Return of the Epic Film

Return of the Epic Film PDF Author: Andrew Elliot
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474402852
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
With the success of Gladiator, both critics and scholars enthusiastically announced the return of a genre which had lain dormant for thirty 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 twenty-first century.

Return of the Epic Film

Return of the Epic Film PDF Author: Andrew Elliot
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474402852
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
With the success of Gladiator, both critics and scholars enthusiastically announced the return of a genre which had lain dormant for thirty 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 twenty-first century.

The Epic Film

The Epic Film PDF Author: Derek Elley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317928881
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book Here

Book Description
As Charlton Heston put it: ‘There’s a temptingly simple definition of the epic film: it’s the easiest kind of picture to make badly.’ This book goes beyond that definition to show how the film epic has taken up one of the most ancient art-forms and propelled it into the modern world, covered in twentieth-century ambitions, anxieties, hopes and fantasies. This survey of historical epic films dealing with periods up to the end of the Dark Ages looks at epic form and discusses the films by historical period, showing how the cinema reworks history for the changing needs of its audience, much as the ancient mythographers did. The form’s main aim has always been to entertain, and Derek Elley reminds us of the glee with which many epic films have worn their label, and of the sheer fun of the genre. He shows the many levels on which these films can work, from the most popular to the specialist, each providing a considerable source of enjoyment. For instance, spectacle, the genre’s most characteristic trademark, is merely the cinema’s own transformation of the literary epic’s taste for the grandiose. Dramatically it can serve many purposes: as a resolution of personal tensions (the chariot race in Ben-Hur), of monotheism vs idolatry (Solomon and Sheba), or of the triumph of a religious code (The Ten Commandments). Although to many people Epic equals Hollywood, throughout the book Elley stresses debt to the Italian epics, which often explored areas of history with which Hollywood could never have found sympathy. Originally published 1984.

Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics

Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics PDF Author: Lauri Honko
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110874555
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 601

Get Book Here

Book Description
The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems– both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

Frank O'Hara's New York School & Mid-Century Mannerism

Frank O'Hara's New York School & Mid-Century Mannerism PDF Author: Sam Ladkin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192692046
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Get Book Here

Book Description
Frank O'Hara's New York School & Mid-Century Mannerism offers a ground-breaking account of the poet Frank O'Hara and the extraordinary cultural blossoming O'Hara catalysed, namely the mid-century experimental and multi-disciplinary arts scene, the New York School. Fresh accounts of canonical figures (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, George Balanchine, Fred Astaire) and original work on those too little discussed (Edwin Denby, Elaine de Kooning) resound with analysis of queer iconology from Michelangelo's David to James Dean. Sam Ladkin argues that O'Hara and the New York School revive Mannerism. Turning away from interpretations of O'Hara's Transcendentalism, Romanticism, or pastoralism, 'mid-century Mannerism' helps explain O'Hara's self-conscious style, its play with sweet and grand grace, contortion of conventional measure, risks with affectation, conceits, nonchalance, and scrambling of high/low culture. Mannerism clarifies the sociability implicit in the formal innovations of the New York School. The work also studies the kinship between art mediums by retooling rhetoric and recovering a perennial manneristic tendency beyond period style. Genealogies of grace, the figura serpentinata, sprezzatura, ornatus, and the marvellous exemplify qualities exhibited by O'Hara's New York School. Ladkin relates the essential role of dance in the New York School. O'Hara's reception has been tied to painting, predominantly Abstract Expressionism. He was also, however, a balletomane, a fan, for whom ballet was 'made up exclusively of qualities which other arts only aspire to in order to be truly modern.' Relaying ballet's Mannerist origins and aesthetics, and demonstrating its influence alongside Broadway and Hollywood musical-dance on art and poetry, completes the portrait of mid-century modernity.

Stamps, Nationalism and Political Transition

Stamps, Nationalism and Political Transition PDF Author: Stanley D Brunn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000628981
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores how states in political transition use stamps to promote a new visual nationalism. Stamps as products of the state and provide small pieces of information about a state’s heritage, culture, economies and place in the world. These depictions change over time, reflecting political and cultural changes and developments. The volume explores the transition times in more than a dozen countries from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Specifically addressed are the stamp topics, issues and themes in the years before and after such major changes occurred, for example, from a European colony to political independence or from a dictatorship to democracy. The authors compare the personalities, histories, and cultural representations "before" the transition period and how the state used the "after" event to define or redefine its place on the world political map. The final three chapters consider international themes on many stamp issues, one being stamps with Disney cartoon characters, another on "themeless" Forever stamps, and the third on states celebrating women and their accomplishments. This volume has wide interdisciplinary relevance and should prove of particular interest to those studying geopolitics, political transition, visual nationalism, soft power and visual representations of decolonializing.

