Call for Papers
Rethinking Epic: Epic Film and Television in the 21st Century University
of Lincoln, 21-22 July 2011
Keynote Speakers:
Jeffrey Richards, author of Hollywood's Ancient Worlds, Visions of
Yesterday Robert Burgoyne (unconfirmed), author of The Epic Film in
World Culture and The Hollywood Historical Film Kevin J. Harty, author
of The Reel Middle Ages, Cinema Arthuriana, King Arthur on Film.
From Gladiator to 300, Alexander to Centurion, received wisdom dictates
that the 21st century so far has been marked by the much-heralded return
of a once defunct genre. In fact, even the tagline to the 2010 Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World-not a film which we might readily associated with
the epic-makes a curious claim, announcing itself to be "an epic film of
epic epicness".
Yet, this conference will ask, to what extent is received wisdom to be
trusted? What precisely is the epic film, and are we sure we know how to
recognise it? What is its relationship with historical subjects, and are
they always inaccurate? And what about the audiences: do people flock to
see Clash of the Titans out of a sense of nostalgia for the first film,
or do they flock to see monsters in 3D, or muscular heroes, or even an
epic showdown between Gods and Men? Finally, before we wholeheartedly
accept that the epic is back, can we be sure that it ever really went
away in the first place?
Proposals for topics may include :
-The historical epic; history on film;
-Classical Rome and/or Ancient Greece on film -New media and the epic
form (TV, video, games) -Technology and the epic (CGI, 3D) -Gender and
masculinity studies -Violence and action cinema; genre theory -Audience
studies and reception -The influence of other epic cycles or of
individual films
Individual films or comparative studies might include:
-Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven
-Troy, Alexander, Agora
-TV series such as Rome; The Tudors; Spartacus: Blood & Sand -Centurion,
The Last Legion -The Passion of the Christ -Robin Hood, King Arthur
-Clash of the Titans (1981 and 2010) -Epic series such as Lord of the
Rings -Key directors/producers: Ridley Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, Oliver
Stone
http://webpages.lincoln.ac.uk/aelliott/CFPWebpage.htm.
Additionally, we would be interested in proposals which use earlier
films to argue against our conventional definitions of epics. We
strongly encourage involvement from all levels (including postgraduates)
and multi-disciplinary engagement with the subject; hence contributions
are sought from film studies, media and cultural studies, history,
literature, medieval/classical studies, theology, sociology, gender
studies and anthropology among others. It is anticipated that selected
papers will be published in a new collection.
Proposals for panels are welcome, but chairs are encouraged to contact
the organisers by email in advance, and no later than 17th December
2010. Please send 200-250 word abstracts to Andrew Elliott at
(conferences /at/ lincoln.ac.uk), by the 15th January 2011. Enquiries by email
are welcome at any time.
Contact details: Dr Andrew Elliott, Senior Lecturer in Media and
Cultural Studies Lincoln School of Media, University of Lincoln, LN6 7TS
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