The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television Programs Since the 1990s

243 Pages·2017·2.193 MB·English

by  Diak, Nicholas(Editor);Coon, David R(Foreword);Baker, Djoymi(Contributor);Flanagan, Kevin(Contributor)

The New Peplum
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The New Peplum
Essays on Sword and Sandal
Films and Television Programs
Since the 1990s
Edited by N D
icholas iak
Foreword by DaviD R. cooN
Afterword by sTeveN l. seaRs
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-6762-1
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3150-9
libRaRyofcoNgResscaTaloguiNgDaTaaReavailable
bRiTishlibRaRycaTaloguiNgDaTaaReavailable
© 2018 Nicholas Diak. all rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
front cover: scene from Hercules, 2014, shown from le:aksel hennie,
ingrid bolso berdal, Dwayne Johnson (as hercules), Reece Ritchie,
Rufus sewell (Paramount Pictures/MgM/Photofest)
Printed in the united states of america
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
ToMithrasandtheunconquerablesun
acknowledgments
first and foremost, i must express gratitude to Michele brittany, my
partner who has been the biggest supporter for all my projects. This is my
first edited collection i’ve spearheaded, and her encouragement and advice
through the process have been crucial for its success. My best friends adam
and alan handford, parents stan and Tina Wrona, aunt Rose and grandpa
Joseph have all been encouraging as well.
i’d like to recognize the professors and other academics who have men-
tored or inspired me over the years: Rob Weiner (Texas Tech university),
David coon (university of Washington), the late Philip heldrich (university
of Washington), and James barnard (arizona state university).
appreciation and thanks are due to barbra and bryant Dillon, sage
Weatherford, alex Wieser and elliott hewitt, who all have given me writing
opportunities and outlets to keep honing my craft. i appreciate the support
and encouragement from adam crowley and Jule schlag (my colleagues from
the h.P. lovecast Podcast), the los angeles chapter of the horror Writers
association, and Jacob garner, a colleague from the southwest
Popular/american culture association.
i would like to pay homage to christian Ryder, lisa Duse, Robert Payne
cabeen, beth cato, shaena stabler, Madison brunoehler, Nicholas Tesluk
and gary Myers. These folks are my role models, and i strive to be as accom-
plished as they.
finally, but most important, appreciation must be given to the essayists
in this book. Their wisdom and insight is inked on these pages. They are all
amazing scholars and academics, and their endeavors here demonstrate this.
vi
Table of contents
Acknowledgments vi
Foreword
DaviD R. cooN 1
Introduction
Nicholas Diak 4
Part One: Crossing the Rubicon:
Expanding the Neo- Peplum Boundaries
adapting to New spaces: swords and Planets
and the Neo- Peplum
Paul JohNsoN 21
hercules: Transmedia superhero Mythology
DJoyMi bakeR 44
from crowds to swarms: Movement and bodies
in Neo- Peplum films
keviN M. flaNagaN 63
Part Two: Wisdom from the Gods:
Mythological Adaptations
There are No boundaries for our boats: Vikings
and the Westernization of the Norse saga
sTeve Nash 79
sounds of swords and sandals: Music in Neo- Peplum
bbc Television Docudramas
Nick Poulakis 95
vii
viii Table of Contents
hercules, Xena and genre: The Methodology
behind the Mashup
valeRie esTelle fRaNkel 115
Part Three: The “Glory” of Rome:
Depictions of the Empire
Male Nudity, violence and the Disruption of voyeuristic
Pleasure in starz’s Spartacus
haNNah MuelleR 135
sex, lies and Denarii: Roman Depravity and oppression
in starz’s Spartacus
JeRRy b. PieRce 155
in the green Zone with the Ninth legion: The Post- iraq
Roman film
keviN J. WeTMoRe, JR. 178
Part Four: Sculpted in Marble:
Gender and Representation
laughing at the body: The imitation of Masculinity
in Peplum Parody films
TaTiaNa PRoRokova 195
Queering the Quest: Neo- Peplum and the Neo- femme
in Xena: Warrior Princess
hayDee sMiTh 208
Afterword
sTeveN l. seaRs 219
About the Contributors 223
Index 225
foreword
DaviD R. cooN
Popular culture is often dismissed as disposable entertainment that does
not merit serious attention. as a scholar and teacher of popular media and
culture, i often get questions and comments like “Why would you study that?”
or “Well, that sounds like a lot of fun!” Don’t get me wrong—i do think study-
ing popular culture is fun, but there is much more to it. as stuart hall, angela
McRobbie, John fiske, and many others associated with and influenced by
the british cultural studies movement have demonstrated, popular culture
is not something that should be dismissed or written off as inconsequential,
because it has the power to reinforce, question, or challenge the values and
ideals of the society that produces and consumes it. Working from the belief
that textual meanings are not fixed, scholars generally view popular culture
as a site of struggle, where creators and consumers negotiate the meanings
of individual texts as well as the broader values they represent. This book
engages with those negotiations by exploring a set of popular culture texts
identified as neo- peplums—recent films and television programs typically
set in greek, Roman, or biblical antiquity and featuring gladiators, mytho-
logical monsters, and heroic quests. The selected texts often contain epic bat-
tles and other physical manifestations of struggle, but the essays collected in
this book highlight the ideological struggles over ideas and meanings that
exist at the heart of these stories.
films and series that fall into the neo- peplum category are situated at
an interesting set of intersections, which makes them particularly rich texts
for analysis. for example, they represent the intersection of high and low
culture. The stories, after all, are frequently drawn from the history and
mythology of ancient greek, Roman, and Norse civilizations. These stories
have previously been adapted in literary and visual art forms, collected in
libraries and museums, taken up as objects of study and canonized by scholars
and critics in classics departments, as well as programs in literature, art, and
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