Music in Epic Film: Listening to Spectacle [Paperback]

As both a distinct genre and a particular mode of filmmaking, the idea of the epic has been central to the history of cinema. Including contributions from both established and emerging film music scholars, the ten essays in Music in Epic Film: Listening to Spectacle provide a cross-section of contemporary scholarship on the subject. They explore diverse topics, including the function of music in epic narratives, the socio-political implications of cinematic music, and the use of pre-existing music in epic films. Intended for students and scholars in film music, film appreciation, and media studies, the wide range of topics and the diversity of the films that the authors discuss make Music in Epic Film: Listening to Spectacle an ideal introduction to the field of music in epic film.

Series Foreword

Preface: Epic Genre, Epic Style  Stephen C. Meyer

Acknowledgments

Part I: Marketing and Production

1. Branding the Franchise: Music and the (Corporate) Myth of Origin  James Buhler

2. Manufacturing the Epic Score: Hans Zimmer and the Sounds of Significance  Frank Lehman

Part II: Narrative and Interpretation

3. Topoi and Intertextuality: Narrative Function in Hans Zimmers and Lisa Gerrards Music to Gladiator  Joakim Tillman

4. The Politics of Authenticity in Mikl?s R?zsa's Score to El Cid  Stephen C. Meyer

Part III: Pre-Existing Music and the Epic Style

5. From Authenticity to Anachronism: Pre-Exil“À