Rick Castle
About:
I received my BA in Classics in 2016 from Brock University in Ontario. I took a few classes focusing on issues of gender in antiquity and was fascinated. I continued my education at Brock University, graduating with an MA in Classical Studies in 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Allison Glazebrook. My MA thesis concentrated on the character of Philip in Xenophon’s Symposium, and his negotiation of homosocial relationships in the sympotic context as well as the polis writ large. After seven years at Brock University, I’m excited to pursue a PhD as an international student at UC Santa Barbara!
I primarily study the reception of Greek myth in video games with a particular view to social justice and representation of marginalized peoples. My dissertation topic is focused on Supergiant’s Hades (2018), critically acclaimed for its adaptation of ancient myth for a modern audience, specifically to queer and POC communities. I believe that the act of storytelling, through any medium, is central to the human experience and that any work of reception closes the distance between the past and present – an effect that Hades accomplishes with nuanced adaptions of ancient texts for a contemporary audience.
Millions of people are more likely to engage with Greek myth through works of reception rather than read the source material, and my research both acknowledges the importance of popular culture’s engagement with Greek myth, as well as tackles the question of how creators and artists can do so in the most responsible way in order to illuminate the past while honoring the people of the present and future.
I also host a bi-quarterly gaming event, Playing with the Past, which invites primarily undergraduate students to engage with video games set in antiquity, both to experience the immersive environments and to analyze the benefits and detriments of games as a medium for scholarship and pedagogy.
Poster Artist: Katabay