Ancient Epic in Film and Television

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.