Swashbucklers: The Costume Adventure Series
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719088810/
By James Chapman
Book Information
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-7190-8881-0
Pages: 296
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Price: £70.00
Published Date: July 2015
BIC Category: Film and Media, Television, Radio, Films, cinema, PERFORMING ARTS / Television / History & Criticism, The arts / Film, TV & radio
Available for North and South America through Oxford University Press Academic at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/swashbucklers-9780719088810?cc=us&lang=en&#. The US edition is priced currently at $110.
Description
Swashbucklers is the first study of one of the most popular and enduring genres in television history - the costume adventure series. It maps the history of swashbuckling television from its origins in the 1950s to the present. It places the various series in their historical and institutional contexts and also analyses how the form and style of the genre has changed over time. And it includes case studies of major swashbuckling series including The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Buccaneers, Ivanhoe, William Tell, Zorro, Arthur of the Britons, Dick Turpin, Robin of Sherwood, Sharpe, Hornblower, The Count of Monte Cristo and the recent BBC co-production of The Three Musketeers.
Oxford University Press offers the following extended description at their site:
Swashbucklers is the first study of one of the most popular and enduring genres in television history - the costume adventure series.
James Chapman explores the history of swashbuckling television from its origins in the 1950s to the present day. He maps the major production cycles of the Anglophone swashbuckler both in Britain and in the United States and places the genre in its historical, cultural and institutional contexts. He shows how the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood in the 1950s established a template for a genre that has been one of the most successful of British television exports. And he considers how America responded to this 'British invasion' with its own swashbuckling heroes such as Zorro.
Chapman also analyses the cultural politics of the swashbuckler, considering how it has been a vehicle for the representation of ideologies of class, gender and nationhood. While some swashbucklers have promoted consensual politics, others such as Dick Turpin and Robin of Sherwood have presented us with heroes on the margins of society who challenge its inequities and injustices. The relationship of the televisions swashbuckler to the founding myths of the genre is discussed, along with how the genre has responded to the changing cultural and ideological contexts in which it is produced. What emerges is a picture of a genre that has proved remarkably flexible in adapting its form and style to match the popular tastes of audiences.
Swashbucklers is intended for students and teachers of popular television drama as well as for adventure-lovers everywhere.
Contents
Introduction
1. Exporting Englishness
2. Fantasy factories
3. Revisionist revivals
4. Rebels with a cause
5. Heritage heroes
6. Millennial mavericks
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Author
James Chapman is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Leicester
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