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; issues of the body

-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

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@lincoln.ac.uk, by the 15th January 2011. Enquiries by email are welcome at any time.