ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with two essays that discuss the film's references to and utilization of ancient traditions. It situates the biblical flood story in relation to its own antecedents from among the various flood mythologies of ancient West Asia, highlighting from the outset the ways in which Genesis 6–9 is itself a sophisticated example of rewriting. The book explores the ways in which the film reflects and utilizes Jewish textual and mystical traditions. It examines how the film transforms Noah into the kind of obsessed protagonist we've come to expect in an Aronofsky film, so troubled by visions that it becomes difficult for the character to distinguish what is 'real' from what is not. The book concludes with Jon Morgan's exploration of how Noah draws on and utilizes the biblical flood tradition to construct its ecological message.
