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

Out now from McFarland is a new book edited by Nicholas Diak, a scholar that I had the pleasure of meeting last month at StokerCon. Best of luck with the book, Nick.


The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television Programs Since the 1990s
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-new-peplum/
Edited by Nicholas Diak

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 242
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6762-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3150-9
Imprint: McFarland
$39.95


About the Book:

Peplum or “sword-and-sandal” films—an Italian genre of the late 1950s through the 1960s—featured ancient Greek, Roman and Biblical stories with gladiators, mythological monsters and legendary quests. The new wave of historic epics, known as neo-pepla, is distinctly different, embracing new technologies and storytelling techniques to create an immersive experience unattainable in the earlier films.

This collection of new essays explores the neo-peplum phenomenon through a range of topics, including comic book adaptations like Hercules, the expansion of genre boundaries in Jupiter Ascending and John Carter, depictions of Romans and slaves in Spartacus, and The Eagle and Centurion as metaphors for America’s involvement in the Iraq War.


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

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


About the Editor:

Nicholas Diak is a pop culture scholar specializing in Italian spy films, post-industrial and synthwave music, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. He has contributed essays, editorials and reviews to a variety of books, journals, and pop culture websites. He lives in Orange, California.