Hole-in-the-Rock

Hole-in-the-Rock PDF Author: David E. Miller
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1787204103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1962, David E. Miller’s award-winning work on the Hole-in-the-Rock episode was arguably his greatest achievement as a historian. One of the great set-pieces of Mormon history, the San Juan Mission had become clouded by myth and hagiography when Miller first became attracted to its study in the 1950s, and few reliable sources were at that time available. Not content with exhausting archival material, Miller contacted all locatable descendants of the members of the original party, and thereby brought to light a great number of previously unexploited sources. The Hole-in-the-Rock study achieved additional depth from his intimate knowledge of the actual trail acquired on repeated traverses by Jeep and on foot. A member of the LDS Church, Miller wrote of the Mormons with sympathy and understanding, but with a commitment as well to the critical standards of the historical profession. A must-read for anyone interested in American History.

Historical Dictionary of Cuba

Historical Dictionary of Cuba PDF Author: Antoni Kapcia
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442264551
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 725

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work is a completely new Historical Dictionary for Cuba (the first since 1988). It gives a comprehensive and detailed coverage and analysis of all of the key elements, factors, biographies, narratives, and treaties in Cuban history from the 1400s to the present day, with an emphasis on the decades after 1959. Historical Dictionary of Cuba, Third Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1.000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Cuba.

William Faulkner's 'Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner's 'Absalom, Absalom! PDF Author: Elisabeth Muhlenfeld
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351379682
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originally published in 1984. William Faulkner is the most studied American author of our time. This volume presents a collection of some of the best critical essays on William Faulkner’s ninth novel Absalom, Absalom!. Numerous approaches are represented; among them are theme studies, close readings, psychological studies, source studies, structural studies, and analyses of style and narrative technique.

Frank Duff

Frank Duff PDF Author: Finola Kennedy
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441104224
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a new biography of the Founder of the Legion of Mary, one of the Catholic Church's most effective charitable agencies in the world today. In the Legion of Mary, Duff built an organisation that depended on each member playing his or her part, rather than on any individual leader. Describing responsibility as 'the biggest tonic on earth', he believed in sharing responsibility, and warned against thinking that others cannot do things as well as we can ourselves. The Legion of Mary is an organisation of lay Catholics dedicated to every form of social service and Catholic action for the welfare of the Church and of society. Duff's vision of a lay movement was revolutionary in its time and as recounted in this book explains why he faced so much opposition from Church authorities, especially in Ireland. But Duff, who is on the path towards canonisation, exemplified the Catholic tradition of charitable work at its best - that you do not preach by lecturing but by works of mercy, compassion and unselfish altruism. This is an inspiring tale.

John Berryman

John Berryman PDF Author: John Haffenden
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349050423
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Get Book Here

Book Description
The poetry of John Berryman occupies an incomparable place in modern American literature. This study traces the composition of the major poems, and interprets Berryman's characteristic trials and his imaginative triumphs. In Homage to Mistress Bradstreet , which Edmund Wilson called ' the most distinguished long poem by an American since The Waste Land ', Berryman set himself enormous problems of theme and form, and overcame them with the vigorous and exciting craft that is described in this book. He transformed his personal concerns and historical interests into a fully achieved artistic unity, a poem which succeeds both as lyric and as drama. Similarly, in forging the thirteen-year 'epic' of The Dream Songs , 'the tragical history of Henry', as the poet himself called it, Berryman resolutely confronted chosen models such as Don Quixote and The Iliad , and eventually realised his own design and a unique poetic voice. 'I set up the 'Bradstreet' poem as an attack on 'The Waste Land' ' Berryman said in his National Book Award Acceptance Speech; 'I set up ' The Dream Songs ' as hostile to every visible tendency in both American and English poetry...The aim was the same in both poems: the reproduction or invention of the motions of a human personality, free and determined, in one case feminine, in the other masculine.' A chief feature of this study is the remarkably extensive use John Haffenden has made of primary research materials - manuscript drafts, notes, marginalia, diary entries and letters, all of which are printed here for the first time - to illuminate and explain the poems. This book is both a critical analysis of Berryman's mature works and an internal narrative of the poet's struggles and success. It includes comprehensive notes and commentary on 'The Dream Songs' and on 'Delusions, Etc.' , as well as an authoritative discussion and assesment of 'Love & Fame'.