2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Critical filmmakers like to bury certain sub-genres of cinema, often blaming specific gravediggers. Now the term “genre killer” is in full swing, which is used to conditionally designate a film, the effect of showing which becomes a tragedy for the entire film direction. Some critics recklessly classify peplum as such genres. Everyone knows what it is: a costume-historical large-scale spectacle, mostly oriented towards ancient subjects. For example, "Cleopatra", which seems to contemporaries an anachronism from the 60s, which can only cause nostalgia in the elderly.
The revival of the genre
Moreover, peplum films are absolutely contraindicated for a home video screen. The grandiose extras on it seem unimpressive, and the used cinerama is significantly narrowed on the monitor. On top of that, the unhurried narration, characteristic of large-scale productions, seems frankly boring to most fans of modern action. Therefore, beforeRecently, the audience has begun to forget what it is - peplum. But in 2000, Ridley Scott shoots Gladiator. The cult director managed to create a fascinating and exciting spectacle that appealed to the modern public. So it turned out that the "sword and sandal" paintings have a decent box office potential. The old-fashioned style of historical supercolossus, which dominated two generations ago, has found its audience. The picture was appreciated by the inhabitants, wise by life experience, who attended the screenings of the best peplum films of the 20th century: The Ten Commandments by Cecil Blount DeMille, Ben Hur by William Wyler, Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick, and the same Cleopatra by Joseph Leo Mankiewicz. And the younger generation of viewers appreciated the share of irony in the display of the past, because the creators did not really care about historical accuracy.
Strengthening positions
The fashion for battle and antiquity in 2004 was strengthened by the release of Oliver Stone's "Alexander" and Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" on the wide screen. True, it is worth noting that the genre emphasis in these projects was placed more on myths than on real historical events. Further, the magician Zack Snyder invaded the territory of the reserved Hollywood genre. He did not particularly expand on what peplum is, he left this right to critics who evaluate his brainchild "300 Spartans". The director simply achieved his goal - he created an impressive mythologized manifesto of absolute fidelity to duty and transcendent courage.
The film represents the battleGood and Evil, it is in this context that the narrator Diliy presents the war of the Greeks and Persians to the viewer. Snyder's project turned out to be bright, he is still remembered and quoted with pleasure, although often with irony. And the released sequel, sub titled Rise of an Empire, despite the fact that it paid off at the box office, was soon forgotten.
Modern masterpieces
In the future, the list of peplum films of the 21st century was replenished with the tapes "Centurion" and "War of the Gods: Immortals". The first was directed by Neil Marshall, who told his vision of the version of the death of the Ninth Legion. The project turned out to be many times more modest than Gladiator, however, it secured the fame of the most severe director in Britain for the creator. It is not worth looking for historical accuracy, a complex plot or character development in a movie. But dirty, brutal and energetic action Marshall provided.
The film "The War of the Gods: The Immortals" by Tarsem Singh has been repeatedly compared with "300 Spartans", I must say not in favor of the "War of the Gods …". At the same time, the bloody peplum with the titans, the Olympic gods and Mickey Rourke is positioned as an exemplary representative of the genre, with pathos speeches and the corresponding entourage.
Format transformation
And yet, fewer and fewer peplums are released every year. What it is - knows only a narrow circle of fans. It seems that the subgenre has fulfilled its mission, quenching the viewer's thirst for grandiose spectacles from biblical and ancient times, gave way to science fiction, gloomy thrillers,frightening horror with impressive computer special effects, carcalom tricks and "clip" dynamics of the development of the story. Now peplums, having changed the format, are conquering the TV space, in which an endless series of episodes allows you to save certain features of the genre, which was so popular before.
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