - the Greek banquet - around tables laden with food and wine.
Olympics, or the Imaginary Greece
S1 Ep2
13th Jun 1989
Greece's inheritance was recomposed in contemporary mythology. This sometimes led to terrible misappropriations for the benefit of totalitarian ideologies - of which Nazism was born.
Democracy, or the City of Dreams
S1 Ep3
14th Jun 1989
What exactly does the word mean “democracy” mean? Does it designates the ancient city-state or our contemporary political systems? What are the analogies or, on the contrary, the radical differences between realities separated by more than twenty centuries? Are certain functions suitable for all civilizations? Τhe third episode of Chris Marker’s legendary documentary series – which first aired on British state television in 1991 but remained in the dark for decades – returns to classical antiquity to make a bold parallel, familiarizing 21st-century audiences with a concept of the commons that seems primordial yet innovative, reinventing itself in every single manifestation.
Nostalgia, or the Impossible Return
S1 Ep4
15th Jun 1989
Ithaca is the iconic distant home that no one should forget: such would be the universal lesson of Homer's Odyssey.
Amnesia, or the Sense of History
S1 Ep5
16th Jun 1989
Built on the testimony or "autopsy" - which literally means "seeing oneself" - our conception of History has deeply shifted since Herodotus.
Mathematics, or the Realm of Signs
S1 Ep6
19th Jun 1989
The geometrical space and the mathematical language constitute a universal legacy the Greeks have bequeathed us with. How do we articulate its perfect logic to the complexity of contemporary sciences?
Logomachy, or the Root of Words
S1 Ep7
20th Jun 1989
All the meanings of "logos" originated from a small territory between Ephesus and Patmos. According to Aristotle the human animal fights with a specific weapon: speech... Logos' destiny would it be the "logomachy"? The fight over words.
Music, or the Inner Space
S1 Ep8
21st Jun 1989
A cross between imitation and creation, the search for the beautiful and harmonious animates the artists' personal quests - including with cutting-edge technology - as well as it serves great collective schemes - religions in particular.
Cosmogony, or the Use of the World
S1 Ep9
22nd Jun 1989
This reflection over creation - divine cosmogony and man's creativity - takes us from the Greek statuary art to the Acropolis' Korai on show in Tokyo. This takes us on towards the Gorgon - a mirror of death.
Mythology, or the Truth of Lies
S1 Ep10
23rd Jun 1989
There are a set of myths to which we constantly refer ourselves. We will question their genesis, their place in psyche, their transmission, their nature.
Misogyny, or Desire's Traps
S1 Ep11
26th Jun 1989
The Greek conception of sexuality was very different from ours. What did the Greek think of desire in a world where heterosexuality and homosexuality - far from being opposites - were models of existence that were different but compatible?
Tragedy, or the Illusion of Death
S1 Ep12
27th Jun 1989
The great figures borne out of Greek tragedies help us fathom the founding mechanisms of human practices - all the way to a society like Japan, that is so apparently far from ours.
Philosophy, or the Owl's Triumph
S1 Ep13
28th Jun 1989
Around the metaphorical - but also very real - figure of the owl; entwined reflections upon the place of thought in daily existence and public action - sometimes with and sometimes against the Greek legacy.
THE OWL’S LEGACY is an intellectually agile, engaging, and sometimes biting look at ancient Greece, its influences on Western culture—and how many eras have reinterpreted the Greek legacy to reflect their own needs. Each of the 13 episodes is centered on a potent Greek word: from “democracy” and “philosophy” to “mythology” and “misogyny.” Marker convenes and films symposia—meals featuring wine and thoughtful conversation—in locales including Paris, Tokyo, Tbilisi, Berkeley, and an olive grove on Athens’ outskirts. Footage from these banquets is interspersed with archival materials and interviews (often featuring a stylized or distorted owl image looming in the background). Marker’s diverse group of informants includes composers, politicians, classicists, historians, scientists, writers, filmmakers, and actors. Together their contributions form a compelling (and sometimes contradictory) cultural and historical exploration for each theme.
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The first episode of The Owl's Legacy aired on June 12, 1989.
The last episode of The Owl's Legacy aired on June 28, 1989.
