Ancient Epic in Film and Television

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2021

Ancient Epic in Film and Television

Edited by: Amanda Potter and Hunter Gardner

In the series Screening Antiquity

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474473767

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examines representations of ancient epic and epic conventions in film and television

Demonstrates how adaptation and revision of ancient epic conventions facilitate the articulation of emerging ideals concerning gender, class, race, and nationality
Analyses recently emerging screen technologies exploring how these technologies have facilitated the capacity of recent films and television to augment the spatiality, distance, and ontological scope identified as crucial components of the epic genre
Explores how the conventions of epic have informed televisual production as the medium enters its platinum" age of production and distribution
Responds to recent work on the epic genre that has gestured toward speculative fiction as a site for the reception and development of generic conventions characteristic of ancient epic

How do epic tropes shape representations of the ancient world and determine contemporary understandings of historical events? What features of ancient epic persistently emerge in science fiction and fantasy narratives adapted to the screen, and why? How does the different scope of televisual versus cinematic media impact the representation of conventions derived from ancient epic?

The international range of contributors to this volume respond to these questions by looking for features of epic outside the traditional realm of Greco-Roman antiquity, including historical films and series, fantasy, science fiction and documentary. By identifying epic conventions on the large and small screen, as well as within a range of speculative fictions in fantastical and futuristic settings, they consider the function of such conventions within their twenty-first-century production contexts.

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Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Series Editors’ Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: The Past and Future of Ancient Epic Amanda Potter and Hunter Gardner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I Surge and Splendour: Ancient Epic Conventions on the Silver Screen
1 A View with (a) Room: Spatial Projections in Ancient and Screen Epic Dan Curley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2 Allusions to Homeric Epic in Contemporary Films, 1984–2019 Jon Solomon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3 ‘Mighty Saga of the World’s Mightiest Man’: Is There Such a Thing as a Modern Hercules Epic? Emma J Stafford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
4 Vergilian Echoes of Fate in Snowpiercer (2013): Engine and Empire without End Jennifer A. Rea Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
5 A Roman Epic in Modern Japan: Screening Rome as Empire Nostalgia in Takeuchi Hideki’s Thermae Romae (2012) Monica S. Cyrino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
6 Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Helen of Troy and the Trojan Horse Kirsten Day Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
PART II From Gold to Platinum: Epic Conventions on the Small Screen
7 Revival of Mythic Epics or Epic Failure? On Gods and Heroes in the Television Shows Olympus (2015) and Troy: Fall of a City (2018) Sylvie Magerstädt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
8 Travels with Odysseus and the Odyssey in Twenty-First-Century Television Documentaries Fiona Hobden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
9 Many (Un)Happy Returns in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–2019) Hunter H Gardner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
10 The Performance of War: Battle as Spectacle in the Iliad and Into the Badlands (2015–2019) Jo Wynell-Mayow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
11 Homeric Intimacy in NBC’s Hannibal (2013–2015) Lynn Kozak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
12 The Gods in Epic Television: The Homeric Cosmos in Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009) Meredith E. Safran Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
13 Towards a Definition of Twenty-First-Century Epic: Audience Responses to Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and His Dark Materials (2019–) as Epic Television Amanda Potter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Afterword Joanna Paul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Filmography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 296
Illustrations
- Other: 15 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Classics & Ancient History

eBook

Published: April 21, 2022
ISBN: 9781474473767