Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book intervenes in studies of Lolita, and in the growing field of Kubrick studies, following recent accusations against the film’s producer James B. Harris that he had sex with Sue Lyon when she was only 14 years old. It offers in-depth analyses of Bert Stern’s promotional campaign in which “the image of Lolita” was made after the photoshoot at Sag Harbor. The book then analyzes the legacy of Kubrick’s only black gladiator slave Draba from Spartacusand explores the different ways that his character connects Kubrick’s film with later receptions, notably two television series about Spartacus and the feature films Gladiator and Pompeii. It also discusses the representation of two different types of women in Kubrick’s Spartacus and Starz’s Spartacus, grouping them into so-called elite Roman women and slave women.