The Return of the Epic Film : Genre, Aesthetics and History in the 21st Century

This book explores the return of the 'epic' in 21st century cinema. With the success of Gladiator, both critics and scholars enthusiastically announced the return of a genre which had lain dormant for 30 years. However, this return raises important new questions which remain unanswered. Why did the epic come back, and why did it fall out of fashion? Are these the same kinds of epics as the 1950s and 60s, or are there aesthetic differences? Can we treat Kingdom of Heaven, 300 and Thor indiscriminately as one genre? Are non Western histories like Hero and Mongol epics, too? Finally, what precisely do we mean when we talk about the return of the epic film, and why are they back? The Return of the Epic Film offers a fresh way of thinking about a body of films which has dominated our screens for a decade. With contributions from top scholars in the field, the collection adopts a range of interdisciplinary perspectives to explore the epic film in the 21st century. It is the first collection to address and challenge the return of the epic film in the twenty first century and our tendency to group these films together. The collection offers 12 essays from a range of disciplines as disparate as film, sociology, history and cultural studies, which challenge our core assumptions about the epic film. The Return of the Epic Film includes essays by internationally recognised names in film studies, history and adaptation, which each analyse the return of the epic from a number of angles. The volume brings together a variety of approaches which broaden the arsenal of traditional film studies, and lays the foundations for future research into epic films.